Customer Management Application Developers Recognized as Winners in Microsoft Industry Solution Awards

BOSTON, Dec. 4, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced four winners for its first Industry Solutions Awards (ISA) at the DCI Sales Force Automation Conference & Expo, which concludes today. The awards were presented by Matt Ragen, group manager for customer management markets at Microsoft, at a ceremony held on the floor of the exposition hall.

Microsoft Industry Solutions Awards are designed to recognize developers of software applications in the customer management industry. Winners were selected by an independent panel of judges who scored entries based on their use of Microsoft technology, specifically, the Windows NT Server operating system and the BackOffice family of products, to provide tangible business benefits in customer management. “It’s terrific to see such a fast-growing number of independent software developers creating world-class customer management applications on the Microsoft® BackOffice® platform,” Ragen said. “The winners in this contest serve as a testament to the high quality of customer management solutions that are possible when taking advantage of the interoperability and flexibility provided by Microsoft Windows NT Ò Server, Microsoft SQL Server Ô and the BackOffice family.”

“I am impressed with the breadth of enterprise solutions in the customer management market that are available for Microsoft BackOffice,” said Susan Aldrich, judging panel member and senior consultant at Patricia Seybold Group at Microsoft. “The level of support from ISVs for server products such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Site Server demonstrates the momentum and collaboration capabilities that Microsoft has in this industry.”

Following are the winners in the four ISA categories specific to customer management.

Best Mobile Sales Solution – Pivotal’s Relationship Application

Pivotal Software Inc.’s Relationship application is optimized to automate and unify sales, marketing, support and service departments for midrange implementations running on Microsoft BackOffice, delivering an enterprisewide solution for end-to-end management of customer interactions and transactions. Relationship increases revenue and productivity by giving businesses the competitive advantage of 360-degree Customer Relationship Management, allowing them to find, win, understand and retain customers. Relationship is the winner of two Microsoft awards: Best Solution by a Solution Developer in 1997 and Best Mobile Sales Solution, a Microsoft Industry Solutions Award. Pivotal Relationship is Microsoft BackOffice-certified.

“Pivotal is very honored to receive this award, which was made possible only through the outstanding collaboration between Pivotal, KPMG and Cadence Design on this breakthrough solution,” said Norm Francis, president and chief executive officer of Pivotal Software. “Winning our second Microsoft award in 1997 underscores Pivotal Relationship’s position as the leading customer relationship management application for midrange Microsoft BackOffice environments. One of the biggest roadblocks to achieving true 360-degree Customer Relationship Management is fully integrating mobile sales, marketing and support staff. Cadence’s implementation of Relationship effectively blends the powerful customer management capabilities of Pivotal Relationship with the Microsoft Exchange Server messaging environment. This provides mobile users at Cadence with a solution for real-time synchronization of tasks, contacts and sales opportunities to ensure that they have instantaneous access to the latest customer, product and corporate information.”

Pivotal Software Inc. is the leading supplier of 360-degree relationship management applications optimized for midrange implementations. These applications unify customer information across sales, marketing, service and support departments and automate the business processes vital to acquiring, retaining and extending relationships with customers. The company’s investor partners include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Oak Investments, Integral Capital Partners and Ventures West. Pivotal is a privately held company with offices throughout North America and in Europe and Japan. For more information about Pivotal and Pivotal Relationship, visit (http://www.pivotal.com/) .

Best Customer Service and Support Solution – PHD’s Professional Help Desk

PHD, based in Stamford, Conn., is an industry-leading developer of help desk and customer interaction software (CIS) solutions. The company’s products, such as the award-winning Professional Help Desk for Windows suite, empower enterprises to resolve technical support and customer service issues simply and quickly, reducing support costs and system downtime. PHD has been a certified Microsoft Certified Solution Provider since its founding and is committed to ensuring that all its products integrate flawlessly with Microsoft operating systems and applications. For more information about PHD visit (http://www.phd.com/) .

“To have our work recognized in this way by Microsoft Corp. means a great deal to everyone at PHD,” said Isidore Sobkowski, president and chief executive officer at PHD. “Everything we do is geared toward making our products work superbly within our customers’ existing computer environments – and, of course, those environments are overwhelmingly Microsoft-based. This award says a great deal about how well we’ve succeeded.”

Best Inside Sales Solution Siebel Sales Enterprise and Service Enterprise

Siebel Systems Inc. is the global market leader in enterprise-class sales, marketing and customer service information systems for global organizations focused on increasing sales and service effectiveness in field sales, service organizations, telesales, telemarketing, call centers and third-party resellers. Siebel Enterprise Applications – including Siebel Sales Enterprise and Siebel Service Enterprise – provide a comprehensive suite of Windows-based client/server software that combines a standards-based open architecture with new and emerging technologies to enable exceptional scalability, configurability, functionality and performance. Siebel Systems’ corporate alliances include Andersen Consulting, Compaq Computer Corp., and Microsoft Siebel Systems product and service information is located on the World Wide Web at (http://www.siebel.com/) .

“Siebel Systems is proud to have been selected as the winner of the Inside Sales category in Microsoft’s Industry Solutions Awards,” said Bruce Cleveland, vice president, marketing, at Siebel Systems. “This award underscores the success of our close collaboration with Microsoft in addressing the needs of global organizations for enterprise-class sales, marketing and customer service information system solutions.”

Best Service Management Solution – Great Plains’ Dynamics CS+ for Microsoft SQL Server

The Dynamics CS+ ServiceAdvantage Suite provides service management organizations an end-to-end solution for the profitable management of their service business on today’s technologies. It includes seamlessly integrated modules for financial, distribution, logistics, service dispatch, contract administration, preventive maintenance and customer self-service functionality.

“This recognition demonstrates the scalability and strategic implementation of BackOffice technology in the Dynamics C/S+ ServiceAdvantage Suite,” said Ray August, chief technology officer at Great Plains Software. “We look forward to continued collaboration with Microsoft to deliver the best business solutions on the latest technologies.”

Great Plains Software Inc. (NASDAQ: GPSI) is a leading provider of Microsoft Windows NT-based client/server financial management software for midmarket businesses. The company’s award-winning products and services automate essential accounting functions and enhance the strategic value of financial information. The company’s products and services are sold and implemented exclusively by its extensive network of independent sales and support organizations throughout the world. To learn more about Great Plains Software Inc. visit (http://www.gps.com/) .

Award Winners Selection Committee

The judging panel included Susan Aldrich, Patricia Seybold Group; Rich Bohn, Denali Group Inc.; Charlie Butler, Sales and Marketing Management magazine; Jim Dickie, Insight Technology Group; Kamran Hasanain, Giga Information Group; Chris Selland, The Yankee Group; Barry Trailer, Trailer Vavrika Inc. and Larry Tuck, Sales and Field Force Automation magazine.

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