News Release

Editorial Contact:

Jennifer Richards
Open Systems Advisors
617-859-0859
jenn@crossroads-osa.com

(December 17, 2001–Boston) – Open Systems Advisors, Inc. (OSA) today announced the completion of the Crossroads A-List Research for 2002. The Crossroads research identifies the technologies and services that are making the strongest contribution to business results right now. The credibility the research and Awards programs confer comes from the hundreds of industry-wide interviews conducted with line-of-business and IT executives. Winners of the Crossroads A-List Award will be announced on January 7, 2002 (http://www.crossroads-osa.com).

According to Nina Lytton, President of Crossroads-OSA, "this year's Crossroads A-List Awards Program investigated hundreds of companies and their customers. Here is a preview of some of the key findings:"

The mirage of quick wins for CRM has evaporated as companies realize that earning customer loyalty requires a tailored approach. Companies are gaining better traction through a broader range of strategic initiatives such as Web-based product development programs, online customer satisfaction metrics, and integrated online/offline marketing.

New horizontal application and enterprise application segments are taking off as enterprises invest in improving efficiency and effectiveness of end-to-end business processes. This year, we see an early majority turning to technologies such as e-learning, collaboration, and Web-based conferencing to transform their organizations. At the same time, incentive management, services procurement, and inter-enterprise logistics are part of a new generation of enterprise applications. In well established horizontal markets such as business intelligence, vendors are adding a vertical-market focus for added business value.

In the infrastructure sector, IP-related standards are setting off a round of software innovation and, at the same time, price wars. Powerful, low-cost developer tools are enabling companies to bring breakthrough Web applications and services to market. Businesses are already beginning to deploy internal applications as Web services, and anticipate deploying business-to-business Web services in 2003.

About the Crossroads Research Program

In collaboration with bizno-tech decision makers (leading-edge adopters using emerging technologies to transform their businesses), Crossroads-OSA identifies the business priorities for technology investment. We then recognize the products and services which are most successfully addressing today’s top business priorities as Crossroads A-List Award winners.

The Crossroads A-List Awards signal that a provider has successfully combined three elements critical to mainstream adoption: strategic focus; a viable product or service offering; and, most importantly, consistent business results for its customers. The Crossroads A-List Program, now in its ninth year, is extremely competitive. To participate in the Crossroads A-List Program, a provider must offer:

• An emerging product, technology, or service that is either new to the market or a significant enhancement to an existing offering
• Four deployed Lighthouse customers willing to speak confidentially to the Crossroads research team about the business impact of the product, technology, or service. Lighthouse customers are early implementers of the candidate offerings.

About Open Systems Advisors, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Open Systems Advisors, Inc. (OSA) provides a real-world perspective on using new technology in business. OSA's research is based on an ongoing and in-depth dialogue with hundreds of seasoned IT executives and business leaders who are using emerging technologies to achieve business results. OSA reports the Crossroads Decisions, confers the Crossroads A-List Awards and produces the Crossroads Conferences. For additional information, contact the company at: Open Systems Advisors, Inc., 268 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116, 617/859-0859; www.crossroads-osa.com