[February 07, 2005] Nextance Momentum Highlights Industry Growth and New Trends; New Innovations Extend Contract Management to Deliver Enterprise-Wide Value Tweet REDWOOD CITY, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Feb. 7, 2005 -- Nextance Inc., the solutions provider setting the standard for enterprise contract management (ECM), today announced first-half highlights of its fiscal year that include financial growth, new customers, major solution launches, key partnerships and strengthened leadership. The strong forward momentum across the entire company continues to drive Nextance's unique brand of ECM as well as its leadership position in the industry. In H1 2005, ending December 31, Nextance again achieved quarter-over-quarter revenue growth, resulting in the company's largest quarter ever. The increasing number of deals closed with both new and existing customers looking to engage users across the enterprise to enhance their supplier performance and customer profitability initiatives raises its total impact to an industry-leading 80,000 business users in 42 countries. In H1, Nextance furthered its record of successful go-lives and extended projects that followed initial customer deployments. The company also saw an increasing average sales price driven by rising demand from new customers such as: the largest US residential lender; a $14.2 billion Fortune 500 global telecommunications company with about half of its 40,000 employees set to use Nextance in their work; and a $9.1 billion prescription benefits management company, named in the top ten of Fortune's list of fastest growing companies. Contracts Address CXO Level Issues "Enterprises manage change by launching project initiatives at every level of the business," explained Andy Kyte, vice president and fellow at research firm Gartner Inc. "Whether the initiative is revenue growth or cost cutting, compliance or simplification, the important initiatives will always place demands on contract management processes. Those enterprises who have deployed formal Contract Management applications gain benefits time and time again." Kyte emphasized, "The important point these early adopters have grasped is that contract management is not a legal issue but a strategic business process that impacts every business unit and users across the whole organization. The benefits that they have gained are obvious, and these benefits are fueling the growth in demand for Contract Management applications." Kyle Bowker, president and chief executive officer of Nextance, agreed, "We are seeing a key market trend of successful companies recognizing they need to drive better performance and higher value from their business relationships. The conversation has shifted away from simply managing a legal document to discussions of leveraging previously untapped information about customers and suppliers to increase revenue from current customers, manage financial and legal risk, and improve the accuracy of revenue and expense recognition as well as enhance performance of suppliers and customers." Nextance is driving that trend and meeting evolving customer needs with the launch of new major solutions, leading the ECM industry into a larger enterprise-wide play that delivers value to all aspects and all levels in a company. Its innovative approach to the business challenges faced by Fortune 1000 companies trains the sights of ECM on the areas of growth, profits, risk and compliance. This strategy is validated by the company's success in acquiring new customers in each product category and regular expansion into new departments with existing customers. The new Revenue Optimization Suite addresses growing revenue, reducing business risk and improving speed of execution, while the new Intellectual Property (IP) Optimization Suite is the industry's first to answer the urgent call to manage and maximize IP assets and royalty revenue. Both complement the Procurement Optimization Suite, which helps companies achieve the full benefits of their procure-to-pay and spend management initiatives. Given the power and flexibility of its solutions, Nextance has attracted major consulting firms such as Capgemini and others to be formally announced in the coming months, as partners in sales, implementation and new product development. As a result, and along with certifications from other partners such as SAP, Nextance continues to grow an ecosystem to ensure its customers are well supported and able to generate the most value from their investments. Nextance's success so far poises the company for significant future growth - from sales to product innovations to partnerships. On the leadership front, Nextance most recently bolstered its executive team with the appointment of a new chief financial officer, Stephanie Vinella, to manage growth and new investments in markets and products as well as to accelerate the path to profitability. Bowker concluded, "Our mid-fiscal year results show that there is a building crescendo of awareness and excitement about ECM, and the innovative directions we are taking the industry is a primary driver of that. All this perfectly sets the stage and context of the major product announcements we will be announcing over the next few months - and will help make it a truly happy new year for our customers." About Nextance Inc. Nextance is setting the standard for enterprise contract management (ECM) solutions, helping Fortune 1000 companies increase the strategic value and realize the full financial return of their contractual relationships. Using Nextance to carefully manage your relationships by managing your contracts helps to increase profitability, better relationships with customers, vendors, and partners, improve employee productivity, and decrease business and financial risk. Nextance customers, including Covenant Health, Eastman Chemical Company, Fireman's Fund, Genzyme Corporation, Sasol, and Sun Microsystems, are using the Nextance Intelligent Enterprise every day throughout their business to tap into the value that's written into every one of their thousands of sales, procurement, IP licensing, and partner agreements. Nextance is based in Redwood City, CA, and is privately held. For additional information, visit www.nextance.com. (C) 2005 Nextance Inc. All rights reserved. Nextance(R) is a registered trademark of Nextance, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]