Large international crush at update’s CRM Solution Day 2005 in Vienna

Vienna, 17 October 2005 +++ The CRM Solution Day 2005, organized by for the sixth year in a row by update software AG, was a complete success. update, headquartered in Vienna, is one of Europe’s leading providers of CRM solutions.
More than 400 visitors from all over Europe came to the Kursalon in Vienna, to get the latest trends and information about customer management direct from top opinion leaders and experts such as Professor Reinhold Rapp, Stefan Langthaler (Ratiopharm), Juergen Dostal (Bawag P.S.K. Group) or Wolfgang Mantler (Canon GmbH Austria). In addition, Customer Excellence Awards were bestowed on European and international companies in four categories: Meeuùs in the Netherlands (customer intimacy), Imparat in Germany (operational excellence), 3M in Hungary (innovation leadership), and the Danube University Krems (non-profit sector).

Thomas Deutschmann, CEO of update software AG, enthusiastically stated that "the CRM Solution Day has been established as the prominent, international CRM information meeting. Not only the excellent quality of the international speakers, but also the enormous crush of international visitors demonstrate the importance of the event."

18 Presentations based on real-world experiences showed all aspects of the customer connection in the extensive agenda of this year’s CRM Solution Day. Presentations covered areas such as successful implementation of CRM, development of a uniform CRM model for decentralized, international organizations, and ROI achieved on a CRM project.

update Customer Excellence Award 2005 awarded internationally
Topping off the day’s events was the awarding of the update Customer Excellence Awards. Awards were presented in four categories and this year, for the first time, internationally. The jury consisted of the key note speaker, Prof. Reinhold Rapp, who holds the first chair worldwide for relationship management at the renowned Cranfield University in England, Maria Kronstorfer-Lackner, senior database manager at ORF Enterprise, Manfred White, managing director of the Info. Technology publishing house and publisher of Computerwelt, as well as Thomas Deutschmann, CEO of update.

Winner in the category of operational Excellence: Imparat Paints (Germany)
This family-owned company, in business for over 100 years, sells its lacquers and paints to approximately 10,000 customers direct. The jury was impressed by the rapid conception and implementation. Today, at Imparat, everything about a customer’s history from price lists, to offer generation and follow-up, to visitation planning and sales analysis including project management, is available at the push of a button.

Winner in the category of Customer Intimacy: Meuùs (the Netherlands)
The second largest Dutch insurance broker and real estate agent is the result of the merger of ten smaller enterprises. The successful implementation of CRM enables the 800 sales people to service their customers with the complex problem solutions such as pension calculation.

Winner in the category of Innovation Leadership: 3M Hungary (Hungary)
The Hungarian subsidiary of the 3M group was able to convince the jury with their innovative approach. Under the motto, "spirit for innovation," the worldwide technology company offers solutions for a range of industries to include, electronics & data network, medicine, office & communication as well as traffic and personal security.

Winner in the category of Non-profit organization: Danube University Krems (Austria)
The Danube University Krems won the award in the special category of non-profit for their "student relationship management." The university specializes in further education and offers exclusive studies in the area of economics and management sciences, telecommunications, information and media, European integration, environment and medical sciences as well as culture sciences. In the summer semester 2005, already more than 3000 students from 40 countries were registered in over 100 disciplines.

About update software AG
Founded in Vienna in 1988, update software AG  www.udpate.com is one of Europe’s leading providers of CRM solutions with some 180 employees and preliminary revenues of EUR 18.6 million (2005). update software AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. update products are used by more than 96,000 employees at over 830 companies. References include 3M, American Express, AstraZeneca, Beiersdorf, Canon, DuPont, ESTAG, Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz International S.A., LBS Nord, Magna Steyr, Pernod Ricard or ratiopharm.
update software AG cooperates with carefully selected systems integration partners such as Atos Origin, Cognos, Dendrite International, IMS, IDS-Scheer Austria, Sensix, Siemens SBS, Softlab and syncon.