SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 15, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. today named 16 finalists for its annual Industry Solution Awards (ISA) at the DCI Sales Force Automation Conference. The awards are designed to recognize developers of software applications in the customer management category. An independent panel of judges selected the finalists based on their use of Microsoft Ò technology, specifically the Windows NT Ò Server operating system and the BackOffice Ò family of products, to provide tangible business benefits.
“Microsoft considers this year’s ISA finalists technology leaders, and we are excited to work with our peers on delivering powerful tools for customer management,”
said Holly Henson, group manager for ERP and customer management at Microsoft.
“Their applications, developed for Windows NT-based and BackOffice-based products, enable businesses to focus on improving service and boosting profits without having to think about the underlying application and technology that leads them to success.”
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), a customer of ISA finalist Clarify Inc., has achieved significant business benefits by implementing Clarify’s FrontOffice solution running on Windows NT and Microsoft SQL Server
™
.
“Service is what we do,”
said Howard Koenig, corporate vice president of operations and client services at ADP, a leading payroll, benefits administration and human resource services company based in Roseland, N.J.
“Since implementing the Clarify and Microsoft solutions as part of our world-class service initiative, ADP has seen a three-point increase in customer satisfaction, which translates into hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenues.”
A panel of industry experts and analysts selected finalists in five categories: customer service and support solution, inside sales solution, mobile sales solution, overall customer management solution and other customer management solution. These finalists are scheduled to demonstrate their solutions at the DCI Sales Force Automation Conference in San Jose Sept. 15-17, 1998. Winners will be selected after judges view their solutions on site and will be announced in a special ceremony at the DCI Sales Force Automation Conference in Boston Dec. 1-3, 1998. Winning solutions will be showcased in the January 1999 edition of Sales & Field Force Automation magazine.
ISA Category Descriptions and Finalists
Best Customer Service and Support Solution recognizes the best use of technology to streamline and automate customer support and help desk hot lines:
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Clarify Inc., Clarify FrontOffice 98
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Pegasystems Inc., Pegasystems Customer Relationship Management Solutions
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Platinum Software Corp., Clientele
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Siebel Systems Inc., Siebel Enterprise Applications
Best Inside Sales Solution recognizes the best use of sales automation technology in a call center, inside sales or telemarketing formation:
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Onyx Software Corp., Onyx Customer Center
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Platinum Software, Clientele
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Saratoga Systems Inc., Avenue
Best Mobile Sales Solution recognizes the best application making direct sales representatives more productive when traveling or visiting customers:
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Aurum Software Inc., a Baan company, Aurum DBSync
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SalesLogix Corp., SalesLogix Sales Information System
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Saratoga Systems, Avenue
Best Overall Customer Management Solution recognizes the best application suites encompassing multiple segments within the customer management area:
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Aurum Software, a Baan company, Aurum FrontOffice
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Onyx Software, Onyx Customer Center
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Pivotal Software Inc., Pivotal Relationship 98
Best Other Customer Management Solution recognizes outstanding applications for field service, channel management, marketing encyclopedias, sales configuration and professional service management:
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Clarify, Clarify FrontOffice 98
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Great Plains Software Inc., Dynamics CS+ for Microsoft SQL Server Service Management Series
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IET-Intelligent Electronics, W-6 Service Scheduler
Finalist Selection Committee
The finalist judging panel included Hugh Bishop, Aberdeen Group Inc.; Rich Bohn, Denali Group Inc.; Jim Dickie, Insight Technology Group; Chris Fletcher, Aberdeen Group; Judy Hodges, International Data Corp.; Matt Purdue, Sales & Field Force Automation magazine; Barry Trailer, Trailer Vavricka Inc.; Larry Tuck, Sales & Field Force Automation magazine; and Jack Gold, Meta Group Inc.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Windows NT and BackOffice are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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