Business Objects Strengthens Global Consulting Capabilities With Appointment of Phil Solk as Group Vice President, Worldwide Professional Services

Business Wire, Jan 15, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 2002

New Role Will Help Customers Increase Strategic Value of

Business Intelligence Investment

Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that it has named Phil Solk to the position of group vice president, worldwide professional services. In this newly created position, Solk will focus on globalizing the professional services operation, as well as providing new solutions that will increase the value of business intelligence inside and outside a customer organization. He will report to John Olsen, president and COO of Business Objects.

As business intelligence emerges as one of the most strategic and important investments for successful businesses today, it is critical that companies leverage a strategic consulting partner that is closely aligned with their business objectives. Consulting plays a crucial role in ensuring success by minimizing risk while providing rapid return on an investment. Solk will bring a renewed focus on sharing technological best practices with customers and partners on a global scale, as well as increasing executive involvement to solidify relationships that will help customers and partners obtain an understanding of their issues from a business perspective.

"I am very pleased to have Phil Solk join the Business Objects team," said John Olsen, president and COO of Business Objects. "As business intelligence continues to play a more central role in companies around the world, our customers are looking for ways to create customized and highly efficient solutions to help them leverage their information assets. Phil's experience in building global consulting practices that emphasize customized solutions will help our customers turn their business intelligence deployments into powerful competitive weapons that can cut costs and improve customer satisfaction."

"I am excited to join the industry leader in business intelligence," said Solk, group vice president of worldwide professional services. "The true success of a company is measured by the satisfaction of its customers and is only achieved when customers and partners realize substantial business benefits. The globalization of our professional services organization will allow us to meet the needs of our expanding customer base. As leading companies make BI solutions the centerpiece of their business strategy, new solutions offered by the professional service organization will help our customers make BI a true competitive weapon."

Solk has over twenty years of experience in developing global customer service organizations and has helped companies transform from a point of sale vendor to an enterprise solutions provider. Solk began his career at IBM and has helped establish several successful Silicon Valley startups. Most recently, Solk worked at Symantec where he created a worldwide services team in Europe, Australia, Japan, and the Americas.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business intelligence lets organizations access, analyze, and share information internally with employees and externally with customers, suppliers, and partners. It helps organizations improve operational efficiency, build profitable customer relationships, and develop differentiated product offerings.

The company's products include BusinessObjects(TM) 2000, the industry's leading integrated business intelligence toolset and platform; and BusinessObjects(TM) Analytics, an integrated suite of enterprise analytic applications.

Business Objects pioneered the modern BI industry in 1990 by inventing a patented "semantic layer" that insulates users from the complexity of databases. In 1995, the company was first to focus on enterprise-scale BI deployments and today supports customers with more than 20,000 users. The company moved aggressively to the internet in 1997 by pioneering the market for BI extranets, a market that it continues to lead today. In 2000, the company delivered the industry's first interactive mobile BI solution. Today, Business Objects continues to innovate, creating and delivering a unique vision for enterprise analytic applications.

Business Objects has more than 14,000 customers in over 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols Nasdaq:BOBJ and Euronext Paris (Sicovam code 12074). It is included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408/953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

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