Accenture Launches Indeliq, New eLearning Company; Patented Performance Simulation Technology Now Widely Accessible.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2001

Accenture, formerly known as Andersen Consulting, today announced it has launched Indeliq, a new company that will offer simulation-based eLearning solutions to help companies of all sizes improve workforce performance.

eLearning, defined as creating a learning experience that builds knowledge and skills using web-enabled technology, is rapidly being adopted by organizations seeking to train employees more effectively and improve financial performance. IDC, a leading analyst research firm, predicts that the U.S. corporate eLearning market will grow by nearly 80% per year, reaching $11.4 billion by 2003 (IDC, February 2001).

Flight simulator for business applications

Unlike anything available in eLearning today, performance simulation technology is analogous to a flight simulator for business applications, according to Indeliq chairman and CEO Daniel Hamburger. Additionally, performance simulation technology can improve cognition and retention by up to 15 times, according to a landmark study by the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Sciences. Indeliq has the authoring tools and scalable architecture to make performance simulation's breakthrough results available to a much wider market by developing and selling packaged applications.

"With Indeliq, you learn by doing," says Hamburger. "Rather than reading a book about flying F-14s, you actually sit in the cockpit. We replicate the flight simulator concept in a business context." Learners attempt to complete tasks, such as a finance manager completing a break-even analysis, within the simulation. When they fail at the task, they are highly motivated to learn. Feedback directs them to expert video, war stories, online coaching and specific reference materials, which they learn and apply to successfully complete the task.

"Indeliq has built on the patented technology that Accenture developed over the years and is entering the eLearning marketplace with a product that none of the competition can match," said David Clinton, managing partner of Accenture's Human Performance Service Line. "Accenture will continue to provide customized, highly personalized performance simulation solutions for clients, while Indeliq's packaged applications will make the technology widely available."

Accenture is launching Indeliq as an independent company, having recruited key management team members from outside the firm and from Accenture's performance simulation practice (see leadership and board biographies). Accenture Technology Ventures provided capital to help launch the company.

"Indeliq is a prime example of how Accenture can leverage intellectual assets to create new business models," said Len Sherman, a general partner with Accenture Technology Ventures. "Indeliq has the ability to revolutionize the eLearning market by taking simulation-learning technology to a customer base that has never had access to it."

Indeliq creates value for its customers through two lines of business: first, developing and selling simulation applications targeted to solve commonly encountered business problems for enterprise customers; second, licensing the architecture and tools to enable customers to develop performance simulation solutions. Examples of Indeliq's eLearning simulations include an application designed to raise the level of essential business skills of managers and other decision makers in addition to strategic selling and supply chain management applications.

Leveraging Accenture's heritage of eLearning

For over 10 years, Accenture has pioneered simulation-based eLearning technology and developed extensive eLearning intellectual property. Several of the eLearning innovations Accenture developed are now patented. During the last five years, Accenture has developed sophisticated and customized performance simulators for several global corporations such as Siemens and BellSouth. Accenture will continue to offer highly customized applications, complementing Indeliq's licensing and packaged applications strategy.

"Their timing is impeccable," according to Trace A. Urdan, senior analyst at WR Hambrecht + Co. "Indeliq and Accenture are entering the market for packaged simulation applications just in time to feed corporate buyers' appetite for more sophisticated eLearning content. As the market graduates from its early trial phase and enters an extended period of significant adoption, buyers are looking for eLearning applications that offer more than mere eReading. With leading edge, yet market-proven simulation technology, and the powerful backing of Accenture, Indeliq is poised for success in this exciting new area of eLearning."

About Indeliq

Indeliq, Inc. provides highly sophisticated, performance simulation eLearning solutions to the corporate enterprise market. Analogous to a flight simulator used to train pilots, Indeliq's performance simulation applications immerse the business learner in an online work environment that encourages them to explore and take risks while they learn skills such as sales force effectiveness and financial acumen. Indeliq's technical architecture is based on a "learn by doing" approach that results in higher levels of cognition and retention than traditional classroom and computer-based training approaches. For more information about Chicago-based Indeliq, Inc., see www.indeliq.com or call 1-866-INDELIQ (1-866-463-3547).

About Accenture and Accenture Technology Ventures

Accenture, formerly known as Andersen Consulting, is a $10 billion global management and technology consulting organization. The firm is reinventing itself to become the market maker, architect and builder of the new economy, bringing innovations to improve the way the world works and lives. More than 70,000 people in 46 countries deliver a wide range of specialized capabilities and solutions to clients across all industries. Under its strategy, the firm is building a network of businesses to meet the full range of client needs -- consulting, technology, outsourcing, alliances and venture capital. Accenture's home page address is http://www.accenture.com. Renamed. Redefined. Reborn.

Accenture Technology Ventures, formerly known as AC Ventures, helps talented entrepreneurs build companies that can transform entire industries, create new markets and ultimately generate superior economic returns. Our portfolio includes more than 70 innovative companies that are building key components of tomorrow's infrastructure and improving the way the world works and lives. Launched in December 1999, Accenture Technology Ventures is the venture capital unit of Accenture. Its home page address is http://www.accenturetechventures.com.

On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting's name was changed to Accenture. Since August 7, 2000 Accenture has not been associated with Andersen Worldwide or Arthur Andersen.