Avanade® Introduces Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 3.0 Solutions for Lasting Customer Relationships; Offerings for Call Centers, Financial Services, and Health Plans Unify the Customer Experience across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service

Business Wire, Dec 6, 2005

SEATTLE -- Avanade Inc., a leading global technology integrator for Microsoft enterprise solutions, today announced the availability of their Enterprise CRM solutions for health plans, financial services and customer care, leveraging the highly anticipated Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 product.

"Customers are looking for smart, flexible CRM solutions that support the way they do business. With the launch of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Avanade is excited to bring to market our suite of enterprise-ready CRM applications that address the needs of customer-focused businesses, including health plans, financial services, and call centers," said Mike Pazak, vice president of Enterprise Business Solutions at Avanade. "Our alliances with GaleForce Solutions and Genesys, an Alcatel Company, enable us to offer comprehensive solutions that provide our customers with breakthrough value by leveraging Microsoft CRM to gain a competitive advantage."

Avanade takes a unique approach to its enterprise-ready CRM solutions by integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 technology, which is highly tailored to meet the specific demands of the customer's business, with the customer's existing application investments. The results are cost-effective CRM solutions that work the way employees expect them to, support the way companies do business, and run the way IT staff expects technology to run. Avanade's new health plan solution and the release of the financial services and customer care solutions on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 are designed to capitalize on the enhanced product capabilities, including marketing automation, reporting, and analytics.

"Avanade has proven the enterprise capabilities of Microsoft CRM and has shown a strong understanding of the business needs in the industries it serves," said Brad Wilson, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. "When it comes to customer-centric applications, the company has exhibited technical prowess, business acumen, and global presence. That's why Avanade is a key partner for enterprise-scale deployments of Microsoft CRM 3.0."

New Solution Offering for Health Plans

In the health care sector, business decision-makers are faced with the need to reduce costs, provide better customer service, and enable compliance with a host of regulatory requirements. Responding to this challenge, Avanade is introducing the Enterprise CRM for Health Plans solution that provides a complete and consistent view of individual plan members at every point of contact. The Avanade solution uses familiar and easy-to-use desktop productivity applications as an interface to industry-specific functions.

"The health care industry's complexity and the personal nature of health plan membership demand software that lets service representatives take care of members first," said Paul Smolke, managing director-Health Care, Microsoft Dynamics. "Microsoft CRM 3.0 is designed to support lasting relationships with clients, and Avanade understands the value to be gained from taking advantage of the Microsoft technology platform to achieve that goal more quickly."

Enterprise CRM for Financial Services(TM) and Customer Care on Dynamics CRM 3.0

Avanade Enterprise CRM for Financial Services(TM) supports industry- and company-specific business processes, workflow, policies, and security requirements, and provides a comprehensive view of high-value clients. Avanade pairs its expertise designing and integrating Microsoft systems for the enterprise with partner GaleForce Solutions' focus on the financial services industry, to deliver customer relationship management systems expressly for companies in the sector. Their solutions for wealth management, capital markets, and commercial and retail banking were crafted to allow each company to build a solution that exactly matches its needs through a combination of tailor-made line of business functionality, pre-built integrations, and add-on modules, plus a development platform that can be used to further tailor the solution to work exactly the way users need it to work.

"The enhancements in Microsoft CRM 3.0 give GaleForce Solutions and Avanade a tremendous opportunity to deliver the tools and systems that will help financial services organizations deliver maximum value to their clients," said John Fraissinet, CEO of GaleForce Solutions. "By linking tools for managing client relationships and improving team productivity with the Microsoft systems that are essential to our customers' operations, we empower financial institutions to transform the relationships between Financial Advisors and their clients."

The Avanade Enterprise CRM for Customer Care solution integrates Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 with Genesys contact center technology, business processes, and legacy databases to provide clients with a complete view of the customer at every point of contact through a familiar, easy-to-use interface to help make the most of each customer interaction.

"Avanade leverages our Genesys Gplus Adapter for Microsoft CRM to provide customers seamless, turn-key integration between Microsoft CRM and our contact center solutions," said Judie Beshansky, Genesys Alliance Director for Microsoft. "Avanade's Enterprise CRM for Customer Care solution enables companies to maximize their CRM and call center customer service investments by providing superior levels of integration, familiar application interfaces, and proven deployment success."