Fortune 100 Companies Endorse e.Business - Survey Identifies Key Features of e.Business Web Sites - survey by Actuate Corp - Internet/Web/Online Service Information

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Oct 18, 1999

Overwhelming endorsement of e.Business by the nation's most valuable companies was announced Monday by Actuate Corporation, the pioneer in e.Reporting for e.Business. As the Internet has become the default tool for operating a business, more than 90 percent of Fortune 100 companies responding to a recent survey said they currently use e.Business Web sites to link corporate operations to customers, partners and employees.

In the survey, Fortune 100 companies were asked to identify the single most essential feature of an e.Business Web site. Three quarters of those companies responding to the survey listed integration with application databases as the critical component. An invaluable infrastructure tool for e.Business, Actuate is designed to automatically create and manage customized business content - from any data source - on a company's Web site.

Other Fortune 100 e.Business conclusions established by the survey include the following:

--All respondents said that, within three years, 75 percent of the content on their e.Business Web sites will come from databases, ERP applications or other data sources

--Nearly 60 percent list personalization as the second most essential feature of their e.Business Web sites

--As for managing content on their e.Business Web sites, greater than 50 percent point to the delivery of user-friendly information as a key component of their e.Business Web site

"Web-based business-to-business and business-to-consumer communication is the backbone of corporate operations, a trend as true today as it will be tomorrow, and well into the next millennium," said Nico Nierenberg, chairman and CEO, Actuate. "Early on, Actuate - for the benefit of its many customers and partners - recognized this significant business development and since that time has emerged a leader in facilitating e.Business for large and small companies alike."

The survey was conducted by Quality Resource Associates, Sunnyvale, California, at the request of Actuate.

Actuate Corporation, the pioneer in e.Reporting for e.Business, enables companies to differentiate their offerings by extending the value of information across the entire customer life-cycle, creating a more loyal customer base and giving them the edge in the ever-competitive e.Business world. The Actuate e.Reporting Suite 4 is the first-ever solution that automates the creation and delivery of structured, personalized content, providing tens of thousands of users with instant access to high-resolution, customized business information that is seamlessly integrated into a company's e.Business Web site.

Actuate's customers include the world's largest .com, financial services, telecommunications, health care and media companies. Software vendors reselling Actuate solutions include Ariba, Aspect Development, Clarify, InterNetworking Solutions, PeopleSoft, Siebel, and Vantive. Founded in 1993, and headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., Actuate has offices worldwide. For more information on Actuate, visit the company's Web site at http://www.actuate.com.