75% of Global 2000 Enterprises Will Implement Multichannel E-Business Solutions in the Next Five Years, Doubling or Tripling Sales Revenues in Affected Channels.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 1999--

Global 2000-Wide Adoption of Multichannel E-Business

Will Represent a Fundamental Shift in E-Business Leadership

According to a new study from Killen & Associates, 75% of global 2000 companies will implement multichannel e-business (MCEB) strategies by the year 2005.

This represents a dramatic shift in the way e-business will be pioneered and applied in multiple industries. Multichannel e-Business: competitive advantage for 21st-century global enterprises, released this month, outlines the benefits to be achieved by global 2000 companies that adopt an mceb strategy, enabling them to surpass their Internet pure-play competitors in mind-share, web-based sales, and customer service.

"Companies that deploy MCEB can achieve discontinuous increases in revenue -- even doubling or tripling sales in affected channels," stated Michael Killen, chairman and founder of the market research firm.

"In addition, MCEB enterprises can also expect to reduce sales, distribution, and service costs by up to 30%, due to improvements in everything from call center workloads and marketing collateral production, to inventory management and order processing."

The shift to multichannel e-business represents an evolution in electronic commerce. For the past two years, the business media has focused on the meteoric rise of the "dot-coms," Internet-only companies that, in theory, operate as virtual entities with few or no intermediaries.

The prevailing assumption is that the Internet "pure-plays," fueled by their enormous cost advantages and staggering market capitalizations, will drive their non-digital counterparts out of business. The question is what approach will allow the global 2000 to implement and manage the changes needed to prevail.

The answer is a revolutionary new business model called multichannel e-business. MCEB allows established corporations to transform their existing structures and processes into highly competitive, scalable, customer-focused web businesses.

MCEB accomplishes this by linking disparate customer touch-points and back-office systems through a sophisticated network of web-based services and applications. For global 2000 companies and for tens of thousands of mid-tier corporations, MCEB offers unprecedented opportunities to reach and serve customers.

Killen further states that "MCEB will likely prove to be the single, most powerful means by which global 2000 companies can meet the threat of the pure-plays and other e-commerce-savvy competitors." For more information, please contact Michael Killen, 650/617-6130.

Killen & Associates is the leading provider of EBPP business intelligence to business professionals in the telco, utilities, and financial services industries worldwide. The company provides an industry-specific EBPP business intelligence subscription service to these industries that includes four deliverables: access to studies, study updates, inquiries, and EBPP weekly news alerts.

The Killen offices are located in Palo Alto; Richmond, Surrey, UK; and Zurich. For additional information on the company's products and services, visit killen & associates' website, http://www.killen.com or contact the sales department, [e-mail], tel. [phone], fax [phone].