DA Consulting Group and Academee Announce Partnership to Create Client-Focused Change Solutions

DA Consulting Group and Academee launch consultancy partnership to improve the effectiveness and performance of employees within organisations undergoing complex change.

DA Consulting Group Inc., a global consultancy specialising in corporate knowledge services, today announced a partnership with Academee, the European people consultancy and e-learning specialist. Both partners provide market leading consultancy services aimed at improving the effectiveness and performance of employees within organisations undergoing complex change.

DACG and Academee have formed this strategic alliance following successful joint projects with a global leader in the energy and petrochemical industry. DACG, who specialise in supporting hard skills, technology and process orientated training, found that by teaming up with Academees soft and behavioral skills expertise, a more holistic approach could be provided to meet the change, learning and performance support needs of the CRM, Shared Service and Call Centre environment.

Under this agreement, DACG and Academee will provide end-to-end employee performance support including strategy facilitation, change management, creation of training materials, system task documentation and training delivery and management. Clients will be offered more complete and comprehensive solutions addressing both people and technology factors.

Announcing the agreement, Malcolm Wright, Chief Operating Officer at DACG said, By formalising our relationship with Academee, we shall both be in a position to offer a more comprehensive service to our clients as they seek greater ROI from new CRM, Shared Service and Call Centre technologies. This is particularly relevant for our larger, blue-chip clients as they implement these applications. We look forward to establishing a long term relationship which has the potential to extend on a global basis."

Clare Roberts, Director of Consultancy and Learning Services at Academee, commented: Too often, organisational change is unsuccessful because management fails to implement change successfully across every part of the business. The combined skills and resources of Academee and DACG can help more organisations to make successful change happen. Academees partnership with DACG is also founded on shared values and beliefs, which helps us to work seamlessly together to provide 'single point solutions designed to meet clients individual needs."

ENDS

About DA Consulting Group:
DA Consulting Group (www.dacg.com) specialises in solutions that support and empower employees who face complex enterprise transformations. These solutions which address a broad spectrum of needs, comprise a blended combination of change communication, business process mapping, documentation and learning content development, end-user training or performance support geared to the specific staff and more general business need. For more than 18 years DA Consulting Group has worked with some of the most progressive and dynamic businesses in the world helping their people overcome the challenges of change in the most engaging and effective manner. DA Consulting Group's solutions place the employee at the center of the project to ensure that all aspects of the solution delivered are geared towards meeting that individual's needs thereby serving the strategic ambitions of the business.
As an endorsement of the high quality of the project work completed in support of complex system change, in February 2002, DACG won Gold Medal in the IT Training Awards category for External Project of the Year (for Unilever). At the same awards DACG was a finalist for E-Learning Project of the Year, 2002 (for Diageo) and Training Company of the Year, 2002.

About Academee

Academee (www.academee.com) works in partnership with its clients to define business and learning strategies. Its consultants then implement tailored training, which combines face-to-face learning and e-learning in the required blend.

Focusing on organisational and learning strategy, leadership and management development, customer relationships and coaching, Academee helps to make successful change happen at an individual, team and organizational level.

Clients include BT, SAP, egg, Nokia and InterContinental Hotels and Resorts.

Academee and its parent, the Ellis Hayward Group have also been recognised by the BT Vision 100, the Personnel Today Awards, the Executive Team of the Year Awards and the British Gas/Daily Express Tomorrows People Awards. Academee is an Investor in People.

For further information, please contact:

Kathy Oetama
email: kathrine.oetama@dacg.com
phone: +44 (0)207 767 2537

Jane OHara
email: jane.ohara@academee.com
phone: +44 (0)1625 540540