Akibia Implements and Supports eCRM Solution for Incentive Systems.

Business/Technology Editors

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2000

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Akibia, Inc., a total customer relationship management solutions provider, and Incentive Systems, the leading provider of Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM) solutions, today announced the successful rollout of a complete sales and service eCRM solution.

Akibia's internet-enabled customer relationship management (eCRM) solution is being used by Incentive Systems' entire worldwide sales force. In addition, Akibia is providing flexHosting(SM) services to manage, maintain and support the solution to ensure its ongoing success. Initial benefits of the implementation are already evident at Incentive Systems, including the ability to automate its sales process and shorten the sales cycle by increasing collaboration between inside and outside sales forces. Incentive Systems' sales, service and marketing functions are fully integrated into one customer database, which save the company time and money while also providing a more detailed and accurate view of Incentive Systems' customer and prospect behavior.

"As an Internet company, our business is growing exponentially around the world. Akibia and Siebel gave us the ability to standardize our operations with a CRM eBusiness program that meets all of our business needs and provides us with a completely unified view of the customer," said John Desmond, VP of Worldwide Sales at Incentive Systems. "With Akibia's solution, we have complete visibility of all our customers through a collaborative and integrated database. This combined with additional flexHosting support services, enable us to gain the most value from our system and set the stage for long-term success."

To guarantee a fast and successful implementation, Akibia and Incentive Systems divided the 16-week project into three phases. During the first six-week phase, Akibia consolidated all of the existing customer management systems into one central customer database. This enabled Incentive Systems to leverage its data throughout the organization and establish a single view of every customer. During the second six-week period, Akibia configured Incentive Systems' customer service processes into the same customer database. The final stage of implementation involved Akibia's integration of the new eCRM solution with Incentive Systems' Web site. This enabled Incentive Systems to automatically forward all prospect information requests and technical support questions to the appropriate resource within the organization.

Following this initial implementation, Akibia began providing Incentive Systems with its flexHosting services for ongoing management and support of their eCRM solution. FlexHosting is a customized IT support service designed to leverage a client's investment in existing IT assets and associated business processes. At Incentive Systems, Akibia is acting as an on-site ASP, managing the application within Incentive System's data center. In addition to application management, Akibia is also providing Incentive Systems end-user support, application administration and education. These services are giving Incentive Systems the flexibility to choose the level of support needed to best maintain the eCRM solution.

"As the leading incentive management solutions provider serving many industries, Incentive Systems needed experienced consultants and a flexible, scalable eCRM solution that would support the company's long-term growth," said Brad Waugh, president of flexHosting at Akibia. "We worked with Incentive Systems to design, implement, and support an Internet-enabled solution that puts customers first and delivers value to the entire organization."

About Incentive Systems

Incentive Systems, headquartered in Bedford, Mass., is the leader in delivering Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM) solutions that help companies motivate and reward the strategic, value-producing activities of their employees, sales and service teams, e-partners and resellers. Using Incentive's flexible solutions, customers can rapidly align their organizations with corporate goals through modeling, accurate incentive payment and Web-based compensation reporting. For additional information about Incentive Systems, please visit www.incentivesystems.com.

About Akibia, Inc.

Akibia is the leading provider of total eCRM solutions for high-growth corporations worldwide. The company designs, implements and supports eCRM applications and infrastructure that enhance business relationships and deliver competitive advantage. Akibia was formed in 2000, from the merger of Polaris Service and Polaris Solutions, and is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts with US offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Fremont (CA), and New York, and international offices in London, Amsterdam and Arnhem. The company employs more than 400 multi-talented people worldwide. As a Siebel Premier Consulting Partner, Akibia, Inc. works closely with Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEBL) to implement its suite of eBusiness solutions and complementary technologies. Customers include Akamai Technologies, Inc., West Deutsche Landesbank, Citibank, Monster.com, Goldman Sachs, Cisco and Parametric Technologies. For more information call 508-460-1800, or visit the Akibia web site at www.akibia.com.