Accenture Introduces Comprehensive Services for Siebel Systems' Universal Application Network.

Business/High Tech Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 2002

Accenture (NYSE:ACN)

Accenture Launches UAN Diagnostic and Implementation Best

Practices to Help Reduce Time to Market and

Total Cost of Ownership for Enterprise Integration

Building upon its global strategic alliance with Siebel Systems (NASDAQ:SEBL), Accenture (NYSE:ACN) today announced the availability of a comprehensive set of services designed to deliver cost-effective cross-application integration through Universal Application Network (UAN).

UAN is Siebel Systems' solution for reducing the cost and complexity of enterprise integration, enabling organizations to effectively develop and deploy cross-application business processes.

The cost of integration is rapidly becoming a significant barrier to the deployment of new business applications. Some large corporations estimate that 40% of the cost of new applications is spent linking disparate business processes and applications rather than delivering new business functions. By offering a comprehensive set of UAN services, Accenture will be able to help clients to more rapidly and cost effectively realize the benefits of application integration, including improvements in revenue growth, productivity, and business performance visibility.

Among the services Accenture today introduced is an analytic tool that can facilitate and accelerate customer adoption of UAN. The Accenture Enterprise Integration Diagnostic for UAN allows clients to quickly select the pre-built UAN solution assets that can best meet their integration challenges by offering:

-- Assessment as to the readiness for UAN adoption of a client's current and planned information technology capability

-- Analysis of the gaps existing between current business structures and best business practices that can be delivered via UAN

-- Reports delineating UAN enterprise integration solution options

-- Business cases for the implementation of UAN solution options

-- Comparative analyses regarding total cost of ownership

-- Roadmaps for effective UAN implementation

The diagnostic provides a blueprint for deriving maximum value through the use of UAN: increased revenues, increased service levels at lower cost, more efficient use of resources, enhanced market perception, improved customer experience, and reduced time required to realize benefits from business strategies.

Accenture also announced the availability of UAN implementation services beyond the diagnostic phase, including those supporting configuration; integration of UAN business processes into clients' existing architectures; and implementation of a business analytics architecture that provides detailed analysis of value delivered by UAN.

The UAN service offerings leverage Accenture's deep process experience across all industries and benefit from the company's collaboration with Siebel Systems' UAN development team. More than 50 of Accenture's industry and technology professionals are working as part of the UAN development team at Siebel Systems.

"Over the past ten years, Accenture and Siebel Systems have worked together on hundreds of successful client engagements to deliver advanced solutions for large global organizations," said Joe Forehand, Accenture's chairman and CEO. "Collaborating on UAN further underscores our commitment to client success helping to reduce integration risks and costs, improving productivity, and accelerating time to market."

Accenture and Siebel Systems have developed one of the most successful strategic alliances in the history of the Information Technology industry. Since 1993, the companies have worked together to create and develop the customer relationship management market, from early collaboration on sales force automation (SFA) and call center applications to current development of industry-specific solutions. The alliance has successfully delivered more than 800 projects for global clients and has established the standard for customer-centric application software and professional services. Accenture and Siebel Systems now have expanded their alliance to create industry-leading solutions that address the challenges of enterprise application integration.

"Accenture has demonstrated time and again its ability to deliver value to its clients by providing consulting services to help them to dramatically transform their businesses. Working on UAN with Accenture extends both our long-standing relationship and our history of jointly delivering unprecedented business value to customers," said Thomas M. Siebel, Chairman and CEO, Siebel Systems. "Accenture is uniquely equipped to jointly offer our clients technologically advanced, cost-effective, and proven value-based solutions based on UAN, allowing our clients to be agile and to readily adapt to business opportunities based on real-time, comprehensive information available to employees across the enterprise."

About Universal Application Network

UAN dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of application integration, enabling organizations to effectively develop and deploy cross-application business processes. Based on XML and Web Services industry standards, UAN enables organizations to select best-in-class applications and ensures that they are not locked into vendor-specific proprietary architectures. UAN includes three primary components:

-- Best Practice Business Process Library -- A library of

prepackaged industry-specific business processes based on best

practices that are prebuilt and quality-assured, provided by

Siebel Systems. These business processes can be executed

across multiple applications, departments, organizations, and

enterprises.

-- Business Process Design Tool -- A selection of business

process design tools, provided by leading integration server

vendors, for modeling and configuring existing business

processes and creating new ones.

-- Integration Server -- An integration server to execute

business processes and coordinate interapplication

communication.

The result is a vendor-independent application integration solution that enables organizations to rapidly respond to business opportunities, optimize organizational performance, and realize unprecedented business value from existing systems.

About Accenture

Accenture is the world's leading management consulting and technology services company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them realize their visions and create tangible value. With deep industry expertise, broad global resources and proven experience in consulting and outsourcing, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills, alliances and technologies. With more than 75,000 people in 47 countries, the company generated net revenues of $11.6 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2002. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Siebel Systems

Siebel Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of eBusiness applications software, enabling corporations to sell to, market to, and serve customers across multiple channels and lines of business. With more than 3,500 customers worldwide, Siebel Systems provides organizations with a proven set of industry-specific best practices, CRM applications, and business processes, empowering them to consistently deliver superior customer experiences and establish more profitable customer relationships. Siebel Systems' sales and service facilities are located in more than 28 countries.

Siebel is a trademark of Siebel Systems, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.