Interface Software's Eighth Straight Growth Quarter Best in Company History
More Than 50 Percent Growth in 2001 and 14 Wins in First Quarter 2002 Demonstrate Increasing Demand for CRM in the Professional Services Industry
OAK BROOK (IL), April 29, 2002: Interface Software, the leading provider of client relationship management (CRM) solutions for professional services firms, today announced the company executed 14 wins in the quarter ending March 31, 2002—bringing the company's customer total to well over 300 and making it the company's best quarter ever. Among the wins were two management-consulting firms, three accounting and consulting firms and nine legal firms. Interface Software attributes the strong Q1 to burgeoning demand for InterAction, its flagship CRM software.
"In professional services firms, high visibility of complex client relationships is a critical part of doing business," explained Chitra Mitra, senior analyst at Giga Information Group, in a recent research brief titled "Few Choices For Complex Relationship Management, But the Future Looks Brighter". "Traditional CRM applications fail to address complex client relationship management challenges faced by professional services companies such as legal, accounting, management consulting, engineering consulting, investment banking, or venture capital firms."
"A key part of our business strategy is aggressive growth by acquisition," said Ross Mullenger, National IT Director for Numerica Group, an accounting and consulting firm integrator, one of the U.K.'s fastest growing companies and a new Interface Software customer. "In order to execute this strategy effectively, professionals from each firm brought under the umbrella must be able to immediately leverage the larger entity's collective business relationships to source new business and drive bottom line revenue. InterAction is the solution that will allow us to do that—we consider InterAction critical to our success."
A key value add InterAction brings to professional services organizations centers around its ability to drive Relationship Intelligence. Relationship Intelligence is highly private knowledge that reveals the unique and complex connections between people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise, empowering professionals to leverage who and what they know to attract new business, differentiate themselves and enhance client service. InterAction creates this Relationship Intelligence by integrating content from other systems, such as accounting, human resource and project and contact management applications, to present one comprehensive view of each client or prospect. Marketing professionals utilize Relationship Intelligence to conduct highly efficient marketing campaigns.
"Like manufacturers, services firms are becoming more client-focused and more savvy in terms of the technology they use to complement their businesses, paving the way for the popularity of CRM solutions," said Nathan Fineberg, president and chief executive officer for Interface Software. "We think our growth indicates the potential in the $1/2 trillion services market for a CRM solution like ours that offers a different value proposition than traditional CRM products, which are developed for product-based companies." Fineberg continued, "Before coming to us, many of our customers have considered attempting to customize a traditional CRM application and found that option to be labor intensive and costly."
In terms of technology development, the company announced the availability of InterAction 4.5 during Q1, 2002. InterAction 4.5 drives greater return on investment for users via Microsoft Outlook and Web integration, new data quality tools and other performance enhancements.
About Interface Software
Interface Software is the leading provider of CRM solutions enabling professional services firms to create the Relationship Intelligence they need to generate new business and enhance client service. Its flagship product, InterAction, is a flexible and uniquely designed platform that delivers this Relationship Intelligence throughout the organization, quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. Relationship Intelligence is a firm-wide asset that reveals the unique and complex connections between people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise, empowering professionals to leverage who and what they know to uncover new revenue opportunities, differentiate themselves from the competition and enhance client service. InterAction is internet-enabled, allowing professionals to view information however they choose-through knowledge management platforms, corporate portals, intranets, extranets and wireless devices. For more information please visit Interface Software's website at www.interaction.com.