BOSTON, Oct. 27, 1999 — Today at DCI’s Customer Relationship Management conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the 1999 Industry Solution Awards for customer relationship management (CRM). Sponsored by DCI, Microsoft, and Sales and Marketing Automation Magazine, the awards are designed to recognize the independent software vendors in the CRM market that best utilize Microsoft® technology to provide tangible business and customer benefits. The awards were presented to four leading independent software vendors, Clarify Inc., Onyx Software Corp., Pivotal Corp. and UpShot.com, during a ceremony at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston.
Winners and finalists were selected by an independent panel of judges, who scored entries based on their use of the Microsoft Windows NT® Server operating system and the BackOffice® family of products, including SQL Server TM 7.0, to provide measurable business and customer benefits in the areas of sales, marketing and service. Finalists were selected in September for six categories: Best Mobile Solution, Best Call Center Solution, Best Integrated CRM Solution, Best Internet Solution for Customer Self-Service, Best Internet Solution for Partner Relationship Management and Best Internet Solution – Other Applications.
“It’s terrific to see such a growing number of independent software developers creating world-class CRM applications on the Microsoft platform,”
said Frederica Carpenter, industry manager for Customer Relationship Management, Microsoft.
“The winners and finalists in this contest have developed very impressive solutions on Windows NT and SQL Server, delivering outstanding results that today’s businesses need to be successful and achieve customer loyalty.”
Industry Solutions Awards Categories and Winners
Best Mobile Solution: UpShot Sales
“Winning the Microsoft Industry Solution Award for Best Mobile Solution and Best Internet Solution for Partner Relationship Management confirms our leadership in Web-powered solutions for marketing and sales teams,”
said Keith Raffel, president and CEO of UpShot.com.
“Our use of Microsoft tools and products enables us to give those teams what they want – ease of use, quick deployment and anytime-anywhere access.”
UpShot.com was launched in 1997 to increase business team productivity through the use of innovative Internet technology. UpShot offers Web-based sales management applications that combine high value with fast deployment and ease of use. Among the investors in the company are Advanced Technology Ventures, Alloy Ventures, Intel Corp., TTC Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners, as well as Informix Software Inc. Chairman Robert J. Finocchio, Echelon Corp. CEO Ken Oshman, Intuit Inc. Co-Founder and Netpulse Communications Inc. CEO Tom Proulx, and Compaq Chairman Ben Rosen.
Best Call Center Solution: Clarify eFrontOffice
“Winning this award for the second consecutive year proves that Clarify can improve not only return on investment for our customers, but return on relationship, as well,”
said Kirsten Berg-Painter, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing at Clarify.
“The Microsoft Industry Solutions Award acknowledges Clarify’s leadership and commitment to dazzling our customers.”
As the world’s second-largest provider of front-office solutions, Clarify (Nasdaq
“CLFY”
) pioneered the first integrated suite of front-office applications and was the first to introduce a number of key innovations, including Web self-service. With the emergence of new electronic-commerce channels, Clarify was first again with solutions to help sales, marketing and customer service organizations leverage the power of the Internet. Clarify is a leading provider of sales and service solutions for attracting and retaining customers – and customer loyalty is the key to long-term profitability. Since it joined forces with Microsoft in 1995 by providing front-office solutions on SQL Server and Windows NT, the companies’ combined customer base has grown rapidly. In addition, Clarify and Microsoft have worked to provide the most scalable CRM solution for the Microsoft platform, supporting 5,000 concurrent users while providing sub-second average response time.
Best Integrated Customer Relationship Management Solution: Pivotal eRelationship
“Pivotal’s e-business relationship management strategy has been validated with this double-award recognition by Microsoft,”
said Norm Francis, president and CEO of Pivotal.
“By recognizing Pivotal’s excellence in e-business self-service as well as integrated customer relationship management, these awards underscore our leadership in this rapidly developing market that fuses capabilities from CRM and e-commerce into a revolutionary new platform for e-business relationship management.”
Best Internet Solution for Customer Self-Service: Pivotal eRelationship
Best Internet Solution for Partner Relationship Management: UpShot Sales
Best Internet Solution — Other Applications: Onyx Front Office
“This is a very exciting award for Onyx Software because it recognizes that we are offering the industry’s most integrated, scalable, effective and usable customer relationship management system on the market today,”
said Brent Frei, president and CEO of Onyx Software.
“More than 88 percent of our customers are using Onyx Front Office in three or more departments. Enterprisewide CRM is what we have been doing at customer sites since 1994. Regardless of the industry or size of company, Onyx Front Office can help companies automate their sales, marketing and service organizations and extend them to partners, customers and prospects via the Internet. Sierra Health Services, our showcase customer in this award entry, is a prime example of how companies have gained competitive edge and a better view into the health of their business by using Onyx as their CRM system.”
Onyx Software (Nasdaq
“ONXS”
) is a leading provider of Web-based CRM systems. The company’s innovative e-business software combines comprehensive CRM functionality, third-party applications and Internet content into personalized digital workplaces for marketing, sales and service employees, business partners and customers. The company’s systems are scalable, flexible, reliable and deploy quickly, resulting in a rapid return on investment and industry-leading customer satisfaction. Onyx Software operates worldwide, supporting large, medium-size and small companies such as American Express, Cognos Corp., Credit Suisse, FirstWorld Communications, Giga Information Group, InfoSpace Inc., Interactive Intelligence Inc., NTL Internet, Plumtree, Portland Trailblazers, Prudential, Sharp Electronics, Sierra Health Services, Singapore Press Holdings and US Bancorp Piper Jaffray. Those interested in more information can call (888) 275-6699, visit the Onyx Web site at http://www.onyx.com/ or send e-mail to [email protected] .
Finalist Selection Committee
The members of the finalist judging panel were Hugh Bishop, Christopher Fletcher, Donovan Gow and Chris Martins, Aberdeen Group Inc.; Peggy Menconi, AMR Research Inc.; Tim Bajarin, Creative Strategies Inc.; Rich Bohn, Denali Group Inc.; Jim Dickie, Insight Technology Inc.; Judy Hodges, International Data Corp.; Sam Clark, META Group Inc.; Larry Tuck, Sales and Marketing Automation; Jennifer DiMarzio, Summit Strategies; Barry Trailer, Trailer Vavricka Inc.; and Chris Selland, Yankee Group.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
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.
