Equitant Unveils Enhanced Techology Platform for Order-To-Cash Management Service

Latest version of AR Collect transforms executives visibility and control for Order-To-Cash process management over the Web

DUBLIN, IRELAND and SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, USA -- September 18, 2002 - Today Equitant unveiled Version 2.0 of AR CollectÔ, the latest release of the companys proprietary collections and dispute resolution software, which serves as the technology platform for Equitants Order-To-Cash management service.

Equitants business process outsourcing (BPO) solution for Order-To-Cash helps companies improve working capital, reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. The software tools that are a part of this solution help executives to increase the amount of speed, flexibility, and control they have in their business.

AR Collect is specifically designed to help large companies develop critical intelligence on customer transactions, reduce the amount of time spent resolving disputes, and accelerate payments. Using the software, Equitants Order-To-Cash specialists can help companies to more effectively initiate, process, track, and close multi-channel sales across multiple clients, geographies, currencies, and languages.

As a result, companies who use Equitants service and technology - including Microsoft, Cisco, and HP - are able to dramatically improve key metrics such as Days Sales Outstanding and % of Accounts Current. These are, in turn, the metrics that drive and reflect companies working capital, cost, and customer satisfaction.

Central to AR Collect is Equitants new proprietary collaborative dispute resolution technology. Operating via a web-based platform, this technology enables cross-functional information sharing in order to proactively identify and resolve customer payment issues.

AR CollectÔ new features, functionality and benefits include:

·   Online visibility and real-time access to customer payment issues
·   Ability to generate tailored prompting questions for specific disputes through e-mail
·   Increased involvement, communications, and control across the entire business
·   Real-time dispute analysis to improve customer service and intelligence

According to John Hagerty in The AMR Research Alert, September 12, 2002, Equitant a pioneer in the Order-to-Cash BPO arena, has built a sound business ... in addition to being best-in-class for business process, it also concentrates on its core competencies with solid applications that support account management and customer dispute resolution." He added, Equitant has built a repeatable, scalable service. Repeatable and scalable translates into cost-effective, which is good news for buyers."    

The new functionality in AR Collect represents Equitants 15-years experience supporting the Order-To-Cash process for some of the worlds largest companies," said Chris Jenkins, Director of Operations at Equitant. With the applications new web-based collaborative dispute resolution technology, customers can more readily identify and resolve financial disputes to drive tangible, bottom line results faster."

Today Equitant uses AR Collect in partnership with some of the worlds largest software and technology companies in order to help them manage their Order-To-Cash process. For example, in 2001, Microsoft adopted AR Collect as its global standard to enable more effective collection and dispute management practices. For a demonstration of this technology to companies interested in outsourcing, please see the contacts below:

CONTACT:

North America            
Kepler Knott               
+1 404 867 3817            
kepler.knott@equitant.com

Europe/Ireland   
Jennifer Wettstein   
+353 1 406 0698
jennifer.wettstein@equitant.com

About Equitant
Equitant transforms the Order-To-Cash process for some of the world's largest companies. By assuming management and accountability of the complete business process through the our O2C solution, Equitant is able to deliver significant improvements in working capital, reduce overall finance and administrative costs, and increase customer satisfaction. Equitant serves the Global 1000, including companies such as Microsoft, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard, among others. For more information on Equitant, visit its Web site at http://www.equitant.com.

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