Avidian Technologies Beats Microsoft s Intentions for Profitable Contact Management in Outlook

Prophet 2003 transforms Outlook into a complete sales opportunity management solution, discarding the need for ACT!, Goldmine SEATTLE, May 21, 2003 -- Avidian Technologies announced today it has produced the first full featured sales opportunity management solution for Outlook 2000 and XP users built with .NET technologies. Avidian, a software development company that creates solutions to help Outlook and Exchange users be more productive, unveiled Prophet 2003 for small to mid-sized businesses seeking an enhanced Outlook for true contact management. Prophet 2003 will compete directly with ACT!, Goldmine, and the soon to be released Outlook version 11 with Business Contact Manager (BCM) from Microsoft Corp.

Most people prefer using Microsoft Outlook for emails, contact, appointments, tasks and calendar. ACT! and Goldmine recreate these features, but dont do it as well as Outlook," stated James Wong, CEO and co-founder of Avidian Technologies. Prophet was created for users who want to use Outlook as their only application for sales tracking, contact management, reporting, and sharing of sales information. Avidian has succeeded in delivering a product that makes Outlook a profitable sales solution -- Prophet 2003."

Hundreds of beta users from all over the world, specifically from 29 countries in 6 continents, have been praising Prophet 2003 since its release in March 2003. Many of the users operate in a variety of industries, such as sales and marketing, consulting, real estate, insurance, etc., and find the solution suitable and flexible for their unique contact management needs. The anticipated market debut is July 2003 and will retail for significantly less than other contact management offerings. More information on the beta version can be found at www.avidian.com.

Both Prophet and Microsoft BCM utilize Outlooks standard features, but enhance its capabilities with the following additions for sales opportunity management:
•   Create and track sales opportunities at the contact or company account level
•   Personalize the sales opportunity tracking screen to suit a users unique business sales process.
•   Generate a variety of sales reports including Sale Pipeline, Sales Forecast, Won/Loss and other pre-defined report templates.

However, Prophet addresses several functionalities BCM does not:
•   Prophet runs on Outlook 2000 and XP. BCM will only run on the upcoming Office 11 suite.
•   Prophet allows the sharing of sales opportunity data and consolidated reporting without requiring an Exchange Server or other server base software.
•   Prophet 2003 includes the ability to send personalized, group emails while BCM requires an additional subscription service from B-Central.

Based on the feedback from beta users and response from sales professionals that have experienced Prophet 2003, MS Outlook with Prophet will be a strong and viable contender in the contact management applications category.

People quickly realize how Outlook can be used as an effective sales opportunity management solution when they begin to use Prophet. We have received a strong response from our beta users and the collective opinion is that Prophet has taken Outlook to a higher, more functional level while keeping the program extremely easy to use," said Wong.

About Avidian Technologies
Avidian Technologies seeks to create Outlook and Exchange based solutions that help companies harness the power of the Outlook and Exchange platform to increase business productivity and effectiveness. Building on a successful history as a Microsoft Partner and integrator of Outlook and Exchange solutions, founders James Wong and Tim Nguyen have taken this expertise to create Prophet, the powerful sales opportunity and business contact management software built inside of Outlook. Avidian is located in Seattle, Wash. For more information on Avidian and Prophet, visit www.avidian.com.

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