Apropos Technology and J.D. Edwards & Co. (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies) (Nasdaq: JDEC) today announced the signing of a global OEM agreement. Under terms of the agreement, J.D. Edwards will embed a private-label version of Apropos' Multi-channel Interaction Management Suite within the J.D. Edwards CRM application.

With Apropos' new open technology platform, J.D. Edwards will be able to deliver a software-based "universal queuing" environment tightly embedded within the J.D. Edwards CRM application suite. The integrated solution will enable J.D. Edwards to provide its contact center customers with an environment for handling both real time customer communications, including voice, voice-over-IP (VoIP), e-mail, Web collaboration, and fax, in the same unified queue with case-based events triggered by their CRM application. With this new offering, JD Edwards will be the first in the industry with a totally "unified queue" to prioritize, escalate, and report on all interactions in the contact center-driven through one set of business rules, one set of user profiles, and one common reporting engine.

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"Companies, particularly those in the mid-market, can benefit from a complete CRM suite that includes a robust interaction management application capable of prioritizing the value of customer interactions," said Mary Wardley, Vice President, CRM Applications research at IDC. "This type of integration from Apropos and J.D. Edwards, which automates all customer communications as part of an overall CRM strategy, is an indication of where the industry is headed, as vendors move toward providing a solution that streamlines the processes and systems that touch customers."

"The contact center is undergoing an enormous sea change in how it does business" states Kevin G. Kerns, President and CEO of Apropos Technology. "Over the past couple of years, driven by the continuous pressure on reducing costs and retaining customers, the traditional contact center now finds itself in a very difficult predicament. Contact centers have purchased too many "siloed" applications to manage. They do not have enough staff to support and maintain the integrity of the applications and continue to incur huge costs to maintain the systems on a year over year basis."

The trend in the industry today is to mitigate the risk (and costs) by finding a single vendor that can deliver a fully integrated "front to back" contact center solution, dramatically reducing the costs of supporting and administering multiple point applications. We expect this trend will continue to gather momentum as world-class application companies, such as JD Edwards, step up and provide its customers with the complete multi-channel contact center solution. The "capabilities bar" has just been raised on the CRM industry and it will change the complexion of how companies implement contact centers in the years ahead."

J.D. Edwards expands the definition of CRM to Customer Lifecycle Management, which includes all of the business processes and associated systems that touch a customer. With the integration of the Apropos solution, companies will be able to support and streamline their entire business process from original customer contact through post sales service. The J.D. Edwards-Apropos partnership is a crucial element to the aggressive build-out of J.D. Edwards CRM offering. Since its acquisition of CRM vendor YOUcentric last November, J.D. Edwards has rapidly developed a wide range of CRM technologies through in-house development and partnerships and is already very competitive in providing mid-market-friendly CRM technologies to the industry.

"J.D. Edwards looks at potential technology partnerships every day for technology that could strengthen our current CRM applications," said Les Wyatt, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at J.D. Edwards. "Apropos' interaction management suite is the right fit for the J.D. Edwards CRM offering. We feel the integrated product will help enhance our highly competitive set of CRM applications, which enables us to make our customers stronger."

Availability

The J.D. Edwards CRM and Apropos Interaction Management solution is expected to be made available in late '02 or early '03 through J.D. Edwards' direct sales force and global partner network.

"Customers have asked for J.D. Edwards to provide interaction management capabilities - including Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), e-mail management, Web chat and collaboration, fax management and universal queuing - as part of our core CRM offering," said Karl Johnson, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at J.D. Edwards. "By integrating leading-edge interaction management capabilities to our offering, we can offer customers a more complete CRM solution at a lower total cost of ownership."

About Apropos Technology

Apropos Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: APRS) develops and markets a multi-channel interaction management application that delivers real-time and historical information on overall service levels and contact center performance in order to react immediately to changing business conditions and make informed strategic decisions. The company's award-winning solution intelligently classifies, prioritizes, routes and manages the value of each customer and each interaction, across a variety of communications media, including E-mail, Web, Fax, Voice and Voice over IP (VoIP). In 2001, Apropos was recognized through several industry awards, including Product of the Year from Customer Interaction Solutions and the 2001 TMC Labs Innovation Award. Apropos also was named to the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500. Apropos Technology serves its 300 clients worldwide from its headquarters in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., and from offices in Europe and Asia/Pacific Rim. Additional information about Apropos and its products can be found at .

About J.D. Edwards & Company

J.D. Edwards makes customers stronger, enabling them to solve their most important business challenges. The company offers collaborative enterprise software as well as consulting, education and support services. J.D. Edwards' offerings are differentiated by a deeply ingrained attitude of listening to customers, innovating on their behalf, and delivering solutions as part of a results-oriented relationship. Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Denver, J.D. Edwards focuses on long-term business partnerships and helping its 6,500 customers in 113 countries collaborate electronically to manage their business processes, supply chains, and supplier and customer relationships. For more information: www.jdedwards.com or 1-800-727-5333.

The Apropos Technology statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding Apropos Technology's expectations, anticipations, goals, beliefs, targets, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding product introduction and acceptance, future sales, sales growth and sales channels, profitability and results, gross margins and financial stability. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties as more fully set forth under the caption "Risk Factors Associated with Apropos' Business and Future Operating Results" in Apropos Technology's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Apropos Technology's actual results and the timing of certain events may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements; Apropos Technology makes no commitment to disclose any revisions to forward-looking statements, or any facts, events or circumstances after the date hereof that may bear upon forward-looking statements.