Accenture and Acxiom Join Forces to Help Companies Better Leverage Customer Information to Improve Business Results.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK & LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 2003

Relationship to help clients more effectively

obtain, analyze and apply customer data

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Acxiom(R) (Nasdaq: ACXM) have joined forces to help clients in the retail financial services, telecommunications, consumer products and government sectors better use customer information to improve business results.

The relationship enables Acxiom and Accenture to leverage each other's capabilities to develop solutions that can simplify and enhance the way customer information is collected, cleansed, analyzed and used across the enterprise. Effective access to accurate and complete customer information enables companies not only to improve marketing results, but also to increase the profitability and effectiveness of customer relationship management functions and operations.

The two companies are working together to standardize and scale Acxiom's customer information infrastructure to provide integrated services to joint clients. Additionally, as Accenture's preferred provider of customer information services globally, Acxiom will host Accenture's customer analytic factory infrastructure. The customer analytic factory offers services designed to accelerate and enhance the data processing required to power more-effective customer analytics, marketing and interaction results.

"Effective access to the best customer information is a core piece of our clients' CRM strategy," said John Freeland, global managing partner of Accenture's Customer Relationship Management service line. "Combining Acxiom's customer information delivery and data management capabilities with Accenture's strengths in marketing analytics and customer insight will enable us to help clients respond to customer needs and seize marketing opportunities faster and more efficiently than ever before."

The two companies are already working with clients on projects ranging from quality diagnostics and deliverable address optimization to turnkey CRM business process operations.

"Acxiom's capabilities allow our clients and partners to obtain more complete, accurate customer data - continuously and cost effectively," said Acxiom company leader Charles D. Morgan. "Accenture's deep vertical industry expertise, combined with its market-leading CRM delivery capabilities, will allow our joint clients to bring customer information to a new level to drive business results."

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills, and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 83,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$11.8 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2003. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Acxiom

Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) integrates data, services, and technology to create and deliver customer and information management solutions for many of the largest, most respected companies in the world. The core components of Acxiom's innovative solutions are Customer Data Integration (CDI) technology, data, database services, IT outsourcing, consulting and analytics, and privacy leadership. Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, with locations throughout the United States, and in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and Japan. For more information, visit www.acxiom.com.