Commence 2000 eCRM Solution Starts Shipping to Customers Worldwide.

OAKHURST, NJ--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

"Trade Up" Program Makes Upgrades Easy, More Economical For

Breakthrough in Customer Relationship Management Software

Commence Corporation today announced the general availability of its customer relationship management (eCRM) breakthrough solution, Commence 2000, and the shipment of several hundred "Trade Up" orders to existing customers.

Designed to help companies manage their business relationships with customers, vendors, suppliers and service partners, Commence 2000 provides an integrated suite of "out-of-the-box" applications including sales management and lead generation, help desk, time and billing, customer service, and contact management. The product enables growing businesses to capture, share and control vital corporate and customer information among multiple departments and job functions, and may be linked to the web.

At the same time, the company announced that it would continue to support the forerunner CRM tool Commence 4.1 as long as customer demand warrants, thus leveraging the wealth of vertical market applications already in use. Third parties and value added resellers have created hundreds of vertical applications using Commence 4.1, noted David Valentino, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Commence, and most of them are in the process of converting their applications to Commence 2000.

"We're are very pleased with the initial response from existing customers," Valentino said, "and anticipate an acceleration of conversions through the end of the year. We are also seeing a lot of interest from companies that have run out of steam with their contact managers, and from middle-market companies who see exceptional value in our per-seat cost of $299."

Software Dimensions, a Commence reseller in Oxford, North Carolina, has shipped construction-industry applications based on Commence 4.1 to over 500 customers. Company President David Currin expects that the new functionality and user interface of Commence 2000, plus its integration with Outlook 2000 and ODBC/OLE-DB support, will encourage many of Software Dimension's clients to migrate.

"The sales application will provide our customers with an opportunity to quickly incorporate new leads into their overall systems," said Currin. "The product also provides tremendous value with its ability to e-mail reports and calendar views directly to other people inside or outside the company."

A long-time customer of Commence is John Lovell, director of quality for Trimble Navigation, provider of world-renowned global positioning systems (GPS) equipment. Trimble recently increased its licenses to 70 copies of Commence 4.1, and by year-end Lovell expects to migrate all those users, plus add another 30, to Commence 2000.

"Today I do a great deal of exporting to Excel in order to share information via email. With Commence 2000, everything will be available on a web page," Lovell commented. "The ODBC support will eventually allow integration with our Oracle ERP system, eliminating manual imports all together. This feature made the decision to upgrade easy."

Trade Up To Commence 2000

Commence's new "Trade Up" program replaces industry-standard upgrade programs, providing a "blue book credit" to customers of prior versions who are upgrading to Commence 2000. This also enables single-user Commence Personal customers who wish to convert their systems to multi-user workgroup environments to do so easily and economically. The "Trade Up" approach is more simple and straightforward than the typical rebates or separate price list for upgrades.

Announced in May, Commence 2000 is currently shipping to customers worldwide. Commence 2000 runs on Windows 95, 98 and NT, and is currently available through Commence Corporation or from the company's Business Partner and International Distribution Channel. The per-seat cost is $299.00 with a server cost of $999.00, with volume discounts. A 60-day trial can be downloaded from the company's web site, www.commence.com.

Founded in 1988, Commence Corporation provides a family of customer relationship management (CRM) products and services for small to medium-sized businesses. The company services thousands of users through a worldwide distribution network with outlets in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. Commence maintains its headquarters at 1806 Highway 35, Oakhurst, NJ 07755; the company's web site is at www.commence.com.

Commence is a registered trademark of Commence Corporation. All other marks are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only.