LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 2006--SumTotal(TM) Systems
(Nasdaq:SUMT), the largest provider of learning and business
performance technologies and services, announced that it has added two
new South African business wins with the country's Independent
Electoral Commission and leading hotel chain, Sun International.
SumTotal Systems' South African partner, Johannesburg-based Learning
Resources (LR) Group, will implement the SumTotal technology for both
customers.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa is
implementing SumTotal's solution to measure and analyze what election
officials learn relative to their jobs. The Centre for Elections
Learning (CEL) intends to create a center of excellence for training
in South Africa, and ultimately across Africa, with a specially
developed qualification for election practitioners. LR Group has
developed the content for the course, which is recognized by the
Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) of South Africa and
aligned with the National Qualifications Framework.
"It is important for election officials to be completely prepared
and aligned to the strategic objectives set out by the IEC," explained
Gavin Janse van Rensburg, general manager of Learning Technologies at
LR Group. LR Group won the contract to train 350 electoral officials,
who will use the knowledge gained through the program to train 57,000
volunteers in a month. The volunteers will then train another 200,000
people as part of this initiative. This exponential training process
has never before been undertaken in Africa, and it is the first time
that a performance measurement culture has been implemented at this
level.
The SumTotal Enterprise Suite will provide IEC staff access to
learning without the physical barriers of a conventional learning
environment. By incorporating this technology-based approach, it will
create a way to measure performance and competency, and ultimately,
make people accountable for their own development. Along with tracking
and monitoring learners, training coordinators can tap dashboard
reports on learners via PCs.
Sun International is one of Africa's largest hotel groups; its
business units are in widely dispersed locations. Learning and
development programs lacked consistency across the group, especially
in some of its more remote areas. SumTotal expects its enterprise
suite will provide the group with a uniform approach and a benchmark
for skills within the organization.
LR Group's van Rensburg said, "Sun International also wanted the
solution to cut training costs, manage performance, enable access in
remote areas, measure and manage the group's skills, and be compatible
with its PeopleSoft system -- and, as a leading company, only the best
of systems would do."
"These South African organizations looked to SumTotal and LR
Group, in part, because we're companies with an outstanding solution
and a global focus," said Don Fowler, chief executive officer of
SumTotal. "And while that's part of the reason, the other selling
point was our ability to point to customers around the globe who've
bought our platform to solve mission-critical needs."
About the Learning Resources (LR) Group
The LR Group is a full-spectrum, organizational-effectiveness
solution provider to business, which aims to help shape the future of
individuals and organizations in Southern Africa. This 51 percent
black-owned company delivers organizational-effectiveness solutions
that you can see; solutions that impact all 3 of the classic drivers
of organizational strategy: human capital, information capital and
organization capital; that result in the powerful execution of
strategic intent with visible results. The LR Group encourages
entrepreneurship, by creating an enabling platform for improved
organizational-effectiveness in South Africa.
About SumTotal Systems, Inc.
SumTotal Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUMT) is the largest provider of
learning and business performance technologies and services. SumTotal
deploys mission-critical solutions that align learning with
organizational and business goals to generate significant bottom-line
results. With more than 17 million users worldwide, SumTotal has
helped accelerate performance and profits for more than 1,500 of the
world's best-known companies and government agencies including
Accenture, Aetna, Cendant, DaimlerChrysler, Delta Air Lines,
Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Novartis, PNC Bank, U.S. Army, U.S. Air
Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Bancorp, United Airlines,
Vodafone, Wachovia and Wyeth. SumTotal has offices throughout the
United States, in London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong
and Hyderabad, India. For more information about SumTotal's products
and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.
Safe Harbor Statement / Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These
statements represent SumTotal Systems' expectations or beliefs
concerning future events and include statements, among others,
regarding SumTotal Systems' new product, SumTotal Enterprise Suite
7.1. These statements are not historical facts or guarantees of future
performance or events and are based on current expectations,
estimates, beliefs, assumptions, goals and objectives, and involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause actual results to be materially different from the results
expressed or implied by these statements. Readers of this press
release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual
results to differ include, but are not limited to (i) unknown errors
or bugs in SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1; (ii) the inability to fix in
a timely fashion unanticipated bugs, errors or defects that materially
impact the functionality or usability of SumTotal Enterprise Suite
7.1, or unanticipated problems in customer upgrades to SumTotal
Enterprise Suite 7.1 from prior SumTotal products (iii) unexpected
shipment problems or delays of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1; (iv)
customers or partners delaying purchasing or upgrade decisions until
there is widespread market acceptance of SumTotal Enterprise Suite
7.1; (v) the acceptance of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1 and future
product offerings; (vi) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal
Systems' solutions; (vii) the ability to successfully address
technological developments and standards; (viii) the ability to
successfully manage growth, significant current and expected
additional competition, and the need to continue to expand product
distribution and services offerings; and (ix) other events and other
important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in
SumTotal Systems' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including the annual report for fiscal year 2004 on Form 10-K and its
quarterly reports for the first, second and third quarter of fiscal
year 2005 on Form 10-Q filed August 1, 2005, August 9, 2005, and
November 9, 2005, respectively.
CONTACT: SumTotal Systems, Inc.
Bill Perry, 614-975-7538
bperry[at]sumtotalsystems.com