Agresso Adds Powerful CRM Product For Services Sector

Agresso the ERP market's definition of agility, announced today the immediate availability of Agresso CRM, a customer relationship management solution aimed specifically at the mid-market services sector that Agresso has addressed for more than 20 years. Agresso CRM is being rolled out globally via either a standard, on-site license or software-as-a-service (SaaS) agreement.

The newest Agresso offering for sales and marketing staff is now offered stand-alone or it can be integrated into the Agresso Business World enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite that is in place at over 2,700 companies globally. It is 100% web based, and can run on multiple databases, operating systems, and stationery or mobile devices.

Agresso CRM is part of a larger corporate acquisition strategy that is intrinsic to the company's plans to grow to a $700M company by 2010. The company has been growing at 40% or more in 2007 on the strength of its flagship ERP product line, Agresso Business World, which was released with advanced features in late 2005. Shortly after the company began aiming its products exclusively at a fast-growing market segment that Agresso calls BLINC -- Businesses Living IN Change -- that require the unique, dynamic change features in Agresso's VITA architecture. Agresso CRM is the first in a series of "BLINC Solution Plug-Ins" and will provide integration to the ERP suite that is similar to that achieved by services-oriented architecture platforms.

Agresso Selects Acquired Technology + CRM Expert Hub Strategy

Agresso's parent, Unit4Agresso in the Netherlands, evaluated a wide scope of global CRM partnership strategies, including an alliance with Microsoft. Agresso had also acquired a robust European-based company with a strong CRM product, CCS of Spain, nearly a year ago that brought a base of 1,700 customers. Nearly 10 percent of those customers are in a SaaS model.

"We carefully reviewed the business requirements of our target market against all of our options to acquire the best possible CRM solution," said Jose Sanchez, managing director of Agresso Spain and a member of the Unit4Agresso Board. "It was our original intention to partner with Microsoft who we thought might come closest to meeting the CRM needs of mid-market, services organizations. However, neither the Microsoft CRM product line, nor any others we reviewed, were as robust as our acquired CCS technology. Plus, through an additional acquisition, we have assembled a large, sophisticated implementation team."

Beyond its rich functionality and favorable market position Agresso CRM offers five distinct advantages that lead against competitive software offerings:

• An ultra-thin web interface, including a web-based executive dashboard;
• Support for multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac (Microsoft CRM supports only Windows);
• Support for multiple databases, including Oracle, DB2, My SQL and SQL Server. (Microsoft CRM supports only SQL Server);
• A right-priced and better feature/function match-up to mid-market service company requirements – versus those of market leaders more oriented to tier one or manufacturing companies; and
• Agresso's proven low cost of ownership, both pre- and post- implementation, which continues to earn it superior third-party commendations by both technology analysts and customers alike for its ongoing change capabilities.

Agresso Establishes CRM Service Hub

Agresso has established a CRM Service Hub of more than 100 full-time professional services experts. This team collectively has decades of years of CRM experience selling, implementing and supporting Siebel and Microsoft products, as well as the original product underpinning Agresso CRM. The Agresso CRM Service Hub is based in Spain and will lead the roll-out of the new offering to Agresso subsidiaries and partners throughout the world.

"Our CRM Services Hub knows the competitive CRM technology landscape, the mid-market's requirements and the fastest and best ways to implement our solution," said Ton Dobbe, VP of product marketing, Unit4Agresso. "Best of all, we are integrating Agresso CRM as a BLINC ERP Solution Plug-In, meaning companies now can get the combination of world class CRM with ERP post-implementation agility."

Market Research Firm Cites Agresso CRM Product's Leadership

Agresso's new CRM solution is part of the larger acquired CCS ERP product line that has been evaluated independently against other vendors in the mid-market by European technology evaluation firm, Penteo ICT Analyst. Penteo provides independent expert analysis of market trends and market research, and issues vendor positioning diagrams about technology solutions and vendors. Penteo is headquartered in Spain, where it is the market leader, and has offices in London and Paris.

"Our Report ‘SMB Business Solutions Spanish Market 2007' positions CCS Agresso and its technology (which now includes Agresso CRM) as a ‘Star' in the Universe Map," said Albert Delgado, General Manager of Penteo. "Stars are players providing services, solutions or technology with remarkable viability, features and functionality performance. Penteo believes that ‘Stars' are sound players that lead their markets. Agresso is a leader in the Universe Map, as a result of a broad functional coverage for medium-sized businesses and strong support."

About Agresso
Agresso is a $225M enterprise resource planning (ERP) subsidiary of Netherlands-based Unit 4 Agresso (Dutch Stock Exchange EURONEXT-U4AGR) and one of the top five providers of ERP solutions for professional services and public sector organizations. Agresso offers a uniquely integrated data/process/delivery architecture designed specifically for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC) . Agresso is known as "The ERP Market's Definition of Agility" as it allows an unlimited amount of ongoing, post-implementation changes without the typical external IT costs and intervention that nets billions of dollars in revenue to the market leaders. Over 2,700 companies and organizations in 100 countries deploy Agresso Business World for both operational support and strategic management. The company's role-based, Web Services and Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) enabled solutions include: Financial Management, Human Resources and Payroll, Procurement Management, Project Costing and Billing, Reporting and Analytics and Business Process Automation.

SOURCE: Agresso