CFT Consulting to Host ``21st Century CIO'' Summit; Concentrated Program to Open Retailers' Dialogue on Post-Y2K Issues.

SARASOTA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 1999--CFT Consulting Inc. (CFT), a retail systems, e-Commerce and process management consulting firm, will host an executive retreat for retail industry technology executives entitled "21st Century CIO: The Sarasota Summit" on Thursday, March 18th, and Friday, March 19th at the Radisson Lido Beach Resort in Sarasota.

The Summit will bring together CIOs from innovative retail companies with notable guest speakers to participate in roundtable discussions on topics such as e-Commerce, bandwidth expansion and networks, customer relationship management, knowledge management, process management and control and middleware for integrating retail technologies. The event is designed to provide CIOs with the latest information on some of the most important issues to face retailers in the near future.

"We wanted to put together a program that would deliberately step past Y2K issues in order to concentrate on several key technology issues and opportunities that will have importance well beyond the end of this year," said Ken Morris, partner and co-founder of CFT.

Prominent retail companies represented at this, the first annual Summit, include MarMaxx, ARG, Gart Sports, Beall's, Joan and David, Genesco, Chico's, Home Shopping Network, Wilson's - The Leather Experts, and Zany Brainy.

"There's a lot to be said for the large-scale industry trade shows, because you can sample everything at once," said Ken Goldberg, partner and co-founder of CFT. "With this Summit, though, we are establishing a forum for in-depth discussions on a select handful of key technology drivers."

Next year's Summit will also be held in Sarasota in March, at a location to be announced at a later date.

About CFT Consulting:

CFT Consulting, Inc. partners with major retailers and suppliers to identify, implement and manage effective information technology and business processes. CFT's industry professionals deliver world-class consulting value in e-Commerce, Store Systems, Enterprise Systems, Process Management & Control, Knowledge Management, Distribution & Logistics, and Data Warehousing. CFT also works with class-leading solutions providers as a preferred implementation partner and is a Lotus Premier Business Partner, Microsoft Solutions Provider, and IBM BestTeam member. CFT has regional offices in Boston and Dallas. Additional information on CFT Consulting, including CFT's innovative SPA assessments and BISTRO(tm) process management tools, can be found at www.cftconsulting.com.