CG: Sonetto CG-based rule and search engine wins awards for Retail Affiliate Management

Dear CGers,

 

Just thought I would let you know about some commercial success using CGs. Our product is based on CGs and CG search, and rule engines.

 

Regards, Gerard Ellis

Chief Scientist

IVIS Group

http://www.ivisgroup.com/

 

              

 

 

Please check out the attached press releases that were published yesterday. The first is Microsoft’s release and the second is our own press release.

 

It is worth mentioning that there were several Microsoft clients and partners who made the finals but did not win awards despite having higher profile relationships with Microsoft than we do. Sonetto not only won both the Multi-Channel Retail Award and the Special Award for Innovation, but beat competitors with cutting edge solutions in promotions management, RFID, point of sale and customer loyalty. This validates both the Sonetto product strategy and our vision for its place at the heart of multi-channel retailing.

 

Microsoft’s release is at http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/pressreleases/rad2006winnerspr_1522006.mspx

 

Our press release:

 

IVIS GROUP SECURES TWO WINS AT THE MICROSOFT EMEA RETAIL APPLICATION DEVELOPER AWARDS IN DUSSELDORF

 

Sonetto Affiliate Channel Management Wins Multi-Channel Retailing Award and Special Award for Innovation

 

London, 15th February 2006 - IVIS Group, the UK's most innovative e-business solution provider today announced that it won two out of the eight Microsoft EMEA Retail Application Developer (RAD) Awards at last night’s awards ceremony in Düsseldorf, Germany. IVIS Group scooped both the Multi-Channel Retailing Award and the Special Award for Innovation with the implementation of its Sonetto Affiliate Channel Management solution at Tesco.com. The application is part of IVIS Group’s Sonetto Multi-Channel Product Information Management (PIM) suite.

 

The Multi-Channel Retailing Award category rewards solutions that enhance retailers’ ability to offer a better, more integrated customer experience across multiple channels such as stores, online, kiosks, catalogues, telephone, TV and collaborative partnerships with search engines, shopping comparison sites and affiliate marketing networks.

 

The Special Award for Innovation is a discretionary award given by the judges that recognises the most creative, comprehensive, integrated use of Microsoft technology and products to deliver tangible business value to retailers.

 

Qusai Sarraf, CEO, IVIS Group, said, "We are extremely proud to win these two awards. This endorsement from Microsoft and the RAD Award judges validates our vision of business driven PIM applications that enable true multi-channel retailing. It is a clear acknowledgement of the years of product development that have gone into our Sonetto solutions working closely with clients including Tesco.com.”

 

Sonetto Affiliate Channel Management enables retailers to manage multiple dynamic relationships with shopping comparison websites, affiliate networks and search engines and align these collaborative channels with their direct sales efforts. Sonetto gives product, category and marketing managers the agility to control the supply of large product data feeds to affiliates on the fly and without the need for IT support. It optimises marketing campaigns and the promotion of products to consumers through affiliate channels, thereby increasing sales, optimising affiliate marketing ROI and minimising the IT cots of managing multiple partners.

 

The Microsoft EMEA RAD Awards are in their 6th year and have become one of the leading events on the retail technology calendar. Since its inception, the RAD Awards programme has recognised and celebrated the independent software vendors (ISVs) and retailer IT departments that make the best use of Microsoft technology to provide business value to retail organisations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

 

“This year’s RAD winners are focused on helping retailers achieve greater customer intimacy irrespective of channel, with a more integrated and collaborative business approach,” said Dilip Popat, managing director, EMEA Retail Industry Unit, Microsoft. “The winning companies demonstrate that a connected environment can maximise the potential of existing systems and link with those of external partners to help deliver the optimum shopping experience.”

 

Microsoft believes that honouring innovative software developers is good for the retail community: it stimulates creativity in delivering genuine business value, and it continues to “raise the bar” for application development. In this way, Microsoft believes that the RAD Awards programme benefits the industry as a whole.

 

Ends

 

About IVIS Group

IVIS Group has been at the forefront of developing leading edge, strategic e-business solutions for retailers for 12 years and is the development partner behind Tesco.com, the world's most successful online grocery retailer. With a solid understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing retailers today, IVIS Group helps its clients to ‘make data make sense’ by providing an innovative mix of customer-centric Product Information Management solutions for multi-channel retail, consulting, training and Professional Services. IVIS Group is a Microsoft Gold Partner, a member of W3C, GS1 UK and a pioneer of XML, .Net, Web Services, Accessibility and Semantic Web technologies.

www.ivisgroup.com

 

 

About Sonetto

Sonetto is IVIS Group’s flagship Product Information Management solution. It is a business user-driven suite of applications that enables multi-channel retailers to manage their product information across channels. Sonetto reduces costs, improves customer satisfaction and increases revenue by delivering highly relevant categorised product information at every channel.

www.sonetto.com