COGNICASE Congratulates ING Canada IARD for its CIPA
'Best of Category' Award for a Global Intranet Solution
JANUARY 13, 2000
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA--COGNICASE Inc. (Nasdaq: "COGI") is
pleased to underline the success of its partner, ING Canada IARD,
which was awarded the "Best of Category" prize in the
"Organizational Transformation" category at the Canadian
Information Productivity Awards (CIPA) gala.
The award is evidence of the excellent work accomplished as part
of the nationwide brokerage firms automation project, which sought
to establish a close partnership between ING Groupe Commerce, ING
Western Union, ING Halifax and the network of brokers through a
significant restructuring of business processes relating to
operations and distribution of insurance policies. Launched in
1996 in collaboration with brokers, Bell Nexxia and COGNICASE, the
project enabled ING Canada IARD to become the first company on the
Canadian market to offer Intranet access to brokers, providing
them with permanent access to ING's insurance applications.
With increasing competition in ING Canada's business segment,
mainly from major Canadian banks, the company was driven to
completely review its data entry procedures, both internally and
with brokers.
"The company's business environment was changing - and changing
rapidly," said Pierre Beauchamp, Vice-President, Strategic
Planning and Architecture, ING Canada. "We knew that if we wanted
to remain a leader in customer service, we had to modify our
business processes."
"Several tasks performed by our employees and brokers were
redundant, mainly in terms of data entry, quality control and data
transmission via telecommunications. Eliminating these
duplications was key in creating a more efficient system," said
Mr. Beauchamp.
"This project demonstrates the excellent synergy between COGNICASE
consultants and their customers who, through their projects, are
defining new business models. The brokerage firms automation
project marked the start of a new era for ING Canada, the
e-commerce era, and we plan to leverage COGNICASE's expertise in
this market segment," added Mr. Beauchamp.
COGNICASE is proud to have participated in the development,
deployment and management of this major e-commerce project.
"The success of this project is based on creative approaches and
state-of-the-art solutions," said Mr. Ronald Brisebois, President
and Chief Executive Officer of COGNICASE. "Our most dynamic
clients will continue to seek out technological innovations that
meet their business needs and increase their competitiveness. We
are committed to remaining a leader in advanced solutions, with
the support of our new business units, COGNICASE INTERNET
TECHNOLOGIES (CTI) and COGNICASE INTERNET INNOVATIONS (CII)."
About ING Canada IARD Inc.
ING Canada IARD Inc. is a business unit of Netherlands-based ING
Group, a global leader in integrated financial services with
assets of US$661 billion, a stock capitalization of US$80 billion,
and close to 90,000 employees around the world. In Canada, ING
Canada IARD subscribes over Cdn$1.6 billion in insurance policies
through ING Groupe Commerce, ING Halifax and ING Western Union,
ranking second among property and casualty insurers. The Company
employs 3,200 people in Canada and offers integrated financial
services through its network of 2,200 brokers.
About CIPA
The annual CIPA program was developed in 1992 to underline
efficiency and innovation in the use of information technology in
each of the following seven categories: Departmental/Divisional
Excellence, E-Commerce, Enterprise-wide Excellence, Government,
Institutions, Organizational Transformation, and Small Business.
This year, close to 200 candidacies from leading companies and
organizations across Canada were received.
About COGNICASE
COGNICASE is among the North American leaders in the
implementation of business solutions that leverage information
technology, with offices in several major North American and
European business centers. Based on its pragmatic approach,
productivity tools, international IT engineering and hosting
center and critical mass of business and technology experts,
COGNICASE offers innovative solutions that contribute to the
success of its customers. Its solutions include: implementation
of turnkey e-business solutions, ASP services, re-engineering of
existing applications for e-business, technology configuration
management, as well as project management and business process
improvement consulting services. |
