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Interface Software Announces InterAction® 5.1, InterAction Data Quality Services and InterAction® Contact Verifier™, Extending Company's Lead in CRM Data Quality and Usability

By ensuring high quality Relationship Intelligence and wider user acceptance and participation, these new offerings increase likelihood of CRM success, greater ROI and lower cost of ownership

OAK BROOK (IL), 22 September, 2003: Interface Software today announced the availability of InterAction 5.1, the latest version of the company's market leading Relationship Intelligence solution for professional services firms and similar relationship-based organizations. The company also announced the introduction of a new professional services offering, Data Quality Services, and a new optional module, InterAction Contact Verifier. Combined, the InterAction 5.1 release and the related module and services provide the most comprehensive CRM solution designed that ensures high data quality and application usability — two critical prerequisites to CRM success.

"Like all organizations implementing a CRM system, ensuring clean and reliable data for users is one of our greatest challenges," said Bridget O'Brien, managing director of marketing and corporate operations for the Boston-based investment bank, Adams Harkness and Hill Inc. "We initially selected InterAction, in part, because Interface Software was generations ahead of other CRM vendors in attacking the problem. With the introduction of InterAction 5.1, Data Quality Services and InterAction Contact Verifier, Interface Software has taken ownership of the issue and is widening its lead even further by providing more innovative and powerful tools for ensuring ongoing data quality."

Steve Jackson, chief information officer of management consulting firm PRTM's Atlantic Region, added, "It is critical to PRTM's business to have high quality data about our clients and industry contacts, and to seamlessly share this information globally among our partners and consultant teams. We selected InterAction because it is a superior platform for our complex contact and relationship management requirements."

Poor data quality is frequently cited as one of the primary reasons for CRM implementation failures. Interface Software has an established leadership position on this issue by building innovative data quality and data change management features and functionality directly into InterAction. "InterAction 5.1 and these related product and services offerings extend our lead in CRM data quality by reducing the time and expense associated with maintaining a high quality database initially, and on an ongoing basis," said David Cutler, Interface Software's director of product management.

Many CRM products integrate with Microsoft Outlook and other personal information managers (PIMs) and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). However, because end users' PIM and PDA use is not regulated by business rules, the data they contain ordinarily falls well short of corporate data quality standards. Accordingly, with hundreds or even thousands of users synchronizing their PIMs or PDAs with the centralized database, integration of these devices has emerged as one of the primary means by which bad data infiltrates the system, thereby threatening CRM's success. InterAction 5.1 overcomes these challenges by incorporating data change management functionality directly into the PIM/PDA synchronization process. "As long as end-user PIM/PDA synchronization plays a role in populating the CRM database, duplicate, miskeyed and otherwise inaccurate data will always be present and threaten the CRM implementation," said Cutler. "We've taken some of the most challenging processes associated with maintaining CRM data quality and translated them into sophisticated product features."

Moreover, because InterAction 5.1's data change management and optimization features are transparent and don't require any action on the part of end users, the CRM implementation is much more likely to succeed. For instance, the system enables you to categorize collections of contacts — e.g. Top 100 clients, key prospects or important referral sources — and apply business rules to manage them. So, if a professional adds a new client contact to his PIM or PDA, upon synchronizing with InterAction 5.1 the system's new Smart Connect™ feature will automatically know that the contact is a client, and subject it to the appropriate business rules in the centralized database. "End users don't have to do anything except store their contacts in Outlook, Lotus Notes, GroupWise or their handheld device of choice — as they always did," added Cutler. "InterAction's data change management tools take care of the rest."

To complement InterAction 5.1's core data quality and data change management functionality, the new InterAction Contact Verifier module lets the organization request updates directly from their clients or contacts. The module allows organizations to send contacts customized communications that display core business card elements including name, company, address, etc. Recipients are directed to an editable secure Web page that allows them easily to update their existing contact details and submit any changes directly to the InterAction database for real-time automatic updates. "This module helps extend an organization's data quality resources by enlisting the assistance of the actual contacts to verify their contact information," said Cutler.

Significantly, InterAction Contact Verifier is different than other verification products because it enables organizations to centralize the contact verification process. For example, even if a particular contact resides within hundreds of users' PIMs, the contact will nonetheless only receive a single communication requesting contact verification. "Clients become extremely annoyed when they receive multiple e-mails from people within a single organization requesting contact updates," said Cutler. "InterAction Contact Verifier avoids this annoyance by ensuring that a single verification request is sent on behalf of all users."

To complement these product enhancements Interface Software's new Data Quality Services offering reduces the initial data-cleansing burden required for a successful CRM implementation using proven methodologies cultivated from the company's more than 350 customer base. The professional services offering leverages InterAction 5.1's data quality functionality and includes identification and reporting of data anomalies, standardization of company and people names, and contact duplication detection and merge functionality. "Our professional services group has a deep knowledge of the people, processes and cultural challenges faced by relationship-based services organizations that are implementing CRM solutions," said Mitchell Grossbach, Interface Software's vice president of business development. "By putting this expertise to work, our Data Quality Services offering will save organizations substantial time and money as they undertake their initial data cleansing and load efforts."

In addition to these significant data quality and data change management upgrades, InterAction 5.1 introduces a myriad of features and functionality that significantly enhance usability and end user acceptance and participation. Simplified Web Client navigation and searching promotes easy and quick access to the most critical information. Further, enhanced user control over contact updates provides greater flexibility as to whether and how updates to contact information made in the centralized repository will flow down to professionals' own versions of contact information stored in their PIMs or PDAs. For instance, users can now automatically accept updates made by others, or they can receive notification of updates and decide manually whether or not to accept them. "These and other enhancements not only make it easier for professionals to use and derive value from the CRM system, but they also promote greater sharing of data by giving professionals more control and confidence that other users cannot corrupt their data," said Cutler.

About Interface Software
Interface Software is the leading provider of CRM solutions enabling professional services firms and similar relationship-based organizations 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. Interface Software has received numerous accolades, including the Inc 500, the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 for Greater Chicagoland, the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 and the Upside Hot 100. For more information please visit Interface Software's website at www.interaction.com.

 
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InterAction, Watch List, Who Knows Whom and Relationship Map are trademarks of Interface Software, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.