ACCPAC Launches Aggressive Challenge to salesforce.com and Other Online CRM Vendors

Hosted Service a Superior Alternative to Salesforce.com and Other Online CRM Providers;Offers Extensive Customization and Local Service and Support

QUEBEC CITY, PQ, August 21, 2003 — ACCPAC International, Inc., a subsidiary of Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), announced today at its ACCPAC Partnership 2003 Conference being held here the launch of ACCPACcrm.com ( www.accpaccrm.com ), a new online service that provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to businesses of all sizes. ACCPACcrm.com matches the online convenience and features of providers such as Salesforce.com, UpShot and others, but with key differences that make ACCPACcrm.com a superior choice. These key differences include:

  • The option to move to or from traditional “on-site” deployment at any time, for any reason;
  • Local service and support through an established, worldwide channel of more than 650 ACCPAC CRM Solution Providers, Certified Consultants and Development Partners;
  • Integration with back office accounting;
  • Advanced customization capabilities, and;
  • Affordable, competitive pricing as low as $17 per user, per month.

“ACCPACcrm.com offers a value proposition that raises the bar for every online CRM vendor,” said ACCPAC President and CEO, David M. Hood. “Businesses don’t want to be handcuffed to inflexible vendors that try to lock them in to a particular technology or platform. ACCPACcrm.com is based on our award-winning on premises CRM offering. As such, businesses can subscribe to ACCPACcrm.com with the peace of mind that comes with knowing they can deploy the same solution internally at any time, without having to rewrite customizations or retrain staff. In addition, whether the best choice is on site or online, our global reseller and consultant channel is available for local service and support.”

ACCPACcrm.com effectively serves the growing demand for CRM solutions that are affordable, flexible, can be implemented quickly, and are available to users wherever they may be located. According to Hugh Bishop, Senior Vice President of Emerging Technology Intelligence at industry analyst firm Aberdeen Group, worldwide sector spending in the CRM online market is expected to climb from $189 million in 2002 to $1.99 billion by 2006.

Total CRM spending for 2003, according to Aberdeen, is forecasted to be $15.4 billion (CRM Spending and Satisfaction Report, February 2003, Aberdeen Group).

“The strength of ACCPACcrm.com is its real flexibility for the business owner,” said Alex Solomon, Co-founder of Net at Work, an ACCPAC CRM Solution Provider based in New York. “Typical online CRM systems force you into their way of doing business. ACCPACcrm.com takes into account that every business is different. Every company needs options so they don’t get locked in to one way of doing business. ACCPAC has made sure those options are available.”

Hosted CRM Or On-Site CRM–Your Choice
Businesses subscribing to ACCPACcrm.com can easily convert to award-winning ACCPAC CRM deployed on-site, and vice-versa, whenever they determine it best suits their needs.

No other online CRM service offers this flexibility. There is no loss of data, no loss of customizations, and no retraining costs. It’s a simple, easy transition process for the users, since the CRM user interfaces and other key components are the same whether the solution is hosted or deployed on-site.

Local Point of Contact for Service and Support
ACCPACcrm.com services are supported by a substantial, growing global network of consultants and resellers who can provide needs analysis as well as advisory, customization, training and other services to ensure businesses get maximum value from their hosted CRM service. There are already more than 650 ACCPAC CRM Solution Providers, Certified Consultants and Development Partners worldwide available to assist businesses with their ACCPACcrm.com subscription.

Integration to the Back Office
ACCPACcrm.com integrates, automatically, with the award-winning ACCPAC Advantage Series accounting system, which is also available as a hosted subscription service, providing users with access to additional key information and functionality such as customer transaction data, credit availability, and order processing.

Advanced Customization Capabilities
Unique among online CRM offerings, ACCPACcrm.com offers a higher degree of customization and integration capabilities than online competitors. ACCPACcrm.com provides extensive report and screen customization as well as user defined workflows and user security administration.

Two Affordable Service Offerings
ACCPACcrm.com is available in either an Enterprise or SalesTeam service offering. ACCPACcrm.com Enterprise provides fully integrated Sales Force, Marketing, and Customer Care automation. ACCPACcrm.com SalesTeam is designed for businesses that only need Sales Force Automation, or who want to gradually phase in implementation of additional CRM components over time. The total number of users is unlimited for both Enterprise and SalesTeam.