Cindy Curtin Knezevich
770-352-1300
cindyk@jacada.com
Peter L. Seltzberg
Hayden Communications
646-415-8972
peter@haydenir.com
Press Release
Wausau Benefits and Jacada Win Process Innovation Award from Kinetic Information
Insurance Administrator Recognized for Improving Contact Center Productivity
ATLANTA, November 9, 2004 – Jacada Ltd. (NASDAQ: JCDA) announced today that Kinetic Information LLC has awarded a 2004 Process Innovation Award to Wausau Benefits for its work with Jacada. Wausau Benefits is a third-party administrator and manager of self-funded employee benefit plans.
Created in 1996 to honor superior applications for their business effectiveness, and co-sponsored by IMERGE Consulting, the program presents Innovative Solution Awards to organizations that have implemented applications that are returning significant business benefit.
"Winners of the Process Innovation Award are selected based on process improvements that lead to gains in at least one of the following areas: productivity, profitability, ability to adapt to market conditions, or competitive standing/market share," said Steve Weissman, president of Kinetic Information.
"Kinetic Information is pleased to recognize Wausau Benefits and Jacada for superior work in the area of process innovation," said Weissman. "With the Jacada solution, Wausau Benefits was able to tailor their customer service systems to support their strategic business model by leveraging current systems and wrapping them with Jacada technology."
Wausau Benefits claim service representatives (CSRs) process claims as well as take customer service calls. The two functions are performed by CSRs in order to provide a much higher level of service than competitors. Wausau Benefits CSRs use several different tools to do their jobs and Jacada provided a streamlined interaction for the primary application that the agents use to provide customer service and pay claims.
"In our industry, as I'm sure is true in most, one bad keystroke, one misplaced decimal point, can mean the difference between right and wrong. By capturing information from one screen and automatically passing it to subsequent screens without re-keying, we were able to improve accuracy and standardize a lot of what we do," said Pat McKee, director of corporate operations at Wausau Benefits.
In the first year, Wausau Benefits realized a 4% percent increase in productivity, as measured in terms of the number of transactions that each CSR could perform in a day. This increase in productivity represents a significant operational savings, which provided a return on investment within 12 months.
An independent panel of industry analysts that included Michael Bragen of Software Productivity Research LLC; Tom Elliott of Strategy Analytics; Jon Pyke of The Process Factory Ltd.; Don Post and Arthur Gingrande of IMERGE Consulting; and John Parker of Kinetic Information LLC performed judging.
About Wausau Benefits
Wausau Benefits provides a single source for employee benefit plan administration, including health, dental, short-term and long-term disability claims. The company offers fully integrated pharmacy benefits and care management administration as well. Fiserv, Inc. acquired Wausau Benefits in 2003 as a part of the Fiserv Health Solutions Group. Wausau Benefits is accredited by URAC for Utilization Management, Case Management, Disease Management, HIPAA Privacy and Claim Processing. For more information about Wausau Benefits, visit www.wausaubenefits.com.
About Kinetic Information LLC
Kinetic Information LLC performs strategic business consulting for buyers and sellers of information technology. Focused on technology’s ability to solve business problems, the firm provides practical analysis and high-value recommendations that its clients use to obtain maximum total value from the systems in their charge. Additional information is available on the Web at www.kineticinfo.com.
About IMERGE Consulting
IMERGE Consulting is the leading unbiased consulting organization for electronic imaging, document management, workflow, and related enterprise systems focusing on requirements definition, RFPs, vendor selection and procurement planning. IMERGE helps clients work better, faster, smarter by bridging the gap between process and technology. Additional information is available on the Web at www.imergeconsult.com.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ substantially from these statements. For a more complete disclosure of the risks and uncertainties that may affect actual results, please refer to the Company's Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Jacada is a trademark of Jacada Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Jacada is a registered trademark of Jacada Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks of their respective owners.