BOSTON, MA and CHICAGO, IL, February 24, 2003 - In support of their commitment to helping organizations maximize return on investments made in operational customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives, Extraprise® and SPSS Inc. (Nasdaq: SPSS) have formed an alliance to provide predictive analytics solutions to shared customers. Under the agreement, the companies will work collaboratively with large organizations around the world, enabling them to integrate SPSS' predictive analytics solutions into enterprise-wide CRM initiatives. SPSS Inc.'s technology and expertise will provide users with the ability to increase revenue and decrease costs by gaining greater insight into customer behavior and more reliably predicting future customer action.
Extraprise today also announced the launch of its integrated Marketing Analytics and Automation (MA&A) Practice. Representing the latest addition to Extraprise's portfolio of CRM consulting and integration services, the new MA&A business unit offers a complete range of analysis, strategy, process improvement and technology services designed to better understand and respond to customer opportunities.
Under the agreement, Extraprise's expertise in delivering CRM, marketing automation, and analytical solutions will be complemented by SPSS' predictive analytics offerings and expertise, which enables organizations to enhance their ability to better understand, model and predict customer behavior. Consequently, marketing activities, sales calls and customer interactions can be more personalized, productive and profitable - resulting in increased customer loyalty and retention. The addition of predictive analytics also maximizes the return on investment for organizations implementing packaged CRM and marketing automation applications. The companies will also participate in joint sales and marketing initiatives.
An internationally recognized CRM strategic advisor and implementation firm, Extraprise has over 200 enterprise clients and has to its credit more than 500 successful CRM engagements. SPSS is an award-winning, multinational provider of predictive analytics technology and solutions.
"Competitive conditions today require organizations to provide better, more personalized service to customers," said Dyke Hensen, SPSS Inc., vice president, marketing. "Predictive analytics, when seamlessly integrated into operational CRM systems, provides this capability. Our partnership with Extraprise gives organizations the tools and services they need - from software to business process consulting and integration expertise - to capitalize on new revenue and customer retention opportunities."
SPSS' predictive analytic solutions provide deep insight into data, enabling companies to better recognize business trends and opportunities, and respond rapidly. The company's software provides predictive customer intelligence by analyzing volumes of data to find specific patterns. In doing so, the software can anticipate which individual customers have the highest propensity to respond to a promotion, purchase a specific product or defect to a competitor. This in-depth insight into customer behavior provides a measurable return on investment by enabling organizations to increase revenues and reduce costs through better-targeted, personalized sales and marketing efforts.
"So many organizations fail to maximize the value of their most critical asset - their customer relationships," said Bill Blundon, chief marketing officer of Extraprise. "Knowing your customer today means having a solid grasp of all available information. This enables a company to quickly identify and understand the history and personality of the customer, and then apply that information in ways that add value to future interactions. We chose SPSS Inc. as our strategic partner in predictive analytics because they continue to be a driving force in the market for analytics across the enterprise."
The partnership offers additional value for customers of packaged operational CRM solutions from companies such as Siebel Systems by enabling them to extend functionality from existing implementations. Extraprise is one of only nine Siebel Consulting Partners globally to be consistently awarded the elite Gold Star distinction, and SPSS Inc. is a Siebel Strategic Software Partner.
Extraprise provides a complete range of services to create customer-driven businesses that span marketing, sales and support across multiple channels. The company's services span the CRM Life Cycle, which is segmented into five elements: creating a vision; producing quick-win efforts to establish a foundational CRM capability; deploying new business processes and an enterprise-wide technology solution; training and change management; and ongoing improvement.
SPSS Inc. (Nasdaq: SPSS), headquartered in Chicago, IL, USA, is a multinational computer software company providing leading technology that transforms data into insight through the use of predictive analytics and other data mining techniques. The company's solutions and products enable organizations to manage the future by learning from the past, understanding the present, as well as predicting potential problems and opportunities. For more information, visit www.spss.com.
Extraprise® is a leading systems integrator and business process outsourcer specializing in customer management. The company's "Insight-to-Interaction" (or "i2i") solutions combine data management, business insight, demand generation, and customer management. Clients use Extraprise services to make their customer insights actionable throughout their marketing, sales, and service channels. Solutions are available on premise and as on demand services at the company's hosting centers. Extraprise is headquartered in Boston with offices in the U.S. and Europe. Extraprise is on the Web at www.extraprise.com.
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