Cognos' Announces EnterpriseService Portal (ESP)

Cognos, a leading vendor of enterprise business intelligence solutions for e-business, announced the Cognos EnterpriseService Portal (ESP), a new concept in total customer service. Cognos ESP will be implemented in stages throughout calendar year 2000, with the first phase available in May. The Cognos ESP is a customizable, personalized portal that allows Cognos business intelligence customers to receive the precise level of customer service, support and education they choose, at the right time and place for them. Cognos has created a high-impact, information-rich experience that speaks to each individual customer's circumstances and requirements.

"The EnterpriseService Portal moves Cognos customers ahead at Internet speed," said Rob Ashe, Cognos senior vice president, Customer Service and Support. "Cognos is evolving from the brick and mortar customer service model to a new e-business model which is more in tune with the new e-conomy. We're catapulting into e-business, with customers able to purchase and access services and education on-line."

"Enterprise business intelligence customers rely on Cognos to provide the best services to their organization globally. ESP is the latest in a long line of innovative, best-of-breed solutions from our award-winning support services organization," Ashe concluded.

ESP allows customers to access technical service and support, training services, and consulting services via one site for the best, most complete customer service available. The services site is a great example of how Cognos partners with its customers. Cognos provides the highest level of strategic value to its customers, allowing them to further accelerate the rate of their business intelligence deployment and utilization, ultimately speeding the rate of return on their investment. The Cognos EnterpriseService Portal provides access to:

• training, including new Web-based training offerings;
• technical support; and
• post-sales consulting, through Cognos' Consulting Services organization.

"Cognos' new EnterpriseServices portal aligns perfectly with NCR's strategy to leverage the Web in everything we do," said Scott Klimo, manager of end user tools, enterprise data warehouse, NCR Corporation. "Training is a particular challenge for us because we already have nearly a thousand Cognos users, and will eventually have several thousand worldwide. We are very interested in the speed, cost and productivity advantages that the Cognos EnterpriseServices portal can provide."

Training

Ashe pointed out, "With our customers now purchasing thousands of seats at a time, and expecting to get them productive quickly, a live classroom model needs to be complemented by other options. We have to be able to deliver training to large numbers of users simultaneously. Browser based Computer- based training (CBT) and virtual classrooms are the answer. Via a Web-browser, Cognos customers can receive training whenever and however they prefer."

Web-based training delivers Cognos' market leading training and business experience to any customer, anywhere in the world, at any time. There is no need for that customer to take time off from their job, leave their office, get in a car, get on an airplane and travel to a remote location for training. They can do it at their desks. This means increased efficiency and savings for Cognos customers, and great freedom for their end users.

Customer Technical Support

The EnterpriseService Portal is more than just a doorway to online training. It is a complete customer experience, also providing access to Cognos' award winning support. ESP provides access to live customer support, customer chats, FAQs, an extensive solutions knowledge base, and other forms of knowledge transfer, such as online diagnostic support from Cognos specialists. Ashe noted, "as business intelligence has moved from a 'nice-to-have' to a strategic 'must have to thrive', we are feeling new sense of urgency from our customers. When they have a question, they need the answer immediately. Here they can either help themselves to a solution or work with our customer support team."

Cognos Consulting Services

ESP provides competitive advantage with easy access to Cognos consultants. Through onsite consulting or online e-consulting services, Cognos helps customers with e-business implementations, accelerating the speed of deployment and overall return on investment. Only Cognos has the knowledge and best practices for enterprise business intelligence that companies need today to compete in the global marketplace.

Cognos

Cognos is the leading vendor of enterprise business intelligence solutions. Business Intelligence software makes corporate data easily accessible to everyone in an organization, so they can better coordinate decision-making across the entire enterprise, and improve the performance of the business. Cognos products are available directly from Cognos and through an extensive network of channel partners. The Company also develops, markets and supports software tools for application development.

Founded in 1969, Cognos is a publicly traded company with offices around the world. U.S. operations for the company are headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. For more information, visit the Cognos Website at www.cognos.com.

Contact Richard Sepe of Cognos, 781-229-6600