Press Release
- Date:
- Tuesday, April 25, 2000
- Contact:
- David Peikin
- Phone:
- (301) 918-0818
- Email:
- G1@schwartz-pr.com
Group 1 Teaming with USinternetworking on DataQuality.net - Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) for Real-time Customer Data Quality
Solution to Provide Appended Demographics and Worldwide
Lanham, MD — Group 1 Software (Nasdaq: GSOF) announced today that it is partnering with USinternetworking Inc. (Nasdaq: USIX), the leading Application Service Provider (ASP), to develop and manage Group 1's new DataQuality.net engine. A web-accessible portal, DataQuality.net will provide a broad variety of real-time, customer data quality and data enrichment solutions for e-commerce and enterprise-wide applications.
The highly available DataQuality.net offering will include real-time appended demographic information based on a customer's or prospect's geographic location. This will permit e-commerce companies to personalize each Web experience for greater sales effectiveness and to help establish lasting customer relationships. Since DataQuality.net will not rely on highly personal customer information, e-tailers can provide real-time target marketing without raising personal privacy concerns.
DataQuality.net will validate, correct, and/or format customer and prospect addresses for the United States, Canada, and over 200 countries worldwide. With the increasing globalization of e-commerce, this functionality will facilitate accurate, on time delivery of goods and services. Benefits of this highly scalable, secure offering include both substantial operational savings as well as increased sales and customer retention.
"We are excited to be teaming with USi to develop and host this state-of-the art Enterprise Information Portal," said Bob Bowen, CEO of Group 1. "This partnership will enable us to provide a highly robust infrastructure that can be trusted for mission critical customer data quality throughout a enterprise. The upcoming release of our Web-enabled software will allow companies to deploy the same infrastructure in their own networks. Combined with DataQuality.net, this offers our customers the highest flexibility in how they choose to utilize our value-added data quality solutions."
"USi is pleased to be working with Group 1 Software," said John Liccione, Vice President of E-Business Services at USinternetworking. "Their product will enhance the customer experience for e-commerce. We are pleased to provide the secure, managed environment that will support such a high quality, industry-wide application. DataQuality.net will improve the accuracy of e-commerce transactions on the Internet and enable e-businesses to develop a greater understanding of their customers by providing real-time enriched demographic profiles of site visitors."
Gene Alvarez, retail research analyst, Meta Group, added, "Despite the fact that e-commerce sales rose 120 percent in 1999, e-tailers continue to experience significant customer turnover, particularly since sites are not personalizing the shopping experience to proactively engage customers. By appending demographic information in real-time, DataQuality.net will enable e-tailers to create a targeted buying experience, thereby increasing customer retention and the 'stickiness' of their sites.
Beta testing of DataQuality.net will begin early this summer with general availability slated for Fall 2000. For more information on DataQuality.net or Group 1's e-commerce offerings, please contact Tim King, Group 1's Director of Product Management for e-Commerce, at 301-918-0346 or tim_king@g1.com.
Group 1 Software (NASDAQ: GSOF) is a leading provider of software for data quality, database marketing, electronic document composition applications, and direct marketing and mailing efficiency applications. Group 1 supports MVS, VSE, AS/400, UNIX (including Linux), Windows NT and other operating systems and various computers. Group 1 has offices throughout the United States and in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe. The company is also represented in Latin America, Asia, and Australia.
USinternetworking Inc. (NASDAQ:USIX) is a leading Application Service Provider delivering e-commerce and enterprise software as a service. The Company's iMAPSM portfolio of service offerings delivers the rich functionality of leading software from Ariba, BroadVision, Lawson, Microsoft, Niku, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Siebel as a continuously supported, flat rate monthly service via an advanced, secure global data center network.