EXHIBIT 20.1

         KANA EXTENDS MARKET LEADERSHIP WITH TWO STRATEGIC ACQUISITIONS

       COMPANY BROADENS MARKET REACH AND PRODUCT LINE WITH ACQUISITION OF
                        BUSINESS EVOLUTION AND NETDIALOG

REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. - DECEMBER 6, 1999 - Kana Communications, Inc.
(www.kana.com), a leading provider of online customer communications solutions,
today announced the acquisition of privately-held Business Evolution, Inc.
(BEI), a supplier of web-based customer assistance and support software and
privately-held NetDialog, Inc., a provider of self-service customer care
solutions. With these acquisitions, the company extends its market opportunity,
adds two significant new product areas with Kana Realtime (BEI) and Kana Assist
(NetDialog), and extends its critical mass with over 100 new employees,
including three additions to an already strong management team.

Kana Realtime and Kana Assist will bolster Kana's comprehensive online customer
communications offering to enable e-businesses to manage multiple contact
channels, including inbound and outbound e-mail, web-based customer
self-service, web forms, real-time messaging and voice over the Internet. For
detailed information on how these offerings expand Kana's market opportunity and
integrate into the existing Kana platform, see related release KANA BROADENS ITS
COMPREHENSIVE ONLINE CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS PLATFORM WITH TWO NEW PRODUCTS.

Additions to Kana's management team include Timothy Campbell, VP of Kana Online,
Don Whitt, VP of e-business Services, and PV Kannan, VP of Realtime.

"These acquisitions are instrumental in extending our market leadership and
product offering," said Michael McCloskey, CEO of Kana. "BEI and NetDialog
enable Kana to add to our suite of applications and offer our customers a full
range of multiple channel, online communications solutions. It also accelerates
our growth and critical mass to approximately 350 employees one third of which
are in research and development."

BEI, based in Princeton, NJ, is a leading provider of customer assistance
support software that helps companies prioritize customer queries by urgency,
and send responses through delayed or real-time channels. BEI's offering, now
called Kana Realtime, lets e-businesses engage their customers in a live two-way
dialog while they are browsing a web site, helping them close more business and
increase customer loyalty. In connection with the acquisition of Business
Evolution, Inc., approximately 967,603 shares of Kana common stock, valued at
approximately $140 million, were issued or reserved for issuance for all
outstanding shares, warrants and options of BEI. This transaction will be
accounted for as a pooling of interests.



NetDialog, based in San Mateo, Calif., provides context-sensitive, self-service
customer service software. The company's online self-service solution, now
called Kana Assist, turns e-business web sites into knowledge bases by
delivering predictive and proactive answers to customer questions directly on
the web site. In addition to building customer loyalty by enabling e-business
customers to conveniently and quickly obtain answers to their questions, it also
allows e-businesses to reduce customer support costs by helping customers
directly on the web site without the intervention of a customer service
representative. In connection with the acquisition of NetDialog, Inc.,
approximately 622,031 shares of Kana common stock, valued at approximately $90
million, were issued or reserved for issuance for all outstanding shares,
warrants, convertible notes and options of NetDialog. This transaction will be
accounted for as a pooling of interests.

Engaging customers in ongoing and relevant communication is critical in the
competitive e-commerce environment, especially given the high incidence of
unfinished sales on the Web. According to reports from several research firms,
including The NPD Group, about 75 percent of online shoppers abandon their
shopping carts before completing an online purchase. With the addition of Kana
Assist and Kana Realtime to the Kana solution, e-businesses can stay in touch
with their customers throughout the entire online marketing, sales, and service
process, providing an appropriate level of automated and personal
communications. This ability to effectively manage the entire customer
communications lifecycle increases the number of completed transactions by
consumers who previously might have abandoned their shopping carts.

ABOUT KANA COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

Kana Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:KANA) is a leading provider of comprehensive
online customer communications solutions for marketing, sales and service. These
mission critical applications support multiple channels of online contact
including inbound and outbound e-mail, web based customer self-service, web
forms, real-time messaging and voice over the Internet. The company has more
than 250 customers including more than ten of the top twenty most visited sites
on the Internet. Kana is based in Redwood City, California, with offices
worldwide. For more information about the company, please visit Kana's web site
at WWW.KANA.COM or call Jason Cigarran at (650) 298.9282 ext. 8873.

                  CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS UNDER THE
PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: INFORMATION IN THIS RELEASE
THAT INVOLVES KANA'S EXPECTATIONS, BELIEFS, HOPES, PLANS, INTENTIONS OR
STRATEGIES REGARDING THE FUTURE ARE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS THAT INVOLVE
RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES. THESE STATEMENTS INCLUDE STATEMENTS ABOUT THE
INTEGRATION OF BEI AND NETDIALOG'S PRODUCT OFFERINGS, KANA'S STRATEGIES IN THE
MARKETPLACE, ITS MARKET POSITION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS. ALL
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS INCLUDED IN THIS RELEASE ARE BASED UPON INFORMATION
AVAILABLE TO KANA AS OF THE DATE OF THE RELEASE, AND WE ASSUME NO OBLIGATION TO
UPDATE ANY SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT.



THESE STATEMENTS ARE NOT GUARANTEES OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE AND ACTUAL RESULTS
COULD DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM OUR CURRENT EXPECTATIONS.  FACTORS THAT COULD CAUSE
OR CONTRIBUTE TO SUCH DIFFERENCES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, THE ABILITY
OF KANA TO SUCCESSFULLY INTEGRATE BEI AND NETDIALOG, COMPETITION, INCREASED
COMPETITION DUE TO KANA'S EXPANDED PRODUCT  OFFERING, RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE
EVOLVING AND VARYING DEMAND FOR CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION SOFTWARE, OUR ABILITY TO
EXPAND OUR OPERATIONS, ACCEPTANCE OF EMAIL AND THE INTERNET AS A COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIUM, LITIGATION OVER PROPERTY RIGHTS, AND GENERAL ECONOMIC FACTORS. THESE AND
OTHER FACTORS ARE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS THAT MAY AFFECT OUR
OPERATING RESULTS ARE DISCUSSED IN THE COMPANY'S REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM
S-1 DECLARED EFFECTIVE BY THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ("SEC") ON
SEPTEMBER 21, 1999.