GroupSystems.com Introduces New Internet-Enabled Collaborative Reasoning Service

Hewlett-Packard Subsidiary and Others Slated to Use It ToLeverage Knowledge in a Hyper-Connected World

GroupSystems.com, a leading provider of collaborative reasoning and knowledge management services, announced a new Internet-enabled offering, GroupSystems OnLine. The new service allows individuals inside and outside an organization to work together, regardless of time or place. Using GroupSystems OnLine, they can share their wisdom, creativity and energy and quickly make sense of information to find innovative solutions to organizational and industry challenges.

"GroupSystems OnLine will help organizations become more innovative and responsive," said Scott Edelman, president of GroupSystems.com. "By using GroupSystems OnLine, they can shorten the cycle time of mission critical processes like risk management, strategic planning, product definition, 1 to 1 marketing, focus groups, procurement and a host of others."

Hewlett-Packard's Agilent Technologies subsidiary is just one of the customers slated to use the service. Doug Stover, Virtual Team Groupware Systems Consultant for Agilent Technologies said: "We've been a long-time user of GroupSystems. Now that we plan to use the techniques online, we can make even more widespread use of it for projects across our entire organization." Stover added: "With knowledge management quickly becoming the buzzword in our industry, knowing how to leverage it keeps us one step ahead of our competitors. We can analyze information and make decisions quickly rather than just burying ourselves in information."

The service will offer methodologies based on industry best practices. In addition, GroupSystems.com provides unique group dynamics and goal attainment methods that allow organizations to repeatedly and predictably narrow in on key issues, generate ideas, organize information, prioritize alternatives, build consensus and prepare for action. "As a result, organizations will see up to a 90% reduction in process cycle times, a 50% reduction in personnel costs and thousands of dollars in savings from decreased travel expenses," Edelman said. "Most importantly, they achieve a greater level of innovation and responsiveness than has ever been possible before."

GroupSystems OnLine will be available for widespread deployment in February 2000. The service can be implemented quickly and easily. GroupSystems.com can host the service or install it at the customer's site. Customers then can use it as often as they need. Pricing is based on usage. Support services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

GroupSystems.com, a provider of collaborative reasoning and knowledge management services, was founded in 1989 as Ventana Corporation by group support systems expert Dr. Jay Nunamaker and other researchers from the University of Arizona. Based in Tucson, its customer base includes IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, Andersen Consulting, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The company combines its award-winning GroupSystems services with its understanding of business processes, goal attainment methods and group dynamics to reduce personnel costs and project completion times while achieving exceptional results.

For further information, visit the GroupSystems.com web site at www.groupsystems.com.