Zilliant Chief Pricing Scientist Dr. Ahmet Kuyumcu Teaching Advanced Class At University Of Texas At Austin

Zilliant, a leader in strategic pricing applications, announced today that Dr. Ahmet Kuyumcu, the Companys chief scientist, is teaching a graduate-level class in pricing and revenue management for the Operations Research and Industrial Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Kuyumcu is instructing a class of 15 graduate students with backgrounds in operations research, business administration, and management information systems. The class focuses on advanced mathematical procedures in improving a companys business performance when pricing is used as a key business strategy.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) May 2, 2005 -- Zilliant, a leader in strategic pricing applications, announced today that Dr. Ahmet Kuyumcu, the Companys chief scientist, is teaching a graduate-level class in pricing and revenue management for the Operations Research and Industrial Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Kuyumcu is instructing a class of 15 graduate students with backgrounds in operations research, business administration, and management information systems. The class focuses on advanced mathematical procedures in improving a companys business performance when pricing is used as a key business strategy.

This is the second time an advanced pricing and revenue management class was offered at UT-Austin and clearly places the University among the leading schools for pricing sciences, a list that includes Columbia, Georgia Tech and Stanford," said Dr. Kuyumcu. Pricing and revenue management is a powerful tool for businesses in todays competitive environment and as demand for strategic pricing applications grows, so too will the need for highly skilled pricing experts. Pricing is a rapidly expanding business specialty and the teaching of pricing science will be a must in many departments in related fields to provide the needed expertise and staffing."

The course covers fundamentals of price optimization at a technical level including segmentation, market response modeling, revenue management, overbooking, dynamic pricing, and mark-down pricing. It also contains implementation issues and case studies from the state-of-the-art real-world applications in a variety of industries. In addition, students are required to complete a research project for the class.

"In today's market place, strategic pricing plays a critical role in maintaining a firm's competitive advantage. As margins shrink and as free trade agreements extend the opportunities for global firms, there is a continuing need to cut costs and capture as much customer revenue as possible," said Dr. Jonathan Bard, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering Coordinator at UT-Austin. This is particularly true in industries where the product or service being offered is perishable or has a short lifecycle. Adaptive pricing in light of current market conditions can make the difference between long-term profitability and a continued struggle for survival."

Prior to joining Zilliant, Dr. Kuyumcu was one of the key scientists at Manugistics where he led the design and implementation of sophisticated market-response modeling and optimization algorithms for a variety of Fortune 500 firms. He frequently speaks at conferences on the practice of pricing and revenue management and has published several articles in academic journals. He has M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Operations Research from Texas A&M University.

Zilliant provides its customers with the knowledge to make strategic pricing decisions that positively impact the bottom line. The Zilliant Pricing Suite (ZPS) allows companies to optimize revenue and margins through modeled segmentation, precision price setting, effective discount guidelines, in-depth price analytics, intelligent deal management and successful price promotions. Zilliants clients typically experience profit margin growth of more than 10 percent within months of implementing the companys software.

About Zilliant

Zilliant, a leader in strategic pricing applications, provides software and services that aid companies in defining and managing their pricing for improved financial results. The Zilliant Pricing Suite delivers a full solution for Price Analytics, Price Execution and Price Modeling. By utilizing the Zilliant suite of pricing applications, companies are able to maximize revenue and margins through optimized segmentation, precision price setting, effective discount guidelines, successful price promotions and effective price policy enforcement. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Zilliant is a privately held company. Investors include Cardinal Venture Capital, JP Morgan Partners, Austin Ventures and Trellis Partners. Zilliant is a registered trademark of Zilliant, Inc. For more information contact the company toll free at 877.893.1085 or visit www.zilliant.com.

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