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Firepond Japan Marks Four Year Anniversary With Three New CustomersTokyo office wins regular new business despite challenging economyMINNEAPOLIS, Minn., October 24, 2002 - Firepond (Nasdaq: FIRE), a leading provider of software systems that optimize the process of converting leads into orders, announced today that its Japanese operation, based in Tokyo, has won additional new business in recent months from three of Japan's leading corporations. Firepond Japan has built its success from the beginning on its high-profile partners including Hitachi Business Frontier, Fujitsu and Kozo Keikaku Engineering (KKE). Although the company entered the Japanese market in the mid 1990s as a services company, Firepond opened its current facility and began selling its software products four years ago this month. Today, Firepond Japan's customers and partners include several Fortune 500 companies. In recent months Firepond Japan, run by Sosaburo Shinzo with a staff of 22 highly qualified professionals, has won three new customers. These successes are especially notable considering that economic growth in Japan has been stagnant in 2002 so far, according to the Japanese government's Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). "We are delighted with our recent successes and proud of the commitment of our partners," said Sosaburo Shinzo, president of Firepond Japan. "The extensive use of our RapidFIRE implementation methodology helps us and our partners implement SalesPerformerä products more quickly, usually in just a few months, and this allows our customers to go live and start seeing a return on investment much faster." Firepond Japan's new customers are directly in the company's primary target markets - manufacturing and insurance: Sanwa Shutter Corporation (http://www.sanwa-ss.co.jp/english.html) is Japan's leading manufacturer of heavy-duty and lightweight shutters, doors, and aluminum and stainless steel building materials. Sanwa needed a lead-to-order sales system that would integrate easily into its existing manufacturing order processes. The company selected Firepond's SalesPerformer Configurator for its comprehensive functionality and because of Firepond's track record in Japan and globally. Firepond's partner KKE is managing the implementation. AFLACdirect.com is a subsidiary of the insurance company AFLAC Japan, specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. AFLAC (www.aflac.com) is the second largest insurance company in Japan, and insures one in four Japanese households. AFLACdirect.com was looking for a solution to draw consumers to its web site and encourage them to purchase life insurance there. AFLACdirect.com has implemented a questionnaire, based on Firepond's needs analysis functionality, which asks consumers questions about their lifestyle and proposes the appropriate product for their insurance needs. The Firepond solution went live in September 2002. Amada (announced previously), Japan's top sheet metal fabrication machinery company, has selected Firepond's SalesPerformer 2002 system to power a new online customer initiative called "e-Amada" designed to more quickly identify customer needs and improve customer satisfaction. "Our success in Japan, despite a sluggish market, underlines the value that Firepond solutions bring to large and medium-sized manufacturers and insurance companies," stated Klaus Besier, Firepond Chairman and CEO. "Sanwa, Aflacdirect.com and Amada have recognized that they can increase sales revenues and simultaneously cut costs by optimizing their lead-to-order processes. We are pleased to add them to our list of global blue-chip customers." Editorial Contact: Eric Snow Firepond, Inc. (U.S.) (781) 487-8441 eric.snow@firepond.com top of page |
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