American Express Finanzmanagement Implements Lifetime Concept with update; update is CRM Partner of American Express Finanzmanagement

update software AG has established a CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) partnership with American ExpressFinanzmanagement GmbH, which is headquartered in Heidelberg. TheAmerican Express subsidiary, which only began operations in May 2005,has set itself the objective of servicing its customers even moreextensively, and of further enhancing customer loyalty under the roofof the powerful "American Express" brand. Through this subsidiary, thecredit card company has added personal advisory services in the areasof liquidity, provisioning and asset management to the range offinancial services it holds available for members in Germany. The newofferings are based, under the American Express Select heading, on aportfolio of select independent financial products. For AmericanExpress Finanzmanagement GmbH, the sale of these financial products isnot about clinching short-term contracts. Instead, the aim is thecontinuous servicing of its members within the scope of the AmericanExpress lifetime concept. It is in this context that the financialservices provider will from now on place its trust in new partnerupdate, whose CRM system marketing.manager in the Financial Services(FS) sector version supports lifetime customer advisory as astandardised solution.

"At the end of a multi-tier process we decided in favour of updatesoftware AG as CRM partner for various reasons," Andreas Adam, memberof the management at American Express Finanzmanagement, explains thechoice of partner. "It was important, for example, that updatecommands the different CRM disciplines. We were looking for a CRMsystem that could actively support not only our advisors in theoperational advisory and sales process, but also the analysis ofcustomer data and the collaborative tasks in internal communication.""On top of that," adds Martin Ehret, who is also in the management atAmerican Express Finanzmanagement, "what convinced us above all wasthat update has already realised the life phase-oriented sales conceptas part of its CRM system, and that it can be easily adapted to ourindividual processes. This enables us to implement our AmericanExpress lifetime concept without any great effort."

By the end of 2005, some 100 financial advisors at 16 branches ofAmerican Express Finanzmanagement will work with update's CRM system.Via the Web-based user interface, they will be able to access thecentrally stored customer data from their respective workplaces. Themarketing department will use the CRM system primarily for analyticaltasks such as controlling or customer value calculations, and theresults will flow back directly into the operational process. "In thisway," Andreas Adam comments, "we will establish a consistent andefficient customer communication because the central marketingdepartment and local advisors have the same comprehensive knowledgeabout our members."

"Since our advisors are our most important link to the customer,"Martin Ehret says in conclusion, "it is also vital, of course, thatthey accept the new CRM system, see it as a true labour-saving tooland really use it for their daily work. For this reason, too, updateis the right partner for our Customer Relationship Management."

About American Express Finanzmanagement GmbH

American Express Finanzmanagement GmbH is an operating division ofAmerican Express. Founded in 1850 and represented in Germany since1898, American Express is one of the world's most prominent providersof financial and travel services, credit cards, travelers cheques,investment products, insurance products and international bankingservices. Since May 2005, American Express Finanzmanagement GmbH hasoffered members an integrated, lifetime approach with an independentadvisory service and selection of products in the areas of liquidity,provisioning and asset management.

About update software AG

Founded in Vienna in 1988, update software AG (www.update.com) isone of Europe's leading providers of CRM solutions with some 150employees and revenues of EUR 15.3 million (2004). update software AGis listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

update products are used by more than 80,000 employees at over 750companies. References include 3M, AstraZeneca, Beiersdorf, Canon,DuPont, ESTAG, Imperial Tobacco, Landesbank Rheinland-PfalzInternational S.A., LBS Nord, Magna Steyr and Pernod Ricard. updatesoftware AG cooperates with carefully selected systems integrationpartners such as Atos Origin, Cognos, Dendrite International, EDS,IDS-Scheer Austria, Sensix, Siemens Business Services, Softlab andsyncon.