Cognicient Bridges the Gap Between Market Research and Business Intelligence.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 29, 2003

While companies clamor for more and better customer intelligence, the traditionally separated worlds of Market Research and Business Intelligence have kept data on customer attitudes and behavior apart. This has led to unclear and incomplete customer understanding. Armed with a unique vision, Cognicient, was launched June 25th 2003 to solve this problem and dramatically increase the return on market research and business intelligence investments by converging these two business "silos."

According to Co-founder and Partner, Mike Page, "The common problem faced by the majority of businesses is that some decisions are based on the behavioral and demographic data available to the business intelligence teams, while other decisions are based on the attitudinal data available to the market research teams. This results in an incomplete picture of the customer at the cost of increased effort and redundancy. The market research agencies want to deploy their results more widely throughout the organization. The business intelligence vendors want richer data to increase the utility of their offerings. And, most importantly, companies want a more holistic understanding of their customers. Cognicient is able to bring these forces together by offering strategic consulting, assessments, design and implementation services that integrate these multiple data streams, effectively "mine" from these rich resources, and deploy 'holistic' data into truly valuable business intelligence."

Kenneth Elliott explains why Cognicient was founded: "Through our experience in market research and data mining, we recognized the growing need to combine, manage and use attitudinal and behavioral data together for deeper intelligence. Cognicient is responding to this need by providing data fusion, data management and analytic services that are focused on the intricacies of handling attitudinal and behavior data. And because we are an independent company -- not tied to any software or research supplier -- clients enjoy the flexibility to bid out research and leverage or select their own technologies."

Founders of Cognicient have a combined total of 23 years experience in the market research and business intelligence industries. Ken was formerly Vice President of Solution Development for SPSS leading the company's launch of several analytic solutions and delivering custom analytic solutions for global customers. Mike was most recently the Senior Vice President of Client Service technology for Research International, responsible for development and deployment of technologies to enhance the delivery and use of market research results for their clients. Both partners have spoken at leading industry conferences on issues related to the handling and deployment of market research data and use of data mining techniques for Analytical Customer Relationship Management (A-CRM).

Cognicient services include:

-- Convergent Data Management - Cognicient acquires data from

your market research supplier and internal systems, prepares

the data, loads it into a common relational database and makes

it accessible through the client's own secure interface.

-- Convergent Business Intelligence - Services to integrate

customer attitudinal data into a business intelligence system

that signals changes to business performance before it occurs,

allowing the company to take proactive action to avoid

performance declines.

-- Convergent Data Mining - Integration of predictive customer

data - attitudes and intentions - into the client's

descriptive and predictive models to improve promotional

campaign performance through more effective targeting.

-- Convergent Research Assessment - A "roadmap" for converging

your market research and business intelligence silos,

including an evaluation of the impact of doing so on the

organization.

To obtain complimentary copies of Cognicient white papers on the subject of Convergent Research, or for more information, contact www.cognicient.com, or call Mike Page at:

Tel: [phone] ext 82

Cell: [phone]

About Cognicient:

Cognicient is an independent, privately-held company founded in 2003. The Company serves clients in the US and internationally through its headquarters office in the metropolitan Chicago area, an office in New York, and affiliates in the UK and other European countries. Cognicient's mission is to promote the convergence of attitudinal and behavioral data for sharper customer understanding. Our goal is to empower our clients with truly holistic customer intelligence, while increasing the company's return on their existing investments in market research and business intelligence.