DITTON PARK, England, July 15 --

- Consumer Choice and Preference to Buy Goods and Services Online Linked To
Quality of Web Experience Offered by Vendors

CA (NASDAQ: CA), the world’s leading independent provider of IT
management software, has released the results of a new independent survey: The
2009 ’CA Web Stress Index’.

The study, which explored user levels of stress and frustration when surfing
the web, found that 82% of UK consumers blame either the business that owns the
website or the web hosting company, when an online application fails. In the
current economic climate where customer retention is key to business survival,
it is more important than ever before for organisations to minimise ’Web
Stress’ and optimise their customers’ web experience.

Since the Internet is very much a part of our lives today, consumers often
conduct online research before making a purchase. Of the 500 adults surveyed in
the UK, 88% reported using the Internet for research while 94% use it for
shopping. This means that even for companies which aren’t selling online,
the web experience they offer visitors is key. Consumers visit a number of
websites to find information and research a product or service before they make
a purchase. This presents a golden opportunity for businesses to deliver a
compelling and memorable interaction which will positively influence buying
behaviour. By contrast, a negative online experience will elevate ’Web
Stress’ levels causing customers to click away.

Unmet online expectations result in ’Web Stress’

The research also demonstrated that consumers have very high expectations of
the performance of websites they visit. When customers experience a problem or
error online, 16% expect it to be fixed within just ten minutes. This increases
to 58% within an hour and by the 24 hour threshold, 96% would expect the issue
to have been resolved. With only 15% taking the time to report the problem,
it’s essential that businesses proactively monitor their systems so they
know as soon as performance issues arise.

Anything less than a superior online experience results in high levels of
’Web Stress’ resulting in customer dissatisfaction and lost
business, said Kobi Korsah, Director, EMEA Product Marketing at CA. In
today’s challenging economy, companies need to have Application
Performance Management* tools in place to help them identify and resolve
problems with web applications. By doing so they can help to ensure that
consumers have a positive experience. In turn this will help businesses to
attract and retain customers - critical in the current climate.

Poor web performance means lost business

The impact of not resolving web application problems was highlighted in the
study. It revealed that if consumers encounter problems and can’t complete
what they’re doing online, 46% will go to an alternative website and 44%
will abandon the transaction entirely - that equates to lost business, damage to
companies brand and reputation.

According to the survey findings, people expect websites to be always available
and instantly responsive - 25% will give a website just 10 seconds to respond
before clicking away. By 20 seconds, 57% will have lost patience and moved on,
and by a minute, 88% of people will have exceeded their ’Web Stress’
threshold and moved on to the next website. This means that any delay in the
responsiveness of web applications has an immediate and negative effect on the
business.

Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer commented: Today the internet is
ingrained in almost everything we do - at work, at home and on the move. When we
shop online, for example, we expect a vendor’s web site to be quick and
responsive and when it is not, we often click away. As Chief Happiness Officer,
I meet many individuals from all walks of life and the one common issue that
stands out when they are surfing the net is frustration with poor web sites.
Quite often the cause is an under performing web application - quite distinct
from a broadband connection issue or PC performance. As a result users are less
inclined to visit or recommend the vendors website because it has failed to
deliver a positive experience. For online vendors, brand loyalty is compromised
and a business opportunity lost. For consumers, the stress associated with a
poor web experience means that an alternative vendor’s site is usually
identified within a few minutes.

Other findings from the survey include:

- Common causes of ’Web Stress’ are slowly loading pages (92%),
error messages (79%) and erratic website performance (64%) - 59% of consumers
have experienced difficulties when conducting financial transactions online -
74% of the regular users of social networking sites suffer from web-related
problems - 94% of respondents use the Internet for shopping, 88% for research,
87% for banking, 79% for socialising, 70% for travel, 59% for entertainment, 35%
for education and 11% for tax filing.

For further information and materials from the survey, please click
http://www.ca.com/gb/mediaresourcecentre

About CA Wily Application Performance Management solutions

* With more than 1200 customers worldwide, CA Wily is the market-leading
provider of Application Performance Management solutions. The CA Wily APM
solution manages the performance and availability of critical Web applications
and the end user experience. This enables organisations to measure the business
value of each user’s online experience, proactively identify and
prioritise problems based on business impact, and triage and resolve problems
across complex and heterogeneous application environments before they affect
users, customers and business. This means better customer service, more stable
revenue streams and higher IT productivity. For further information on CA Wily
APM, visit http://www.ca.com/apm

About the Survey

The 2009 CA Web Stress Index was carried out by an independent survey company,
Redshift Research (http://www.redshiftresearch.com/). 2,500 consumers who had
purchased goods online in the last two months were surveyed. The research was
conducted in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK in May 2009 via an online
questionnaire (500 per country).

About Alexander Kjerulf

Alex is the world’s leading expert on ’happiness at work’. He
has long known that happiness at work is the most important factor that
contributes to good careers, happy lives and business success. He is a speaker,
consultant and author, presenting and conducting workshops on happiness at work
at businesses and conferences all over the world. His clients especially
appreciate his unlimited energy, his dedication to happiness at work and his
ability to keep his message simple, practical and fun. Alex has a masters degree
in computer science from The University of Southern Denmark, and was a
co-founder of Enterprise Systems.

For more information visit http://www.positivesharing.com

About CA

CA (NASDAQ: CA) is the world’s leading independent IT management software
company. With CA’s Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise,
organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize
business performance and sustain competitive advantage. For more information,
visit http://www.ca.com.

Contact: Simon Burberry and Jennifer Sneyd, ca@chameleonpr.com /
+44-207680-5500

SOURCE: CA

Contact: Simon Burberry and Jennifer Sneyd, ca@chameleonpr.com / +44-207680-5500