Microsoft Announces Finalists for the 2000 Industry Solution Awards

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REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 6, 2000 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the finalists for the 2000 Industry Solution Awards. The awards recognize independent software vendors that best utilize Microsoft® technology in Customer Relationship Management, Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management and Financial Application solutions. An independent panel of judges selected the finalists based on their use of Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server, Microsoft SQL Server™
and Microsoft enterprise platform technology to provide tangible business benefits to their customers. One winner in each category will be announced in a special ceremony Nov. 14 at the Microsoft booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center during COMDEX 2000.

The judges selected finalists in nine categories: customer relationship portal solutions, customer service solutions, integrated customer relationship management/e-business solutions, mobile sales/service solutions, data warehousing/business intelligence solutions, financials solutions, collaboration solutions, document/search and publish solutions, and workflow and tracking solutions.

“These finalists have demonstrated excellence in developing applications that take advantage of Microsoft’s enterprise platform technology to deliver customer-centric solutions critical to success in the fast-changing Internet business world,”
said Stan Julien, director of the Customer-Centric Solutions at Microsoft.
“Each finalist has capitalized on the speed, agility and enterprise-level reliability of Microsoft’s products, and we are excited to be working with them to quickly deploy solutions that increase productivity and cost-savings for our mutual customers.”

ISA Categories and Finalists

Following are the finalists in each of the 2000 Industry Solution Award categories:

Customer Relationship Management

Best Customer Relationship Portal Solution

  • Onyx Software
    , Bellevue, Wash. ByeByeNOW, a vacation travel service, used the Onyx suite of employee, customer and partner portals to develop the company’s interactive Web site, with real-time access to travel consultants.

  • Pivotal Corp. , Kirkland, Wash. Pivotal eRelationship 2000 provides CornerDrugstore.com, a comprehensive and affordable e-commerce solution for independent pharmacies, delivering real-time customer experiences across every touch point.

  • Interact Commerce Corp. , Scottsdale, Ariz. Interact’s SalesLogix2000 solution includes sales, marketing, support and e-business features that deliver a holistic view of the customer’s requirements and expectations.

Best Customer Service Solution

  • Nortel Networks — Clarify eBusiness Applications Division, San Jose, Calif. The company’s eFrontOffice suite of e-business tools gave employees of electronics retailer Best Buy immediate access to information about customer repairs, warranty information and other service plans, thereby enhancing customer service.

  • Onyx Software , Bellevue, Wash. The Onyx e-business portal solution enabled Columbine JDS, a Denver-based software and consulting firm, to more effectively share information between partners and customers, building greater customer loyalty by providing enhanced customer service.

  • CosmoCom Inc. , Melville, N.Y. Interactive travel services provider ByeByeNOW.com uses CosmoCall Universe, a high-capacity, high-availability contact center system, to unite hundreds of franchised storefronts throughout the world in a single Web site and a single toll-free telephone number, forming the world’s largest contact center.

Best-Integrated Customer Relationship Management/E-Business Solution

  • Nortel Networks — Clarify eBusiness Applications Division , San Jose, Calif. Clarify’s eFrontOffice 9.0 is used by Hello Direct, a telephony provider, to capture and consolidate customer and product information gathered in its marketing, sales and technical support operations.

  • Onyx Software , Bellevue, Wash. Jetform Corp., based in Ontario, Canada, used Onyx portal solutions in its enterprisewide customer relationship management strategy as the software company grew from 150 to 600 employees.

  • Pivotal Corp. , Kirkland, Wash. Resort developer and operator Intrawest Corp. used Pivotal eRelationship 2000, built on XML-based demand-chain networks, to provide personalized customer service and an online sales engine for 13 of the company’s resort properties.

Best Mobile Sales/Service Solution

  • ON!contact Software Corp. , Cedarburg, Wis. Foremost Insurance used Client Management Software (CMS) to automate its communications with its mobile sales force, uniting all front-office operations under a single application, greatly reducing costly postage, travel and support costs.

  • Riveon Corp. , Fairfax, Va. Riveon provided a complete suite of Internet applications to reorganize and enhance information from MTH Electric Trains’ legacy systems, providing a mobile and desktop platform for secure information sharing with model railroad hobbyists and retail partners.

  • Interact Commerce Corp. , Scottsdale, Ariz. Using SalesLogix2000, healthcare company Pegasus-Airwave freed its field sales force of much of its insurance and Medicare paperwork by building a fully integrated, modular customer relationship management linked by laptop computers.

Business Intelligence

Best Data Warehousing/Business Intelligence Solution

  • Knosys Inc. , Boise, Idaho. The company’s ProClarity 2.0 OLAP client provides intuitive and powerful business analysis designed to help decision-makers clearly see and analyze the factors that drive their business.

  • Maximal Corp. , Reston, Va. Using Maximal’s Max 2.0 business intelligence software, Afek Engineering Projects Ltd., an Israeli IT solutions provider, was able to improve data access and analysis, leading to faster and higher-quality decision-making.

  • Riveon Corp. , Fairfax, Va. Riveon’s suite of Internet applications helped MTH Electric Trains develop an online retail presence and product location system for model railroad hobbyists.

Knowledge Management

Best Document/Search and Publish Solution

  • Delphes Technologies International, Montreal, Quebec. DioWeb Search is a dynamic natural language processing, contextual search tool that utilizes the morphology of language to provide a new level of information retrieval in Web sites and intranets.

  • insignIO Inc. , Stony Brook, N.Y. BookMarkEDMS is a system that offers electronic document management, providing virtually unlimited storage, indexing, processing and retrieval of scanned images, e-mails, audio and video clips, as well as HTML and other multimedia files.

  • Plumtree Software Inc. , San Francisco, Calif. The Plumtree Corporate Portal helped Connecticut-based Ames department stores to develop PlanetAmes.com, a portal that delivers up-to-date market news, sales reports and product information to 43,000 sales associates nationwide.

Best Collaboration Solution

  • eRoom Technology , Cambridge, Mass. The Wharton School in Philadelphia used eRoom 4.2, a Web-based tool for managing collaboration in a dispersed work force, to develop a digital workplace for an array of projects, including faculty teaching, course work, research projects tutoring and committee work.

  • LLI Technologies Engineering & Construction Inc. , Pittsburgh, Pa. Using Microsoft’s Rapid Application Development tools, LLI was able to build a fully functional collocation site for a major telecommunications company in just two weeks.

  • Webridge Inc. , Beaverton, Ore. IronSpire JobSite used the Internet and Webridge Private Exchange software to create a project management
    “dashboard”
    for general contractors that speeds communications, minimizes mistakes and delays, and helps with scheduling and financial reporting.

Best Workflow and Tracking Solution

  • Executive Manufacturing Technologies Inc. , London, Ontario. VisualPlant 2.0 is an enterprisewide software solution that improves the process of collecting, accessing and analyzing manufacturing floor data and information.

  • icomXpress , Nashua, N.H., icXpert SOLUTION Suite is icomXpress’ easily customizable, enterprisewide e-business solution that empowers business professionals to apply their knowledge of business to design efficient business processes.

  • Sourcesmith Industries Inc. , North Vancouver, British Columbia. Sourcesmith developed a business process management (BPM) software solution for NBC Olympics Inc., which managed planning, logistics and equipment inventory during the next five Olympic games.

Financial

Best Financials Solution

  • Automating Peripherals Inc. , Hartford, Wis. The Payrollmation Series helps Advocate Health System in Oak Brook, Ill., track and manage employees’ time and attendance information, a major data challenge due to the complexity of healthcare hours and pay policies.

  • Great Plains , Fargo, N.D. Cargas Systems and Great Plains developed a Web-based e-business solution for the trucking company U.S. Fleet. The system collects detailed data from truckers, which is used for reporting and billing purposes each time they fuel.

  • Sage Software, Inc. , Irvine, Calif. Sage’s Enterprise Solution is an accounting, distribution and e-commerce system that allowed Arizona-based Teva Sports Sandals to streamline its online sales processes, inventory management and reporting capacity while doubling the number of products and users at the site.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies 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 and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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