STAMFORD, CONN., July 11, 2002 -- Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) is accepting nominations for its CRM Excellence Award. Nominations will be accepted via an online entry form from Gartner clients and nonclients who demonstrate excellence in CRM initiatives and illustrate a specific end-user implementation of CRM. Nominations will be accepted through August 16, 2002.

Two awards will be presented during the closing ceremonies at Gartner CRM Summit, which will be held September 18-20 in Chicago. One award will be for small to midsize enterprises with annual revenue of up to $500 million and up to 1,000 employees. The other award will be for large enterprises with annual revenue greater than $500 million and more than 1,000 employees.

"Acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers, while profitably meeting their demands, has become increasingly difficult," said Beth Eisenfeld, research director for Gartner. "This prestigious award will be given to the two companies that have become leaders in this space by recognizing the power and potential of CRM and achieving great success in knowing and understanding their customer base."

A review team of Gartner analysts will evaluate and rate each entry. The participants are judged on eight key characteristics: CRM vision, CRM strategy, consistent valued-customer experience, organizational collaboration, CRM processes, CRM information, CRM technology and CRM metrics. As many as three end-user finalists in each category will detail their CRM experience in a case-study presentation during the conference and the audience will provide its input on the final award selection.

In addition to the recognition, recipients will be honored with a donation, made in their name, to their choice of one of several designated charities.

More information on Gartner's CRM Excellence Award and the online entry form are available at www.gartner.com/us/crmexcellence.

Gartner CRM Summit will be held September 18-20 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers in Chicago. The Summit will provide attendees with strategic insights and actionable implementation plan guidelines and suggestions for leveraging technology to foster more customer-centric processes and enhance competitive advantage. For more information or to register for the event, go to www.gartner.com/us/crm or call 1-800-778-1997.