Accenture and BEA Systems Expand Relationship Through a Variety of eBusiness Initiatives
New York, October 5, 2000 – Accenture and BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS), one of the world’s leading e-business infrastructure software companies, today announced they are extending their already strong relationship to the e-business applications sector. The firms will work together to develop and market a suite of comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the deployment of reliable, scalable, and flexible e- business applications. Accenture is a leading global management and technology consulting firm and BEA is one of the leaders in e-business platforms with the world’s #1 Java application server, BEA WebLogic Server™.
Accenture and BEA have already developed a number of initiatives that provide new product offerings for potential clients, improved customer service to client bases, and advanced global marketing channels for those offerings.
"BEA provides one of the most effective and powerful platforms for rapidly building integrated e-businesses," said John Conlon, associate partner, at Accenture . "By combining our industry experience, business integration skills, and key client relationships with BEA’s leading e-business platform, we bring to market powerful solutions that help give our clients the means to succeed and differentiate themselves from their competitors."
One such product Accenture developed with BEA’s help is called EasyTax, a replicable online government revenue agency system on which revenue applications are being developed in Ireland and Washington D.C. The product was introduced to the vertical marketplace last November. Built on BEA WebLogic Server, EasyTax is a significant development in customer services for revenue agencies. It draws on the latest computing, communication and content technologies to provide customers the ability to conduct most of their business with revenue agencies over the Internet in a simple, safe and secure environment. The solution offers electronic filing of returns, payments (by direct debit), and an extensive customer information system.
"Our expanding relationship with Accenture is important to BEA’s success for several reasons," said Matt Green, senior vice president of worldwide operations for BEA. "Both firms win by providing BEA technology to the established Accenture client base. Together, we meet the demand for access to best- of-breed e-business infrastructure software solutions, and BEA gains important new business relationships."
Accenture recently introduced BEA to answerFriend, a leader in the development of natural language processing technology, used to improve customer relationship management and make e-commerce more convenient for customers. answerFriend’s technology enables computers to understand customer queries in any language or specialized jargon and provide immediate, precise and concise answers in plain English. BEA has become one of answerFriend’s first clients and will use the technology to provide an enhanced experience for its customers.
"One of the advantages we bring to the table is the ability to link up our myriad of clients with one another when there are clear mutual benefits," said Nick Lyon, partner at Accenture . "Introducing BEA to answerFriend was a natural because answerFriend’s powerful technology provides a leading-edge solution that makes it easier for companies like BEA to better respond to their customers and deliver improved services."
The relationship being announced today between Accenture and BEA will provide clients with resources and services that facilitate the management of e- commerce transactions. BEA’s suite of software and service solutions includes:
- Comprehensive application servers, including BEA Tuxedo and the BEA WebLogic family of servers, for rapidly building, deploying, and managing e-commerce applications;
- BEA WebLogic Commerce Server™, which houses reusable components that enable business logic to be snapped together into applications within a matter of weeks;
- BEA eLink for integrating new Web applications in real time with back-office systems and other businesses across the Web; and
- A wide range of education, customer support, and professional services to help small companies and large corporations get e-commerce initiatives off the ground and up on the Web.
As part of the relationship, the BEA platform and applications will be showcased at Accenture solution centers and BEA will provide training on its solutions to Accenture professionals.
About BEA Systems, Inc.
BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS) is one of the world’s leading e-business infrastructure software companies, with over 6,500 customers around the world including the majority of the Fortune Global 100. BEA and its WebLogic brand are among the most trusted names in e-business. Businesses built on the award-winning BEA WebLogic E- Business Platform™ are reliable, highly scalable, and poised to bring new services to market quickly. BEA’s e- business platform is the de facto standard for over 1,000 systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs) to provide complete solutions that fast-track and future- proof e-businesses for high growth and profitability. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., BEA has 87 offices in 29 countries and is on the Web at www.accenture.com.
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Jill E. Posnick
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Angie Trah
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