Gartner Announces Six Finalists for the CRM Excellence Awards

Winners to be announced at the Gartner CRM Summit in Chicago, September 11-13

STAMFORD, Conn., August 14, 2006 — Gartner, Inc. announced the six finalists for Gartner's CRM Excellence Award, which will be presented at the company's CRM Summit, September 11-13 in Chicago, Illinois. The awards will be given in two categories to companies that most clearly demonstrate excellence in their customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. Gartner will also present a CRM Innovator Award to GBC in recognition of their CRM project that demonstrated the most impressive level of creativity and innovation.

The CRM Excellence Award will be given out in two categories. The first category is “Excellence in Enterprise CRM.” The finalists have been selected based on how well a CRM initiative spanning multiple functions of the organization demonstrated excellence. The three finalists in this category are AIS, BNSF and HP.

The second category is "Excellence in Sales, Marketing or Customer Service.” Finalists were selected based on the qualities and results of an initiative or project that targeted a specific business function. The finalists in this category are Harry Rosen, Netbank and UnitedHealth Group.

“Getting CRM right means integrating processes across business functions to drive effective customer interactions and grow customer value. The experiences of Gartner’s CRM Excellence Award finalists show how companies are successfully tackling the challenges when trying to get CRM right,” said Esteban Kolsky, research director for Gartner. “In these case studies, leaders from a broad range of industries explain how they used CRM, sales, marketing and customer service for the betterment of both company and customer. “

Gartner analysts have selected the six CRM Excellence Award finalists and the CRM Innovator Award winner based on extensive applications outlining their CRM initiatives. The six CRM Excellence Award finalists will present their CRM stories to conference attendees at the CRM Summit, and the attendees will be able to provide their feedback as to which of the finalists is the best example of CRM excellence.Gartner analysts will then select and announce the two CRM Excellence Award winners during the closing session of the conference on September 13. GBC will also be presented with the CRM Innovator Award during this session.

The Gartner CRM Summit will be held at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. The Gartner CRM Summit is the most comprehensive event on customer strategies and technologies ever held. Centered around the theme of “CRM 2.0: Managing the New Customer Experience,” it offers the latest actionable insights and best practices in all areas of CRM — from business strategy to software implementation, from change management to metrics. The summit hits the critical spot between strategic planning and tactical advice for organizations as they look to grow their customer base, cross-sell to existing customers, segment and retain their most valuable customers and service them more effectively. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/crm. Members of the media can register by sending an e-mail to Christy Pettey at christy.pettey@gartner.com.

Contact:


Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.