COGNICASE Congratulates ING Canada IARD for its CIPA 'Best of Category' Award for a Global Intranet Solution.

Business Editors

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2000

COGNICASE Inc. (NASDAQ: COGI)(TSE:COG.) is pleased to underline the success of its partner, ING Canada IARD, which was awarded the "Best of Category" prize in the "Organizational Transformation" category at the Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA) gala.

The award is evidence of the excellent work accomplished as part of the nationwide brokerage firms automation project, which sought to establish a close partnership between ING Groupe Commerce, ING Western Union, ING Halifax and the network of brokers through a significant restructuring of business processes relating to operations and distribution of insurance policies. Launched in 1996 in collaboration with brokers, Bell Nexxia and COGNICASE, the project enabled ING Canada IARD to become the first company on the Canadian market to offer Intranet access to brokers, providing them with permanent access to ING's insurance applications.

With increasing competition in ING Canada's business segment, mainly from major Canadian banks, the company was driven to completely review its data entry procedures, both internally and with brokers.

"The company's business environment was changing - and changing rapidly," said Pierre Beauchamp, Vice-President, Strategic Planning and Architecture, ING Canada. "We knew that if we wanted to remain a leader in customer service, we had to modify our business processes."

"Several tasks performed by our employees and brokers were redundant, mainly in terms of data entry, quality control and data transmission via telecommunications. Eliminating these duplications was key in creating a more efficient system," said Mr. Beauchamp.

"This project demonstrates the excellent synergy between COGNICASE consultants and their customers who, through their projects, are defining new business models. The brokerage firms automation project marked the start of a new era for ING Canada, the e-commerce era, and we plan to leverage COGNICASE's expertise in this market segment," added Mr. Beauchamp.

COGNICASE is proud to have participated in the development, deployment and management of this major e-commerce project.

"The success of this project is based on creative approaches and state-of-the-art solutions," said Mr. Ronald Brisebois, President and Chief Executive Officer of COGNICASE. "Our most dynamic clients will continue to seek out technological innovations that meet their business needs and increase their competitiveness. We are committed to remaining a leader in advanced solutions, with the support of our new business units, COGNICASE INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES (CTI) and COGNICASE INTERNET INNOVATIONS (CII)."

About ING Canada IARD Inc.

ING Canada IARD Inc. is a business unit of Netherlands-based ING Group, a global leader in integrated financial services with assets of US$661 billion, a stock capitalization of US$80 billion, and close to 90,000 employees around the world. In Canada, ING Canada IARD subscribes over Cdn$1.6 billion in insurance policies through ING Groupe Commerce, ING Halifax and ING Western Union, ranking second among property and casualty insurers. The Company employs 3,200 people in Canada and offers integrated financial services through its network of 2,200 brokers.

About CIPA

The annual CIPA program was developed in 1992 to underline efficiency and innovation in the use of information technology in each of the following seven categories: Departmental/Divisional Excellence, E-Commerce, Enterprise-wide Excellence, Government, Institutions, Organizational Transformation, and Small Business. This year, close to 200 candidacies from leading companies and organizations across Canada were received.

About COGNICASE

COGNICASE is among the North American leaders in the implementation of business solutions that leverage information technology, with offices in several major North American and European business centers. Based on its pragmatic approach, productivity tools, international IT engineering and hosting center and critical mass of business and technology experts, COGNICASE offers innovative solutions that contribute to the success of its customers. Its solutions include: implementation of turnkey e-business solutions, ASP services, re-engineering of existing applications for e-business, technology configuration management, as well as project management and business process improvement consulting services.