SPSS/e.Intelligence Introduce Web-Based Predictive BI

Bringing predictive business intelligence to the Web, SPSS Inc announced an OEM agreement with e.Intelligence Inc. Under the agreement, e.Intelligence will incorporate analytical forecasting technology from SPSS into its Weboptimized, business-to-business demand planning solution.

The e.Intelligence solution makes use of the Internet to facilitate interdepartmental and inter-enterprise, collaborative demand planning. It gives enterprises the means to predict demand for products or services, then gather and exchange feedback among various departments such as sales, operations, marketing and finance as well as external audiences like retail outlet managers and parts suppliers. The language of business collaboration is the demand forecast. SPSS, through its accurate, automated forecasting technology, provides the basis for this collaboration.

Using the e.Intelligence solution, individuals across an organization can evaluate the forecasts, contribute their own personal business knowledge, test different scenarios and make adjustments to the forecast. The forecasts are tied to a central data warehouse, which means that all users share a single source of dynamic information. This creates a forward-looking business demand planning environment that goes beyond reports to deliver predictive content that can be acted upon immediately.

"Our partnership with e.Intelligence opens a new area for predictive data mining technology," said Jack Noonan, SPSS president and CEO. "SPSS continues to look for new ways to harness the power of analytical technology to address business problems, and to do so in a way that can be used by a broad range of people. e.Intelligence has developed a creative new solution by combining the distribution and collaboration capabilities of the Web with the predictive power of forecasting. The solution gives managers a proactive environment for running their business, going beyond reports to provide what decision makers really need, a view of the future."

"Demand forecasting starts with a simple question, "how much?," but answering that question is not simple," said Richard Tanler, e.Intelligence president and CEO. "SPSS provides the predictive technology we need to add forward- looking capabilities essential for business collaboration. Our relationship with SPSS is strategically important to e.Intelligence."

It is a key SPSS strategy to partner with companies capable of furthering SPSS analytical solutions in markets where those companies have expertise. The e.Intelligence Inc partnership is another key relationship SPSS has executed over the past year. More specifically, the company is committed to extending the reach of its analytical tools and technology by developing similar relationships with other e-commerce and business-to-business companies.

About SPSS Inc.

SPSS Inc provides solutions that discover what customers want and predict what they will do. The company delivers solutions at the intersection of customer relationship management and business intelligence that enable its customers to interact with their customers more profitably. SPSS' solutions integrate and analyze marketing, customer and operational data in key vertical markets worldwide including: telecommunications, health care, banking, finance, insurance, manufacturing, retail, consumer packaged goods, market research and the public sector.

Headquartered in Chicago, SPSS has more than 40 offices, over 900 employees and 1999 revenues of $142 million. The company also has won the following awards: No. 70 on Forbes 1999 list of the "200 best small companies" and as the 22nd most profitable company on the Nasdaq exchange by Equities magazine; 1999 World Class Solution award in business intelligence and named "best decision support system for business intelligence" in the 1999 RealWare award competition; No. 14 in DM Review's 1999 Data Warehouse Top 100; placed No. 23 on the 1999 Soft-letter 100, a ranking of the top 100 personal computer software companies in the United States; and No. 97 in the 1999 Software 500, a ranking of the world's largest software vendors by Software Magazine. For more information, visit www.spss.com.

About e.Intelligence Inc.

e.Intelligence provides large and mid-sized corporations with Web-optimized demand planning applications and services. e.Intelligence applications leverage the data warehouse to encourage broad-based collaboration, support planning activities within the enterprise, and extend consensus planning throughout the trading community. Our goal is to reduce forecast error, improve customer service, and reduce operational inefficiencies.

Richard Tanler, the company's president and CEO, founded Information Advantage. e.Intelligence is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn.

Contact SPSS Inc, Susan Kalell 800-525-4980 pr@spss.com.