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Press Release
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CompuCredit Designs Credit Card Portal Using iRise
Fast-growing financial services firm realizes time-to-market advantage with application simulation platform
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — April 3, 2006 — iRise® the world’s leading application definition software and services company, today announced that CompuCredit Corporation (NASDAQ: CCRT), a specialty finance company and marketer of branded credit cards and related financial services, chose iRise to help build a new online credit card portal for customers. By using an iRise simulation before building the application, the company was able to: reduce the overall project lifecycle time by 25%, cut the requirements phase time by 50% and deliver an application which customers rated highly.
“CompuCredit’s challenge was to continue providing a high level of service for customers and introduce an easy-to-use portal for valued card holders,” said Guido Sacchi, chief information officer for CompuCredit. “We’re in a highly competitive market and getting to market fast is imperative. Application simulation is leaps and bounds more efficient than cobbling together text, static screen shots and flow diagrams to envision new applications. iRise does for our development team what spreadsheets did for finance ages ago – it gives us the flexibility to rapidly test different scenarios and take the risk and guesswork out of projects.”
CompuCredit is in the process of delivering a series of new online bill presentment and payment systems designed to make it easier for customers to manage their credit card accounts. Before iRise, the new system would have been defined with paper documents, static screen shots and whiteboard diagrams, which would have led to long review cycles and potential miscommunication between business people and the development team. According to a recent survey by Decipher (covered in a related announcement today), such communication problems are commonplace and oftentimes lead to project delays, cost over-runs and business plans blown out of the water.
“We’re seeing companies invest more in service-oriented architectures, both to support operations with more agile applications and to give customers more dynamically flexible services,” said Matt Light, research director at Gartner Research. “To deliver these new business systems, fast, clear communication between business and IT is essential,” he said. “Simulating applications – interactively, visually – can bridge the communication barrier and give those companies with simulation tools a competitive advantage. Our research indicates that the size of the Requirements Definition and Management (RDM) market should reach $400M by 2008, growing at an annual compound rate of 30%,” Mr. Light added, citing, “Agile Requirements Definition and Management,” dated April 18, 2005.
With iRise, business people communicate more effectively with application teams by quickly and easily simulating the functionality of proposed systems before coding. The visual, interactive prototypes create a life-like user experience that enables stakeholders to provide immediate, high-value feedback on proposed systems. The simulations can be quickly tuned, oftentimes right in front of stakeholders, until they perfectly meet expectations. CompuCredit was able to achieve finality on project requirements for its first version of the new billing/payment system with all stakeholders in just two days, trimming substantial time off of the project timeline.
“Financial services firms such as CompuCredit are looking for multiple ways to gain an edge in the fight for consumer dollars and loyalty,” said Emmet B. Keeffe III, chief executive officer and co-founder of iRise. “Shaving months off of application delivery time, translates into competitive advantage and boosts customer retention rates. The endemic miscommunication between business and IT is now a thing of the past.”
CompuCredit, recently named in Fortune’s “100 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2005” list as a high growth company, is reaching the marketplace much sooner than they did with their previous process using iRise. Just as important, end users surveyed gave the new system top ratings, since new systems can be tested directly with end-user customers before any coding happens.
About iRise
iRise® is dedicated to bridging the communication gap between business and IT by improving the process of defining software. Leading corporations like Agilent, Fireman's Fund, Sprint, Wachovia, Sun Trust Bank, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Motorola use its market leading application definition platform to get requirements right - the first time. iRise application simulations cut rework costs, accelerate time to market and reduce the risks associated with global development on mission-critical business systems initiatives. Unlike text-based requirements, visual iRise simulations are unambiguous and enforceable specifications that ensure the needs of the business are clearly understood and met. iRise simulations can be built by business experts and used in a collaborative global model to quickly iterate on stakeholder requirements with business people, dramatically improving project success. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., iRise is backed by Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and has sales offices across North America.
Contact:
Carla A. Schlemminger
iRise
(415) 772-0827
carlas@irise.com
Ami Hamilton
Access Communications
(415) 844-6251
ahamilton@accesspr.com
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