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CONTACT INFORMATION
Convergent Group
www.convergentgroup.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Convergent Group, Rochester
Gas and Electric Agree to Launch Utility Into Digital Enterprise
Convergent Group Outlines Unique Business
Model Expected toRevolutionize The Utility Industry
ENGLEWOOD, CO., September 5 , 2000 - Convergent Group Corporation
(Nasdaq: CVGP) today outlined the components of a business strategy
that establishes it as the preeminent source for providing utility
companies with both the digital infrastructure and eBusiness solutions
necessary tooperate in the new energy economy, a market characterized
by heightened competition and unprecedented, rapid change. Convergent
Group engineers, builds and manages its Digital Utility(SM) business
solutions that enable a utility totransform its business model into
a digital business enterprise.
In conjunction with the public announcement of its business strategy
for the utility industry, Convergent Group also announces that it
has signed a Digital Utility contract with Rochester Gas and Electric
Corporation (RG&E) to provide services and information technology
solutions that will help transform the New York State utility into
a digital enterprise.
The goal of the three-year agreement is to further maximize the
efficiency of RG&E's utility operations and the effectiveness
of the utility's customer service. Prior toentering into the agreement,
Convergent Group completed an assessment and strategic analysis
for RG&E, which served as the basis for creating the tools needed
to meet RG&E's business objectives. This assessment formed the
foundation for the new contract tocreate a Digital Utility encompassing
the integration of energy delivery and front office and back office
operations for the utility.
"We are leveraging our in-depth expertise in the utility market
and our extensive information technology experience to Lead the
transformation of utilities from old economy businesses models into
new seamless digital enterprises," said Glenn Montgomery, Chairman
and CEO of Convergent Group. "In today's marketplace, Convergent
Group is the only company that offers exclusive end-to-end solutions
toutility companies. We assist clients such as RG&E to develop
new economy business strategies, build the digital infrastructure
and Web-based interfaces to Support these strategies, and guide
them through the transformation process. The services and solutions
we are providing toRG&E can help the utility enhance its reputation
as a customer- driven, flexible and proactive organization."
Explosive growth in the utilities segment of the IT services market
is driven by the convergence of deregulation with the immediacy
of the Internet. Utility industry deregulation has brought a flood
of new participants to the market. to compete effectively in this
dramatically changing environment, utilities must increase revenues,
enhance efficiencies and improve service levels in order toretain
existing customers and differentiate their product offerings and
services.
According toInternational Data Corporation, the U.S. utilities
industry is expected tospend approximately $2 billion on Internet
services by 2003, a significant increase from the $345 million spent
in 1999.
"As the industry continues toderegulate, gas and electric
utilities must meet the challenge of improving customer service,
while reducing costs and becoming more efficient than their competitors,"
said Montgomery. "We are extremely pleased to Offer this unique
solution, the Digital Utility, which is quickly becoming the premier
business solution toenable utilities to completely transform their
businesses."
Convergent Group's proprietary models in the Digital Utility focus
on bringing together utility personnel, contractors, partners and
customers on a Web-based platform that enables all parties to access
business information on a real-time basis.
Through the creation of Digital Utility eBusiness applications,
utility customers will be able toconduct business transactions on-line,
such as signing up for new service or changing service options,
reviewing account balances, checking the status of service outages,
reviewing usage history, making automated bill payments, and self-scheduling
service appointments. Contractors can benefit as well, as they are
enabled to submit service requirements, complete service contracts,
access utility design specifications, check permit status and self-schedule
construction project timetables on-line.
"Going forward, we anticipate that our Digital Utility will
continue to be a key contributor toConvergent Group's revenue and
income growth," noted Bryan Mileger, Convergent Group's Chief
Financial Officer. "The utility industry's response to our
solutions has been overwhelmingly positive, and growth in our client
base has exceeded internal expectations. In addition, as our installed
base of Digital Utility clients grows, Convergent Group's operating
margins are likely to expand as well, as value-added services grow
to become a larger component of our overall business mix."
As part of the new contract with RG&E, Convergent Group will
deploy its Model Office™, which is the technology architecture
for the Digital Utility. The Model Office components to be deployed
include Geographic Information System (GIS) software from ESRI,
network planning tools from Stoner, work management products from
Severn Trent Systems, wireless workforce management technology from
MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc., an outage management system from
CES International, and Convergent Group's work- integration management
and common-crew management tools.
About RG&E
RG&E provides electric and gas energy and related services to
a population of more than one million residents and businesses in
a nine-county region centering around the city of Rochester in upstate
New York. This new contract discussed in this release is part of
the $100 million in new contract wins that Convergent Group previously
announced on August 31.
About Convergent Group
Convergent Group Corporation is a provider of consulting, software
engineering, systems integration and project management services
that enable its utility and local government clients to implement
Internet-based business solutions, also known as eBusiness solutions.
These solutions enable Convergent Group's clients totransform their
organizations intodigital business environments that integrate data
from various isolated sources tocreate a single, Web-based point
of entry through which internal decision- makers, business partners,
suppliers, customers and constituents can access business information
on a real-time basis.
By combining its use of existing an emerging digital technologies
with Convergent Group's expertise in the utility and local government
sectors, the firm is able to help its clients increase revenues,
reduce costs, improve customer services, ensure service reliability,
improve resource management and exploit their information assets.
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