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To: john who wrote (48744)	5/30/2000 10:37:00 AM
From: Jim Bishop	Respond to of 150070

WEB.V :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))) From today's National Post . . . NET SHEPHERD SET TO SIGN ITS FIRST MAJOR CONTRACT Customer service on net: Deal with GE expected to spawn more agreements Carol Howes Financial Post CALGARY - Net Shepherd Inc., which uses a virtual workforce to conduct market research, business intelligence and provide customer services over the Internet, will today announce a deal with a division of General Electric that will give customers answers to questions online. Terms of the agreement with GE Plastics were not disclosed, but the deal also gives Net Shepherd's subsidiary, Answers.com Inc., a master service deal that is expected to see the company get contracts with other GE divisions. "For me this is very good proof that our business model works," said Don Sandford, Net Shepherd's president and chief executive, regarding the company's first major contract. "Companies like GE have a huge number of questions asked about their business. It sometimes can be hundreds of thousands or even millions of questions a year. The object is to lower the cost of asking those questions by using technology." Net Shepherd, which got its start providing protective filters for Internet content, has launched three new businesses -- including Answers.com -- and put together an interactive community of 2,000 computer users to conduct research, retrieve information and provide online purchase assistance normally handled by company representatives or a call centre. In March, it completed a series of deals in which Jan Baan, former chairman and CEO of Dutch software giant Baan Co., acquired a majority stake in Net Shepherd and provided a $11.3-million software development agreement and $9-million private placement through his holding company Vanenburg Group BV. As part of that deal, Net Shepherd acquired Click Choice.com Inc. of Atlanta, previously 82% owned by Vanenburg. Click Choice markets Internet user demographics. Meanwhile, this month, Net Shepherd also launched Ktopia, its business intelligence company, based in Bridgewater, N.J. Gerry Podesta, general manager of electronic business at GE Plastics, said the company liked Answers.com's technology because it was scalable and could be customized to its needs. "It will vastly improve the speed at which our customers get answers and information from our Web site." Online customer support services are expected to grow exponentially with the volume of companies moving online. Last year in the United States, $23-billion was spent on call centres, said Peter Hunt, Net Shepherd vice-president of corporate affairs. "As companies start to sell more over the Web, an increasing proportion of that will transfer to Web-based activity." nationalpost.com