Open Systems Advisors, Inc. Presents Crossroads Common Sense Award To The Prudential Insurance Company of America.

Business/Technology Editors

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 1999

Open Systems Advisors, Inc. (OSA) today presented its annual Crossroads Common Sense Award to The Prudential Insurance Company of America at OSA's seventh annual Crossroads Conference in Palm Springs, CA (http://www.crossroads-osa.com).

The Crossroads Common Sense Award is inspired by the words of American revolutionary Thomas Paine in his landmark pamphlet, "Common Sense." The award acknowledges a rule of reason over precedent, and a vision well beyond the present day. Open Systems Advisors awards the prize annually at the Crossroads Conference to the team that has bucked conventional wisdom and shown the power of common sense in action.

OSA President Nina Lytton said Prudential was selected for the award because of its exceptional ability to partner the business side of the organization with the technology side. "We haven't yet seen another company that has engaged the business side as effectively as Prudential in the ongoing evolution of technology applications.

"Prudential has been uniquely successful in partnering business and technology, making the company well-poised to capitalize on new opportunities in this ever-changing business landscape. More organizations should understand and adopt Prudential's highly successful approach," said Lytton.

Paul Travers, a vice president in Prudential's Operations & Systems area, said that partnering business and technology in the development process is not new to Prudential. "In our development of an automated rules information system, we raised the bar in optimizing our collaborative partnerships. We now have expert business processors creating and maintaining application business rules code allowing our systems developers in IT to concentrate on technical issues of infrastructure. Both teams are able to focus on and own the development in their areas of expertise. Joint application development was very important to us."

Doris Cattie, a technology project manager for Individual Financial Services at Prudential, added that the company utilized Blaze software to capture information from company business policies, practices and procedures and then transfer that data into an easy-to-create, -read, and -maintain business rules format.

Howard Frost, a systems director in Individual Financial Services at Prudential, pointed out that a business/technology partnership brings much-need cross-functional benefits. "Utilizing optimized development partnerships is especially important in customer service applications requiring a knowledge exchange of complex and constantly changing business concepts and rules so that we can provide our customers and sales professionals with the latest tools and knowledge," said Frost.

The Crossroads Conference brings together the innovators in new technology adoption and a few dozen of the most promising new products. It's an intimate, intensive gathering with no-holds-barred discussions from the front-lines--the kind of probing conversation that occurs only among peers with an equally strong stake in driving new solutions. For additional information, contact the company at: Open Systems Advisors, Inc., 268 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116, 617/859-0859; http://www.crossroads-osa.com

Prudential, with $362 billion in assets managed and administered as of September 30, 1999, is one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States and is among the largest financial institutions in the world. Prudential has and serves more than 30 million customers worldwide, offering a variety of products and services, including life insurance, property and casualty insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement related investments and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, and real estate and relocation. Prudential is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Visit the Prudential Web site at http://www.prudential.com.

Founded in 1989, Open Systems Advisors, Inc. (OSA) provides a real-world perspective on using new technology in business. OSA's research is based on an ongoing and in-depth dialogue with hundreds of seasoned IT executives and business leaders who are using emerging technologies to achieve business results. OSA reports the Crossroads Decisions, awards the Crossroads A-List and produces the Crossroads Conference.

(R)Crossroads is a registered trademark, and (TM)Crossroads A-List and (TM)Crossroads Decisions are trademarks of Open Systems Advisors, Inc.; any other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.