SAN JOSE, Calif., January 5, 2006 - Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD), the leader in Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM), today announced that its solution was mentioned by Gartner, Inc. in a October 2005 industry research report entitled Three Steps to Profitable Growth in Insurance. The report outlines three key steps insurers should take to drive revenue growth and profitability. In the follow-up November report, MarketScope for North American Insurance Incentive Compensation Management Applications, 2005, Gartner gave Callidus TrueComp ® Enterprise a "positive" rating.
According to Gartner in the Three Steps report, "Worldwide, property and casualty (P&C) and life insurers are struggling to increase their profitability by growing revenue and gross written premiums. This is a mission-critical issue for CEOs and other decision makers; however, many insurers find it difficult to identify key steps they can take that will begin to drive revenue and promote greater profitability."
The recommendations outlined in the October 2005 Gartner report Three Steps to Profitable Growth in Insurance include the following excerpts:
In addition, the Gartner Three Steps report states that "distribution performance metrics must be aligned with business outcomes. Performance analytics are essential to knowing which channel is selling what, when and how much. The metrics must be directly tied to incentive and compensation strategies. Insurers need to be certain that they are encouraging the right behavior with agents and brokers".
In the November 2005 MarketScope for North American Insurance Incentive Compensation Management Applications, Gartner reports that "Insurers should look to buy vendor applications to improve the timeliness, accuracy and visibility of commission, bonus and other payments to producers, because most rely on outdated systems and Excel spreadsheets."
Callidus Software's TrueComp Enterprise for insurance companies is designed to meet the needs of today's insurance distribution management, supporting complex distribution hierarchies; flexible, effective-dated compensation plans; and multi-tiered compensation plans including commission, incentives and management/wholesaler overrides. TrueComp Enterprise is comprised of three major applications that comprehensively automate incentive compensation business processes, including TrueComp, TrueInformationTM, and TrueResolution ®.
"We are pleased with the positive ranking in Gartner's recent report," commented Robert Youngjohns, president and CEO of Callidus Software. "Callidus customers benefit from our in-depth domain expertise with measurable improvements in their efficiency of spending on incentive compensation. This ranking is a result of our ongoing and successful effort to stay ahead of the competition with constant innovation and broad market penetration."
Demonstrating its commitment to providing insurance industry solutions, Callidus announced the creation of an insurance industry-specific user group at their recent user conference, TrueConnection 2005. 51 people from companies such as AIG Agency Auto, AXA Financial, CSAA, John Hancock, Kaiser Permanente and others discussed industry-specific requirements for compensation software and shared information and experiences about implementations.
Vendor Rating Definition: Positive
Demonstrates strength in specific areas, but is largely opportunistic.
Customers: Continue incremental investments.
Potential customers: Put this vendor on a shortlist of tactical alternatives.
About Gartner Vendor Ratings
The Vendor Rating is copyrighted November 29, 2005 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Vendor Rating is an evaluation of a vendor as a whole, not just on its position within a single market. It is based on Gartner's assessment of the vendor's vision and execution for a product or service, relative to Gartner's analysis of clients' requirements. It is not intended as a comparison relative to competitors in the market. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Vendor Rating, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About Callidus Software
Founded in 1996, Callidus Software (www.callidussoftware.com) is an industry leading enterprise incentive management (EIM) provider to global companies across multiple industries. Callidus' EIM systems allow enterprises to develop and manage incentive compensation linked to the achievement of strategic business objectives. Through its TrueComp ® Grid architecture, Callidus delivers the industry's only EIM solution that combines the power and scalability of grid computing with the flexibility of rules-based interface. Customers/Partners include AOL Time Warner Corporation, AT&T Wireless, CUNA Mutual, Dun & Bradstreet, IBM, Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, SBC Communications and Sun Microsystems. Callidus is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol CALD.
(C)2006 by Callidus Software Inc. All rights reserved. Callidus Software, the Callidus Software logo, TrueComp, TrueComp Grid, TrueInformation, and TrueResolution are trademarks of Callidus Software Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Press Contact:
Jock Breitwieser
Callidus Software Inc.
(408) 975-6683
pr[at]callidussoftware.com