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Twelve Progress Customers Named Laureates By
Computerworld Honors Program
Progress® OpenEdge™-Based Solutions at Church World
Service, DaimlerChrysler, First4Farming, Integrated Warehousing
Solutions, Kaiser Permanente, ZOZ Kielce, Parnassia, Pioneer
Investments, Sprint, Transitions Optical, Tropicana and
Wilke-Thornton Receive Honors
Boston, Mass. — April 14, 2003 —
Progress Exchange 2003 — The Progress Company, a business
unit of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS) and a leading
supplier of technology for building business applications, today
announced that 12 of its customers have been named Laureates for the
2003 Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Awards,
which recognize the world's most creative and innovative uses of
information technology in society.
Representatives from Progress Software Corporation and several of
the nominated companies attended a medal ceremony and black tie
dinner event in their honor held this past Sunday at San Francisco's
City Hall. During the formal ceremony, Progress' nominated partners
officially became part of the Computerworld Honors Global
Archive on Information Technology.
"The Computerworld Honors Medal of Achievement is
presented annually to men and women around the world who have made
outstanding progress to society through the visionary use of
information technology," said Patrick J. McGovern, Chairman of the
Computerworld Honors Chairmen's Committee and the founder of
International Data Group.
All 12 of the selected Progress-based applications were built
using the award-winning Progress® OpenEdge™ platform, which has
itself received accolades for its high functionality and low total
cost of ownership.
"We are pleased to see our industry-leading customers receive
recognition for their success in using our technology to achieve
their visions," said Joseph Alsop, chief executive officer and
co-founder of Progress Software Corporation. "Together, Progress and
its global network of application partners are in a great position
to meet the increasing demand for 'exact-fit' applications. The
combination of our partners' broad vertical domain expertise and our
low total cost of ownership offer companies the world's best
business applications. By simplifying the development, deployment
and management of these world-class business applications, companies
like the ones honored by Computerworld can successfully
compete and win on a local and global scale."
More than 2,000 ISVs and ASPs have built business-critical
applications with Progress products. The companies nominated for the
Computerworld Honors Awards each provide a unique value to
their end customers:
Church World Services was nominated in the
Government & Non-Profit Organizations Category and recognized
for its technology that manages worldwide transactions associated
with donations, accounting, and donor tracking. A state-of-the-art
donation and financial management system assures smooth processing
of the peak donation flows at holidays and after disasters, helping
to assure that a $70 million relief budget quickly gets into the
hands of those who need it.
DaimlerChrysler was nominated in the
Transportation Category and recognized for its higher level of
systems integration and real-time information access to its IT
infrastructure. Adoption of a messaging backbone and creation of an
extranet enables its major fleet services management division to
give all employees access to the same critical business data,
enhancing customer service.
First4Farming was nominated in the Environment,
Energy & Agriculture Category and recognized for its
business-to-business e-commerce trading facility. The world's first
integrated supply-chain management system for agriculture allows
farmers, processors, distributors and manufacturers to interact
electronically, dramatically increasing productivity while ensuring
compliance with the new regulatory requirements.
Integrated Warehousing Solutions was nominated
in the Manufacturing Category and recognized for its IRMS software.
Through collaboration, technology integration, reverse logistics and
the Internet, automated supply-chain management systems enable the
benefits of distance learning to rapidly spread from modest limits
within a single state to cover the entire country in just a few
months.
Kaiser Permanente was nominated in the Medicine
Category and recognized for its WISE application. A decentralized
purchasing automation system supports buyers and end users with
their own specialized needs for managing critical medical equipment
inventories in offices throughout California, while providing the
central accounting staff with the data they need to retain tight
financial control.
Parnassia was nominated in the Medicine Category
and recognized for improving cooperation and services between its
widely distributed care centers. Massive integration of the IT
infrastructures of seven formerly independent mental health
institutions reduces the number of actively-used applications from
600 to 50, paving the way for improved patient care and reduced
costs.
Pioneer Investments was nominated in the
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate Category and recognized for its
real-time international global transfer agency system. The
investment industry's first multi-currency, multi-lingual global
transfer agency system is capable of handling U.S. and European
funds. It also provides dramatic and continuing improvements in
transactional accuracy, increasing both productivity and customer
satisfaction.
Sprint was nominated in the Business &
Related Services Category and recognized for its customer
relationship management (CRM) solution. Consolidation of six
different local telephone divisions, each supported by completely
different systems, into a single business process and customer
relationship management system enables a single point of contact for
business customers.
Transitions Optical was nominated in the
Manufacturing Category and recognized for creating a comprehensive
business solution that dramatically increases market visibility,
allowing the business to reduce inventory cost and capital
investment by 70 percent.
Tropicana was nominated in the Manufacturing
Category and recognized for its CRS solution. The world's leading
producer and marketer of branded fruit juices processes 10,000
customer calls a month with the CRS solution, enabling the company
to get and respond to customer feedback rapidly, maintaining high
levels of customer satisfaction.
Wilke-Thornton was nominated in the Business
& Related Services Category and recognized for its CRS Anywhere,
Cyber CRS & Cyber ILS programs. Active management of customers
converts contact centers into proactive resources for customer-based
knowledge and marketplace data that can be leveraged and analyzed to
improve product research, performance, development, and enhance
customer relationships.
ZOZ Kielce was nominated in the Medicine
Category for their Web-based administration system Waldemar Kopys. A
network of 22 clinic-based systems supports the transfer of
healthcare management from the Polish national government to the
locality. These systems smooth insurance claim processing and reduce
data errors by 90 percent.
About the Computerworld Honors Program
Each year, the Computerworld Honors Chairmen's Committee
nominates organizations that are using information technology to
improve society for inclusion in the Computerworld Honors
online Archive and the Collections of the Academic Council. The
Academic Council represents the forty plus countries with case
studies in the Collection. Founded in 1988/89, the
Computerworld Honors Program searches for and recognizes
individuals who have demonstrated vision and leadership as they
strive to use information technology in innovative ways across ten
categories: Business and Related Services; Education and Academia;
Environment, Energy and Agriculture; Finance, Insurance and Real
Estate; Government and Non-Profit Organizations; Manufacturing;
Media, Arts and Entertainment; Medicine; Science; and
Transportation. For further information please contact Frank Potter,
associate director, Computerworld Honors Program (703)
481-1804.
About the Progress Company
The Progress Company simplifies the development, deployment,
integration, and management of the world's best business
applications. Progress and its 2,000 Application Partners offer more
than 5,000 Progress-based business applications that precisely fit
customer needs and deliver competitive advantage. Customers purchase
more than $5 billion annually in cost-effective software and
services from Progress and its partners.
Progress® OpenEdge™ platform enables its partners to deliver
lowest cost-of-ownership applications that are rapidly implemented
and easily integrated within and across the extended enterprise. The
Progress Company is an operating unit of Progress Software
Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) headquartered in Bedford, Mass., and may be
reached at http://www.progress.com/index.ssp
or +1-781-280-4000.
For More Information:
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