Centra Launches Customized Online Collaborative Solutions Specifically Designed for IT, Sales, HR and Marketing.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 2004

Combined Software and Service Approach Brings Best Practices and in-Market Experience Together to Support Collaborative Workflows Around Critical Business Processes

Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA), a leading provider of specialized application software and services for online business collaboration, today launched a series of solutions, comprised of a proven technology platform, an integrated learning content management system, business workflow tools, third-party software integration and professional services, that enable groups of people to work faster, smarter and more efficiently by automating mission-critical projects online. Based on best practices gained while working with more than 1,200 leading organizations worldwide, the Company is introducing four solution areas - Centra for Enterprise Application Rollouts, Centra for Sales Effectiveness, Centra for Collaborative Learning, and Centra for Customer Acquisition - that automate and facilitate the planning, execution and evaluation phases of mission-critical online business initiatives. By adopting these solutions, leading organizations around the globe have significantly lowered costs and increased productivity and revenue.

"No one doubts the need for solutions that improve the effectiveness of business processes and give organizations the ability to collaborate online. Based on input from hundreds of forward-thinking companies who use Centra every day, we have packaged tailored solutions that have delivered significantly higher adoption rates of enterprise applications, dramatically improved sales operations, appreciably enhanced blended learning and notably delivered more efficient marketing programs," said Paul R. Gudonis, CEO of Centra. "Each solution that we're introducing today offers integrated collaboration solutions that are based on actual customer implementations of Centra's technology and service capabilities."

Plan, Execute, Evaluate - Three Steps to Successful Online Business Initiatives

Centra has leveraged its experience by compiling best practices from its customers and integrating business workflows with a complete technology platform that delivers end-to-end online management solutions and addresses the three key phases of any online business initiative: planning, execution and evaluation. Specifically tailored for deploying enterprise applications, increasing sales effectiveness, effectively transferring knowledge throughout an organization's extended supply chain, and enhancing customer acquisition programs, Centra facilitates online collaboration that delivers increased business value and ROI.

"Centra is helping our organization address many important business issues - from sales readiness and cost reduction to change management associated with our proprietary applications; all critical initiatives that impact how our employees work and learn," said Ron Calderone, CIO of Reliant Pharmaceuticals. "Input from customers like us and eight years of in-market experience has resulted in a comprehensive suite of online productivity applications that benefit everyone - IT, business departments, and end-users, and this significantly contributes to an organization's bottom line regardless of industry or market sector."

Coordination, planning, content creation, management and archiving, ensuring user acceptance, effectively tracking progress and easily reporting results are all key steps that, if not done properly, can make or break the success of any online project. Centra's online business collaboration solutions include:

-- Centra for Enterprise Application Rollouts - Created for the

VP or Director of Change Management or IT Project Managers,

this solution is designed to save organizations millions of

dollars on a recurring basis by shortening application rollout

cycles and drastically lowering travel, facilities and telecom

costs associated with traditional rollout methods.

Organizations maximize their enterprise application investment

by increasing employee productivity through more targeted

training, less time out of the office, increased proficiency

and end-user adoption of the new business processes. This

solution enables customers to engage stakeholders during the

design phase, conduct project team meetings online,

communicate executive support and project updates, rollout

personalized training to thousands of employees through a

combination of self-service and live online learning, and

automate the gathering and reporting of key rollout progress

and effectiveness metrics.

-- Centra for Sales Effectiveness - Created for the VP of Sales

or Sales Operations, this solution is designed to assist sales

forces and channel partners to win more opportunities through

greater productivity and marketing intelligence. This solution

provides a unique competitive advantage by marshalling

corporate knowledge, best practices and resources along every

step of the sales cycle. This solution enables organizations

to accelerate field readiness when launching new products or

responding to competitive actions, deliver product and sales

methodology training, assess and track sales rep product

knowledge and competency, conduct online sales presentations

and meetings, provide individualized coaching sessions, launch

products, gain channel mind share and establish continuity by

creating a channel knowledge center and measuring channel

partner effectiveness.

-- Centra for Collaborative Learning - Created for the VP of

Human Resources, Chief Learning Officer or Director of

Training, this is designed as a complete eLearning delivery

solution for continuous individual development and accelerated

knowledge transfer. Centra's Collaborative Learning solution

provides capabilities that capture, share and manage

information and skills in a variety of formats to meet the

requirements of specific learners or job tasks. Centra enables

customers to gain knowledge of new products and services and

solves critical collaboration requirements around corporate

eLearning programs, corporate universities, new employee

orientation, soft skills training, executive education and HR

benefits and policy updates.

-- Centra for Customer Acquisition - Created for the VP of

Marketing or Director of Marketing Programs, this solution

will revolutionize the notion of "Web Marketing" with

effective, easy-to-use products and services that address

every aspect of educating prospects and acquiring new

customers. Centra's reliable and effective customer

acquisition solution automates high touch events, extends

marketing messages to prospective buyers and captures sales

leads. This solution delivers Webinars and eConferences,

facilitates online product launches, announcements and demos,

and broadcasts communications events and cost-effective online

user conferences.

"Our research shows that more than 40 percent of enterprise application implementations experience user adoption issues because of change management hurdles and poor implementation planning," said Bruce Richardson, Senior Vice President of Research for AMR Research, an independent research firm that provides analysis on the enterprise software sector. "The successful rollout of a large-scale enterprise application such as PeopleSoft, SAP, Oracle or Siebel needs to address more than just training. Centra's new solutions are offering customers a significant enhancement to Web conferencing tools by seamlessly integrating the collaborative processes that are critical to the success of their application rollout."

With Centra's four solution sets, the Company has delivered all of the necessary components - a proven collaboration platform, customized workflow tools, an integrated learning content management system, third-party integration capabilities and professional services- for completing the steps necessary for successful online collaboration projects. All solutions include Centra's hallmark Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology to realize significant savings over traditional teleconferencing services. In addition, Centra's solutions can be installed as a behind-the-firewall packaged application or accessed through Centra's secure ASP network. Key components of Centra's solutions include:

-- Proven Enterprise Technology Platform - Centra is designed to

meet increasing enterprise requirements for scalability,

performance and reliability through an enhanced server

architecture that supports load balancing, fail-over and

recoverability, and supports the growing need for company-wide

collaboration by delivering enterprise-class security,

including sophisticated features for system and user account

administration.

-- An Integrated Learning Content Management System - A key

element of Centra's solutions is the Centra Knowledge Center,

a highly customizable learning content management system. The

knowledge center offers 24x7 access to a searchable database 

of customized and third-party content, including initiative

and project requirements and plans, tutorials, recorded

training sessions and best practice FAQs to enable users to

quickly search, store, manage and deliver information in a

readily accessible, centralized location that can integrate

with any SCORM or AICC compliant library.

-- Business Workflow Tools - Workflow tools automate the tasks

that occur before, during and after live online events,

including centralized user and event administration, creation

wizards for easy event set up, registration, promotion, and

management, and detailed event system and user report

generation. Centra makes it easy for users to incorporate

online collaboration into their workday through the

integration with today's most popular office applications,

including Instant Messenger, MS Office and Lotus Notes.

-- Third Party Integration - Through Centra's API and Web

services toolkit, Centra's solutions integrate with database,

security and directory services, Learning Management Systems

and other enterprise applications.

-- Professional Services - Centra provides experienced

professional service capabilities for each of the key solution

areas. Centra's professional services are available to assist

in implementation, customization and change management

consulting; content development; event management services;

in-person and online training; system integration and

customization; infrastructure and success audits; third-party

application integration; content adaptation; education and

training and 24x7 phone technical support.

About Centra

Online business collaboration solutions from Centra create workforce efficiencies and enable organizations to share and exchange business-critical information with geographically distributed customers, partners, prospects and employees. Centra's solutions integrate real-time collaboration and departmental business processes with specialized applications that increase sales effectiveness, improve collaborative learning and accelerate enterprise application rollouts and customer acquisition initiatives. Currently available in 12 languages, Centra solutions can be deployed as on-site software or through its ASP service and are supported by an active ecosystem of value-added partners, including Siebel, PeopleSoft, SAP and Deloitte Consulting. Organizations across every major industry and market sector choose Centra, including Wyndham International, Weyerhaeuser, Underwriters Laboratories, BMW and Stanford University. Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, Centra serves a worldwide customer base throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit www.centra.com.

Centra is a registered trademark of Centra Software, Inc. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.