COGNICASE Acquires United System Solutions, a Full
Service IT Consultancy and Developer of Award Winning CRM
Product
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--APRIL 26, 2001 - 14:57 EDT
COGNICASE Inc. (Nasdaq: "COGI"), a leading
e-business services provider specializing in secure and scalable
real time transactional solutions, today announced the acquisition
of privately-held United System Solutions (USS) a full service
information technology consultancy and developer of the award
winning software product, Maximizer Enterprise for Notes.
Maximizer Enterprise for Notes is a leading Customer Relationship
Management product (CRM) which runs on IBM's Domino platform and
can be accessed by either Notes or browser clients. United System
Solutions is based in Toronto, Canada.
This transaction will allow COGNICASE to continue building its IT
consulting services presence in the Toronto market by leveraging
United's long standing relationships with clients in the
financial, insurance and professional services sectors. From a
product perspective, COGNICASE will offer United System Solutions'
award winning CRM product and expertise as an extension to its
e-commerce suite of offerings.
Maximizer Enterprise for Notes will be integrated with the
COGNICASE Watch4me suite of applications to allow enterprises the
opportunity to enhance their customer management through a fully
integrated, browser based application. Maximizer Enterprise for
Notes, coupled with United's CRM deployment services, will extend
COGNICASE' reach beyond its leading position in the web
marketplace into the important CRM space, thereby strategically
positioning COGNICASE to participate in the important and rapidly
expanding CRM market.
The worldwide CRM services market continues to be one of the
fastest growing IT and business services markets. IDC expects the
total CRM services market to grow at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 29% in the 1999-2004 timeframe. Source: IDC, 2000
("Worldwide CRM Services Market Forecast and Analysis,
1999-2004").
"This transaction is about leveraging CRM expertise into our
network of customers and to broaden the portfolio of services we
offer our clients. CRM is the natural extension of e-commerce.
It allows the solution provider to extend into the day to day
customer relationship of our clients, to further our understanding
of their business and in turn their technology requirements."
declared Mr. Ronald Brisebois, COGNICASE's President and Chief
Executive Officer. "This acquisition is another example of
COGNICASE' stated goal of broadening its services practice with a
suite of leading edge web based solutions that will be of value to
its customer base." added Mr. Brisebois.
"We are very pleased to be joining forces with COGNICASE. We
believe their vision, strategy, size and broad geographic presence
will greatly facilitate our mutual objective of rapidly expanding
the use of our award winning CRM product throughout the world."
said David Poulson, CEO, United System Solutions. "On the
consulting side, United System Solutions is an established and
highly respected provider of a broad range of information
technology and award winning education services to many of
Ontario's largest organizations. We look forward to playing an
important role in rapidly expanding the consulting services
presence of COGNICASE in the Toronto market and now have the
opportunity to better serve our clients with offices in the many
geographies served by COGNICASE worldwide" Mr. Poulson added.
About COGNICASE
COGNICASE (TSE: "COG", Nasdaq: "COGI") is an innovative company
specializing in the development and integration of real time
transactional solutions. Relying on its results-driven approach,
its software and technology and its international Internet
engineering and hosting center, COGNICASE offers secure and
scalable solutions that contribute to its customers' economic
success in the age of the new economy. The Company is active in
several countries, including Canada, the United States, France,
Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia.
About United System Solutions
Founded in 1987, United System Solutions is a leading provider of
IT Consulting Services, Education services and the developer of
the award winning CRM product, Maximizer Enterprise for Notes.
For 14 years, United's professional consulting services group has
successfully provided strategy, project and infrastructure
services to a full spectrum of Ontario's leading organizations,
including financial services, insurance services, professional
services, healthcare, real estate management and government.
Since 1993 United's education group has provided award winning
technical education services around IBM and Microsoft
technologies. Our education service offerings include classroom
based instructor led , customized off site and distance learning.
United's CRM product division has enabled United System Solutions
to become the CRM solutions provider of choice for more than 200
organizations throughout the world. Maximizer Enterprise for
Notes was winner of the prestigious "Best in Showcase" award at
Lotusphere 2001. It is a native Domino CRM product and is
optimized for use by either the Lotus Notes client software or
through a browser for organizations that have not implemented
Notes. ME4N can be deployed in all Domino compatible
architectures, including NT, S390, AS/400, Sun Solaris, Unix and
Linux. |
