KPMG Consulting and Kana Announce Strategic Alliance To Deliver Enterprise Relationship Management Solutions

Business Wire, Sept 19, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sept. 19, 2000

Combined KPMG Consulting and Kana Web-Architected Solution to

Manage Interactions and Relationships Among Customers,

Partners and the Enterprise

KPMG Consulting, LLC, a leading Internet integration services company, and Kana Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:KANA), a leading provider of enterprise relationship management (eRM) solutions for e-business, today announced a strategic alliance to deliver relationship management solutions to leading Global 2000 and dot-com companies.

The two companies began their relationship in March of 1999 when KPMG Consulting invested in Kana and deployed the Kana Service application in its Global Customer Support Center. More recently, KPMG Consulting deployed Kana Response, Kana's email management application, in its Global Knowledge Exchange. The companies have now extended the relationship by entering into a formal alliance agreement to develop and market the entire range of Kana's eRM solution, including all communications and business applications and the Kana eBusiness platform.

"This strategic alliance with Kana, one of the leading e-business vendors, enhances KPMG Consulting's position as a leading e-Services provider," said Michael Donahue, chief operating officer of KPMG Consulting. "Kana's products fortify KPMG Consulting's offerings in the eBusiness marketplace with its support for robust, multi-channel, web-architected solutions.

The KPMG Consulting-Kana alliance may enable companies to:

-- Implement an end-to-end eRM solution which leverages deep industry expertise
and e-business best practices

-- Share global views of their interactions and business relationships across
marketing, sales, and service functions

-- Build trust-based relationships with customers and partners by rapidly
delivering relevant, personalized and consistent information

-- Integrate online and traditional communication channels including Web,
phone, e-mail, fax, and the storefront to offer personalized service across all
channels

-- Increase customer and partner interaction without increasing costs

-- Move at Internet speed with Web-architected applications and eBusiness
platforms that scale to millions of users, are rapidly extensible and integrate
with existing systems.

KPMG Consulting and Kana are implementing solutions at several companies, including E*TRADE, CarsDirect.com and EthnicGrocer.

"To launch a retail site in today's environment, we knew that providing personalized service to our customers would be key to our success," said Venkat Raju, CTO and vice president of Engineering, EthnicGrocer.com. "KPMG Consulting and Kana provided us with a comprehensive solution that was up and running quickly. The combination of KPMG Consulting's integration expertise and Kana's Web-architected e-business applications allows us to proactively support our customers' needs, creating and nurturing loyal relationships with them."

KPMG Consulting recently chose Kana as a preferred eRM vendor in its customer management solution practice. KPMG Consulting has integrated Kana's web-architected platform and applications into its comprehensive customer interaction center solution. The solution integrates all channels of customer interaction -- voice, Web, e-mail and storefront -- to provide consistent and high-quality customer experiences every time. KPMG Consulting has the capability to implement the entire suite of integrated Kana products and will be enhancing its practice around Kana significantly over the next few months.

"KPMG Consulting has been on the forefront of developing solutions for premier e-businesses. This alliance with Kana allows us to deliver to our clients a comprehensive, integrated and scalable eRM solution," said Richard Wilcox, managing director, Financial Services, KPMG Consulting.

KPMG Consulting and Kana intend to build a 350-consultant practice and train over 150 business development and industry professionals through extensive internal and external education and marketing efforts. The two companies will focus initially on servicing joint clients in Financial Services, targeting the retail banking and brokerage industries, and High Tech, focusing on electronics, software and dot-coms. The alliance will quickly expand to Communications, Public Services and other sectors. Dedicated KPMG Consulting managing directors will be assigned in each industry across the major geographies and full-time alliance managers from each company will direct the relationship. Also, KPMG Consulting plans to install Kana in its major solution centers at various locations around the world.

"This alliance with KPMG Consulting is significant because it represents validation of the flexible, scalable, web-architected solutions that are the hallmark of Kana's leadership in the emerging eRelationship Management market," said Michael McCloskey, CEO, Kana. "Together, KPMG Consulting and Kana will continue to lead the industry with advanced solutions that empower businesses to better interact with customers and partners in the new e-economy."