update wins the ISM Social CRM Award 2010 with its “COSMIC social media module”

CRM opens up social web

Vienna, August 23, 2010 +++ update software AG, the European manufacturer of premium CRM solutions headquartered in Vienna, has won the ISM Social CRM Software Award 2010. ISM Inc. is a renowned US consultancy specializing in CRM matters and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. This year, ISM awarded the special Social CRM Award for the first time in order to acknowledge the drastic growth in importance of social media applications in customer relationship management. From over 40 CRM applications, the CRM specialist update was able to distinguish itself with its “COSMIC social media module” – besides update, there were only three other prize winners. ISM Software Lab tested the Social CRM competencies of 40 solutions based on ten criteria: links to and integration into social networking sites, social media dashboard, social media monitoring, social media analyses as well as access to video, mash-ups, widget technology, wiki databases, podcasts and tagging options. The winner as well as the assessment process are presented in detail in the 18th edition of ISM’s “Guide to CRM Automation” and online at www.ismguide.com.

Barton Goldenberg, Director of ISM, explains the decision to award update as follows: “Update must be congratulated for being one of the seminal forces for the CRM trend of the future. Social CRM transforms a static customer profile into an emotional profile that integrates social media communities such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. The influence of social media on CRM has already begun to change the way customers interact with the employees that communicate with them. The name of update's social media module, “COSMIC”, stands for Comprehensive Observation of Social Media integrated with CRM. COSMIC can be seamlessly linked to the CRM system update. seven – also when using the system in the SaaS model update. revolution. update developed the COSMIC module with companies in the pharma and financial sectors in mind, which benefit greatly from knowledge on how people are communicating about them in social networks. The module systematically searches Twitter feeds and RSS feeds for terms and keywords that are determined in advance and evaluates the hits. In this way, companies gain a valuable overview of how they and their products are being discussed on the social web and can take part directly in relevant discussions.

The contact person for the social CRM tool COSMIC by update is Adam Vissing, Vice President of Innovation at update software AG (adam.vissing@update.com). For more information please visit our special COSMIC microsite

About update software AG

update software AG (www. update. com) was founded in Vienna in 1988. With more than 170,000 users in more than 1,500 companies, update is the leading European manufacturer of premium CRM systems. update has subsidiaries in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and the USA. update software AG is listed on the German stock exchange in Frankfurt am Main. With approximately 290 employees, update achieved sales of EUR 31.3 million in 2009.

update’s customers include ALK Abelló, AstraZeneca, Bawag P.S. K., Boehringer Ingelheim, Canon, Daiichi Sankyo, Danfoss, Demag Cranes & Components, Hansgrohe, Kärcher, LBS Nord, MagnaSteyr, Paul Hartmann, Raiffeisen Switzerland, ratiopharm, Reis Robotics, Saint Gobain, Sandoz, UnicreditBank Hungary, Uzin Utz AG, as well as the Sparkasse Bremen and 200 other German savings banks. update maintains strategic partnerships with companies such as Atos Origin, Hewlett-Packard, Sensix, and Steria Mummert Consulting, and the update hosting partner IBM.