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To: Danny who wrote (97394)	3/24/2000 6:57:00 PM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

>New York, March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Blaze Software Inc., whose software can be used by companies to take the place of customer service employees, almost doubled in its first day of trading. The company, based in San Jose, California, rose to 27 3/4 from 16 at its initial public sale of 4 million shares, an 18 percent stake. The company has a market value of $644 million. Blaze's 200 customers, which range from Geico Direct insurance to Ford Motor Co. use the company's technology on their Web sites, in kiosks, call centers and in automatic teller machines. The technology acts like a customer service representative, taking a customer's information and offering products and services suited to them. ``The companies smell profit, they smell financial gain,' said Forrester e-commerce analyst Eric Schmitt. ``If they can provide a more tailored environment then they'll do better than their competitors.' Investors are betting on the growth in demand. Since the beginning of the year, 39 companies providing personalization or Web tracking software have gone public, according to CommScann LLC. On average they've risen sixfold. Worldwide sales of goods and services over the Internet are expected to grow to $1.3 trillion by 2003 from $111 billion in 1999, according to International Data Corp. Companies seeking a piece of this pie will spend $13.1 billion on e-commerce related software in 2003, compared to $1.7 billion spent in 1999, IDC predicts. Room For More With that level of spending, there's room for several companies to be successful, said Alan Loewenstein, who manages the John Hancock Technology Fund in Garden City Long Island. ``Not one company is going to dominate,' said Loewenstein, who also owns 400,000 shares of Blaze rival Net Perceptions Inc. Blaze's revenues rose to $9.1 million in fiscal 1999 from $4.4 million in 1998. The company posted a net loss of $5.8 million in 1999 from a net loss of $3.6 million in 1998. Blaze Software, incorporated as Neuron Data Inc. in 1985, changed its name last year. The company employs about 128 people, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It will use the $64 million in proceeds from the IPO to hire more people to help sell its products, Chief Executive Thomas Kelly said in an interview. Follow the Rules ``If you're going to create a self service environment, the alternative is to have a person doing it, or write up a lot of computer programming code that's difficult to set up and change,' Kelly said. ``Or you can put in place technology like ours.' Blaze's technology is in simple language, he said, which makes it easy to adapt and change. The software can follow the guidelines a company puts in place which would normally govern a customer service representative, such as where to send a customer with a particular question or what products a customer should be offered, he said. ``Business practices delivered electronically through the Web or through call centers should be as effective as if delivered personally by the best customer services person,' Kelly said. FleetBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. led the sale of Blaze Software with assistance from Chase Securities Inc. and Dain Rauscher Incorporated. The shares trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol BLZE. Mar/23/2000 16:29