Sema Group and BroadVision, Inc. Announce Strategic Partnership
Alliance Will Generate Personalized Web-Based Telecommunications Applications From a Dedicated Business Group
LONDON, and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Sema Group Plc and BroadVision, Inc. (Nasdaq: BVSN - news) today announced a strategic partnership agreement covering personalized Internet application solutions. In the deal, Sema Group becomes the preferred Systems Integrator of BroadVision's wide range of BroadVision One-To-One™ software application solutions across all of Europe. Sema Group will create a new international business entity dedicated to e-commerce to develop BroadVision One-To-One™ based Web projects and personalized customer relationship management solutions. This new international business entity will be headed by Yves de Talhouet, Director of Network and Communications at Sema Group.
In the telecommunications sector, Sema Group and BroadVision are further reinforcing their strategic partnership and will jointly develop and market worldwide a new range of BroadVision One-To-One™ based customer relationship management solutions addressing the specific needs of the telecommunications sector. This new joint offering is a powerful answer to this market's increasing demand for personalized customer relationship management strategies to reduce customer turnover, generate new revenues and manage their costs more effectively. This personalized approach will be focused on the provision to each user of tailored services and information such as bill presentment and payment and self-service facilities. BroadVision customers in the telecommunications sector include: Swisscom, Belgacom, Telus, Telefonica, Telstra, and Vodafone. BroadVision is the leading supplier of one-to-one Internet applications for extending relationship management across the electronic enterprise (''e-enterprise'').
This agreement, the first of this type in the area of Intranet and Web based applications, follows successful co-operation between both companies for over two years. Virgin Group (UK), Le Shop (Switzerland), Thomas Cook (UK), Air Miles (UK), Belgacom (Belgium), Metro (Germany), Grolier and Europe 1 (France) have already benefited from the unique combination of Sema Group's systems integration expertise and BroadVision's industry leading software. Sema Group has built Europe's biggest BroadVision One-To-One™ competency and training center based in Sophia Antipolis, France.
''The Sema Group alliance will strengthen our operation capabilities in Europe and open new business opportunities for BroadVision in the telcommunications market,'' said Dr. Pehong Chen, President and CEO, BroadVision. ''We are very pleased about this co-operation and look forward to a great success as we team with Sema Group to develop the world's best extended relationship management solutions for telco's. Our long relationship and combined focus on Internet application solutions with Sema Group is a rarity in this market, and we are all excited about the opportunities that a strategic partnership of this magnitude will deliver to our customers and their users.''
Pierre Bonelli, CEO of Sema Group, said: ''Sema Group's ambition is to play a leading role in the development of total e-business solutions including consulting services and the integration of key enabling technologies such as datawarehousing, one-to-one marketing, call center, security and payment systems. The BroadVision One-to-One software is a cornerstone of this new customer centric approach and we are particularly happy to strengthen our relationship with BroadVision. This agreement will also further enhance our offering in the telecommunications sector where Sema Group has a unique position combining an extensive products portfolio and strong systems integration expertise.''
About Sema Group
Sema Group is one of the world's leading IT services organizations with more than 16,500 IT specialists in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The Group's 1997 turnover was 1.13 billion Pounds Sterling. Turnover has more than doubled over the past five years and EPS has increased at an average rate of 24% over the same time frame. Sema Group is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and the Paris Bourse. Telecommunications is a strategic business for Sema Group and represents 18% of the Group's turnover through a dedicated international business unit. Sema Group Telecoms serves over 150 operators world-wide.
About BroadVision
BroadVision, Inc. is the leading worldwide supplier of one-to-one Internet business applications for relationship management across the extended enterprise. BroadVision's end-to-end solutions enable companies to rapidly deploy and cost-effectively operate secure, scaleable, intelligent, and flexible electronic business and knowledge management applications for the financial services, retail, distribution, high technology, telecommunications, and travel industries.
The company's entire product line has experienced exceptional growth and increasing acceptance by Global 2000 businesses with over 200 customers including Virgin, Vodafone, American Airlines, Nortel Networks, Credit Suisse, Blackwells, Hewlett Packard, META Group, Oracle, RS Components, Thomas Cook, AIR MILES, Azlan and Visa. BroadVision is headquartered in Redwood City, California and maintains an extensive network of subsidiaries and licensed resellers in North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. The company headquarters can be reached at 650-943-3600, in the UK on 0118-940-5900 or on the World Wide Web at broadvision.com.
NOTE: BroadVision is a registered trademark if BroadVision One-To-One is a trademark of BroadVision Inc. in the United States and other countries.
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