iSKY, Zentropy Partners to Develop Customer Focused E-business Solutions for Fortune 1000 Clients

Business Wire, Oct 18, 2000

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

LAUREL, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2000

iSKY, a leader in outsourced customer care, today announced a strategic partnership with Zentropy Partners, a worldwide digital consulting and development company leveraging new digital commerce, technology, and marketing business models, to jointly develop customer focused e-business solutions. Both companies are affiliated with The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG).

The alliance will allow both companies to represent and market each other's products and services. Zentropy Partners will add unmatched business and technology consulting, Web site design and development, online advertising and marketing capabilities to iSKY's real-time customer care, strengthening its customer-centric approach. Zentropy Partner's clients gain access to iSKY's data-driven, multi-channel communications technology to maximize customer satisfaction via e-mail, live text chat, collaborative browsing, voice over Internet protocol, telephone and fax.

"The global marketplace is expanding and that gives dissatisfied customers new options for dealing with poor service," said iSKY President and CEO Richard T. Hebert. "There's no doubt that responsive, proper customer care is critically important to the success of any company. Our strategic alliance with Zentropy Partners strengthens our capacity to provide the best customer relationship management available, while affording Zentropy Partners and its clients the piece of mind that their customers will remain their customers."

"Zentropy Partners is extremely excited about the synergies that are created through the iSKY relationship," stated Eric Bragg, Director of Sales & Marketing. "We deliver measurable value to our clients by developing & implementing strategies focused around building robust interactive channels designed to strengthen and grow our client's customer relationships. iSKY's expertise in designing and delivering highly focused customer relationship and retention solutions will significantly enhance the value proposition for clients. iSKY's industry specific customer relationship management solution maps very well to Zentropy's industry vertical focus. This will allow us to bring business and marketing expertise to our clients, a balanced, best-of-breed approach that is unique in the marketplace."

About iSKY

iSKY provides outsourced, real-time, data-driven customer care and relationship management to Fortune 1000 companies and e-businesses seeking to maximize customer value. The company creates industry-specific acquisition, retention and cross-sell programs supported by interactive one-to-one communications and dynamic data collection and analysis to transform customer care into a strategic business advantage. iSKY Customer Relationship Associates execute these inbound and outbound programs via fully integrated, Web-enabled communications including real-time text chat, e-mail, voice over Internet protocol, telephone and facsimile. iSKY was founded in 1984 as Sky Alland and is headquartered in Laurel, Maryland. For more information, visit iSKY's Web site at http://www.iSKY.com.

About Zentropy Partners

Zentropy Partners (www.zentropypartners.com) works with national and global Fortune 1000 and dot-com companies to conceive, build and market digital businesses. Its services include business consulting, Web site development, online marketing and customer relationship management.

The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and has domestic offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Miami and St. Louis, and international offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg, London, Lyon, Paris, Copenhagen, Geneva and Toronto. Zentropy Partners' clients include General Motors, Microsoft, Nautica Brands, Unilever, Brooks Brothers, The Coca-Cola Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Reebok International.

Zentropy is affiliated with The Interpublic Group of Companies. IPG's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol:IPG); more information is available on the company's Web site at www.interpublic.com.