BenefitPoint Rolls Out Premier Training Solution; BenefitPoint Enhances Live Training With Interactive Web Classes and Self-Paced Learning Saving Customers Time and Money.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2000

BenefitPoint, Inc., the first employee benefits infrastructure company for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products, recently launched its state-of-the-art training program that provides BenefitPoint customers with highly personalized, cost-effective training.

BenefitPoint's comprehensive, customized training program offers carriers and brokers varying levels of support through a combination of hands-on training and web-based courses. The program is designed to be useful for experienced and novice computer and Internet users. The complete training program takes a three-pronged approach that includes onsite sessions, live webcast tutorials and self-paced web-based training. The rich menu of training alternatives makes it easy for users to choose the training modality that works best for them:

      1)  Onsite. BenefitPoint account managers provide hands-on
        instruction in how to use and apply the BenefitPoint solution.
        Because these sessions are typically held at their own
        offices, customers can begin to apply the skills they've
        learned to their actual work immediately, typically on the
        same day. At the end of the session, account managers and
        customers identify training needs and outline a plan for
        customized, subsequent training via the Web.

      2)  Webcast. Customers continue to learn about and practice using
        the features of the BenefitPoint solution at regular intervals
        after the initial training, using live and recorded webcast
        tutorials. The tutorials are interactive, instructor-led
        classes delivered over the Internet. Customers enroll for
        classes in advance and can watch demos, view slide shows and
        practice new skills. "Webcasts are also a powerful tool for
        giving people up-to-the-minute information about new product
        features," says Ceil Tilney, Director of Education Services at
        BenefitPoint. "Customer are excited about using webcasts to
        bring geographically dispersed offices into the same virtual
        room for ad hoc meetings and information sharing."

        Using webcasts, customers can interact in real time with
        BenefitPoint instructors via online chat, e-mail, or through a
        telephone dial-up connection. Webcast classes can be recorded,
        so that they're also available online for repeat training or
        for employees who missed the initial training. BenefitPoint
        has partnered with Centra Software to provide state-of-the-art
        webcast capabilities.

      3)  On-line. Customers can review and practice BenefitPoint
        product functionality 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using
        BenefitPoint's web-based self-paced training. This part of
        BenefitPoint's training program is ideally suited for
        customers who want to learn new features on their own
        schedule, or who need a quick refresher course on specific
        skills. Tilney notes that self-paced training also lets
        customers bring new employees up to speed more quickly, since
        the company doesn't have to wait for a scheduled training
        session to run. BenefitPoint has partnered with DigitalThink
        to provide state of the art web-based self-paced training
        products.

BenefitPoint Offers Substantial Cost Savings Over Traditional Training

Traditionally, companies train their employees on new systems in one of two ways. Employees either attend classes onsite that are taught by a traveling crew of company instructors, or they travel to classes at a large, centralized training. Both approaches are costly in terms of time away from work and travel expenses.

Industry research has shown savings of as much as 67% over classroom training in companies that use web-based training solutions. BenefitPoint estimates that the cost of training all of its customers in a traditional classroom would be three times higher than web-based training. What's more, training industry studies suggest that customized training delivered through the Internet results in better comprehension and retention rates for employees as compared with traditional training.

"Because we deliver our solution to carriers and brokers through a variety of media, including in-person traditional classes, we're able to help our customers make the leap from confusion to competence far more quickly than they'd be able to using traditional classroom training alone," says Tilney. "New technologies are making major advances in training effectiveness possible. BenefitPoint's use of traditional and web-based training lets customers easily learn new systems at their desktops, applying their skills to their own data and addressing questions with real-time training support. Our premier training program is designed to make the best use of our customers' valuable time."

As Easy As One, Two, Three

BenefitPoint's web-based training, like the web-hosted BenefitPoint system itself, requires only that users have:

1. An email address;

2. Internet access; and,

3. A web-browser.

In addition to the comprehensive training included in the price of its product, BenefitPoint's Education Services team can also produce custom training solutions.

About BenefitPoint, Inc.

BenefitPoint, Inc. delivers the leading Internet-based employee benefits infrastructure for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products. As the central nervous system of the employee benefits industry, BenefitPoint provides a complete set of b2b services enabling benefits professionals to manage the entire group health insurance and benefits lifecycle. Building on the existing industry relationships among carriers, brokers, employers, and employees, the BenefitPoint solution combines the efficiency of the Internet with the established distribution model of the insurance industry to eliminate paper (saving everyone time and money), to make it possible to deliver more products and services (giving everyone more choices), and to make better information available (enabling everyone to make better decisions).

Releasing its first solution in December 1999, BenefitPoint has already received widespread industry adoption from regional and national insurance carriers as well as from more than 105 of the leading U.S.-based brokerage and consulting firms.

The company, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, can be reached at 415.837.4120 or at www.benefitpoint.com. BenefitPoint, Inc. is privately held.

About Centra

Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA) is the leader in software and services for live eLearning and Internet business collaboration. Centra's solutions include Centra 99, an enterprise Internet application for virtual classrooms, online presentations and Web meetings; and the innovative CentraNow Web meeting service. Centra's customers include Fortune 1000 companies such as American Express, Exxon, Mobil, Nationwide, Compaq, Standard Insurance, Sony, and MCI Worldcom. Centra has business and software partnerships with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Consulting, Microsoft and Global Knowledge. Headquartered in Boston's technology corridor, Centra can be reached at [phone] or at www.centra.com.

About DigitalThink

DigitalThink (NASDAQ: DTHK) is a leading provider of e-learning solutions to Fortune 1000 companies. DigitalThink offers a 100% Internet-based solution that combines course content aligned with business objectives, a compelling, results-oriented e-learning experience, reporting tools that allow easy tracking and ROI measurement, and fully integrated technologies that are completely outsourced. DigitalThink e-learning solutions are already at work boosting employee efficiency, fostering customer loyalty and improving sales channel performance at smart companies such as KPMG Consulting, Tenet Healthcare, Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, Adobe Systems, and Deutsche Bank. DigitalThink, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, can be reached at [phone] or at www.digitalthink.com.

BenefitPoint is a trademark of BenefitPoint, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned here are trademarks of their respective owners.