Center for Work and Income Streamlines Employment Services and Reduces Costs with IBM, Siebel Public Sector, and Ordina; Case Management System Enables 3,500 Agents to Deliver Efficient and Effective Service to 750,000 Citizens Annually

Business Wire, Nov 29, 2005

ARMONK, N.Y. & SAN MATEO, Calif. -- IBM and Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEBL) today announced that the Center for Work and Income (CWI) in the Netherlands is using IBM, Siebel Systems, and Ordina as the platform for its case management system. Last year, CWI replaced its outdated customer management system with Siebel Public Sector and is now delivering more efficient and effective service to citizens who need employment services.

The Center for Work and Income (CWI: Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen) in the Netherlands is the country's administrator of social services and a trusted advisor for people seeking employment. CWI counsels job seekers on how to find work, matches them to employers with job openings, and distributes job permits. When necessary, CWI also assists its customers--unemployed workers--in applying for unemployment or other social benefits. Today more than 3,500 CWI advisors and consultants at more than 120 offices provide services to approximately 750,000 citizens per year.

CWI is the first point of contact in the work and income program, so it is critically important for CWI advisors to effectively manage customer information and efficiently route and share it with partner organizations. Its legacy customer management system, however, did not extend to partners, required the use of slow and inefficient manual processes, and was increasingly costly to upgrade and maintain. In 2003, it became clear that the old system could not be enhanced and extended in a cost-effective way to meet CWI's vision of service excellence.

To reach its goal, CWI developed a business case for a state-of-the-art case management system, known internally as SONAR. The system was designed to meet several key business requirements, including:

--Support for simple and intelligent workflow between all partners in the work and income chain, replacing manual processes with electronic ones

--Customer focus, including support for a single, up-to-date, and accurate customer record across the work and income chain--a key to prompt, effective, and personalized service

--Multichannel access, including online availability to customer information from a variety of portals

--Ease of use for enhanced service and reduced training time, including functionality to advise and alert consultants and other service providers

--Enhanced efficiency, including automatic data capture for reporting purposes and simplified administration of all reference data, forms, templates, and messages

"We needed a new, more flexible customer management platform that would allow us to reduce the costs and time of administration, development, training, and bringing new features and services to market," said Solke Munneke, Program Manager, CWI. "We also needed a platform that would support our expert consultants and extend to all our partners, helping them to work together to provide the highest levels of service. The IBM, Siebel, and Ordina solution helps us control administration costs, while freeing our consultants from paperwork and giving them more time to counsel our customers."

Based on its requirements in 2004, CWI evaluated proposed solutions from several IT vendors, including Oracle and SAP, before choosing Siebel Public Sector as the core customer-facing software applications for the SONAR system. Deciding factors included the richness of functions and capabilities that Siebel Public Sector offered out of the box. CWI also saw exceptional value in the solution's flexible and expandable architecture, which allowed for integration with diverse systems and portals as well as reuse of data and possible future expansion across the Dutch Social Security system. Moreover, the team of IBM, Siebel, and Ordina presented a safe choice based on extensive customer references and proven ability to help government organizations improve their citizen services while operating more efficiently.

The combined team of Siebel, IBM Business Consulting Services, and Ordina offered a complete solution that met CWI's budget needs and implementation time frame. IBM led the development of the Siebel applications, including over 30 interfaces to internal systems and to external systems of other social security organizations, drawing on its deep process transformation expertise to ensure that the applications were fully optimized for the transformed CWI "business of tomorrow."

The selection by CWI builds on the expanded alliance between Siebel Systems and IBM from April of this year. Under the terms of the agreement, Siebel and IBM agreed to sell and market Siebel Public Sector software as a component of IBM's Integrated Case Management solution. The two companies have also been collaborating on key product development initiatives to better meet evolving industry requirements for one of their largest vertical markets.

About IBM Solutions for Social Services and Social Security

IBM is one of the largest providers of solutions to social services and social security organizations around the world. The IBM Global Social Segment is a dedicated team of subject matter experts, solution developers, and industry consultants that are focused on the social services and social security industry. IBM has invested in a portfolio of industry solutions and thought leadership to help organizations take advantage of global best practices in social programs. The alliance with Siebel Systems in the IBM Global Social Segment represents an expansion of IBM's existing Integrated Case Management solution, complementing IBM's existing portfolio of alliances. To obtain additional information on the IBM Global Social Segment, IBM Integrated Case Management solution, or any of IBM's other services, view the IBM Web site at www.ibm.com/government/socialsegment.>