Avanade and GaleForce Solutions Offer Enterprise CRM for Financial Services Sector; Strategic Partnership Delivers a Highly Tailored Version of Microsoft CRM Expressly for Financial Services Providers

Business Wire, June 23, 2005

SEATTLE -- Avanade(R) Inc., a leading global technology integrator for Microsoft(R) solutions, today announced that it is partnering with GaleForce Solutions(R), an award-winning provider of Microsoft CRM-based software for the financial services sector. Together, the partners offer a joint solution -- Avanade Enterprise CRM for Financial Services(TM) -- comprising software modules and services that provide financial institutions with breakthrough value by leveraging Microsoft CRM and Office System applications.

The partnership between the two companies combines expertise, assets and resources to bring to market a cost-effective, easy to use, high-performance CRM solution for the financial services sector. Avanade Enterprise CRM for Financial Services builds on GaleForce Solutions' industry-specific extensions and enhancements to core Microsoft CRM technology and strengthens the offering with Avanade's experience, expertise and assets in the full range of Microsoft solutions, services, platforms and development tools.

Avanade's team will resell, design and deploy the solution, applying expertise gained helping financial services customers use Microsoft technologies to achieve their business goals. In addition, the Avanade consultants trained on the GaleForce CRM application will continue to develop new assets to address the unique and changing business needs of our financial services customers.

"Together, Avanade and GaleForce Solutions combine the right people and expertise, tools and geographic reach to offer CRM solutions that deliver integrated business insight to help financial services organizations increase value to their clients," said John Fraissinet, CEO of GaleForce Solutions. "We believe this alliance offers an alternative that is truly world-class, in terms of the technology and benefits delivered to our financial services clients."

The American Banking Association indicated financial institutions' spending on CRM is expected to grow by more than six percent annually over the next few years, faster than the general level of all other IT spending. (Doug Johnson et. al., "CRM Revisited: Has Its Time Come?" American Bankers Association (May 26, 2004)).

"Avanade's Enterprise CRM for Financial Services solution encapsulates our experience with large-scale Microsoft CRM implementations. By joining forces with GaleForce Solutions, we have created a practical CRM solution to drive sales and build customer loyalty," said Kim Gable, general manager, Avanade Microsoft Business Solutions Practice in the US. "This is just one example of how Avanade's repeatable, ready-to-use assets can decrease solution implementation time and reduce integration costs by easing integration of our solutions with existing systems."

Extensive Functionality and Global Delivery Capabilities to Enhance Customer Management

Customers that leverage the Avanade Enterprise CRM for Financial Services(TM) solution will find support for industry and company specific business processes, workflow, policies and practices, in a CRM solution designed to provide an integrated view of high-value clients.

Relationship-specific modules address unique line-of-business needs for tools including relationship profiling and insight, quote and deal management, marketing and Microsoft Office System-based access to CRM data.

--Wealth Management module: Financial advisors can manage the extensive detail involved in wealth management, and offer high net worth individuals intelligent, personalized counsel for protection and growth of assets, tax and retirement planning and related matters of personal finance.

--Commercial Banking module: Commercial lenders gain insight into customers' product and service usage at any point of contact in any channel, creating a platform for interaction based on deep customer knowledge.

--Investment Banking module: Tailored for the complex nature of multi-entity investment relationships involved in mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring, the Investment Banking module also supports banks' investor advisory services.

--Retail Banking module: This component gives banks a holistic view of customer information, revealing opportunities to cross-sell as well as to reinforce relationships for competitive advantage.

About GaleForce Solutions

GaleForce Solutions(R), a privately held and venture-backed company, has leveraged core Microsoft customer relationship management technology to create GaleForce CRM for Financial Services -- designed specifically to meet the unique requirements of managing and optimizing high value financial services clients. With GaleForce CRM for Financial Services, Account Managers and their organizations gain the unmatched advantage of a low risk, easy-to-use client management solution that establishes a life-time view of the customer, supports personalized client service, increases sales force productivity, reduces customer churn and increases market share. GaleForce Solutions is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, GaleForce Solutions has offices in the US and Canada, and can be found on the Internet at www.galeforcesolutions.com.