2008-08-04 23:31:02 -
www.initiatesystems.com - Initiate Systems, Inc., was among the select companies that Forrester invited to participate in its August 2008 Forrester Wave: Customer Hubs, Q3 2008. In this evaluation, Initiate was cited as a leader among customer hub vendors. Initiate earned top scores in this category in two of the three attributes evaluated for a Forrester Wave: "Strategy" and "Market presence."
According to the report: "Heavy R&D investment in data stewardship and data models along with a strong go-to-market strategy helped Initiate Systems win in new industries and take the lead in number of live customers."
"To earn placement as a leader from the analysts of Forrester is a great honor by itself," said Bill Conroy, Initiate's president and CEO. "With our growing base of more than 165 satisfied and loyal customers, Initiate has taken the lead in the number of live customers and this clearly boosted us in this evaluation."
Conroy continued, "We feel earning top scores makes a powerful case for Initiate as a leading pure-play vendor in the MDM space."
The report defines the evaluation criteria for "Strategy" as: "Vendor evaluations focused on product strategy, corporate strategy, and sales and go-to-market strategy. Consideration for future products and solution vision, marketing messaging, and corporate leadership affected overall strategy scores. Customer references played a critical role in validating the overall strategy."
Initiate scored highest for the "Strategy" attribute in a field of nine competitors. The report cited Initiate for its "strong management team and sound execution."
The report described the evaluation criteria for "Market presence" this way: "In a market of best-of-breed startups and application giants, Forrester balanced information about the company overall with information about the company's penetration in the customer hub market. Forrester focused on number of live customers, amount of license revenue from customer hubs, revenue growth for customer hubs, and global presence."
Initiate scored highest for "Market presence" in a field of nine competitors. The report cited, "Key to the company's growth has been the transition from public sector and healthcare to a strong vertical presence in financial services, high-tech, manufacturing, and retail."
The report cited strengths of Initiate's current product offering: "Strengths include the best data deduplication, security and privacy, and corporate strategy. Initiate Systems earned top three placements in categories like data acquisition, data cleansing, relationship and hierarchy management, reference data management, data stewardship, and architecture. The solution remains well-suited for enterprises with real-time matching and quick deployment requirements, as well as those looking to build a long-term transactional hub."
With Initiate(R) software, organizations can identify data related to a single person, place, or thing - and securely share that information - using a highly accurate, scalable, and rapidly deployed solution. Initiate(R) solutions are used around the world in a wide range of industries, including banking, hospitality, insurance, retail, retail pharmacy and healthcare organizations, as well as by state, provincial and federal government agencies.
About Initiate Systems
Initiate Systems, Inc. enables organizations to strategically leverage and share critical data assets. Its master data management (MDM) software and experience as an information exchange leader provide organizations with complete, accurate and real-time views of data spread across multiple systems or databases, even outside the firewall. This allows companies to unlock the value of their data assets for competitive advantages or operational improvements. Initiate Systems operates globally through its subsidiaries, with corporate headquarters in Chicago and offices across the U.S., and Toronto, London and Sydney. For more information, visit www.InitiateSystems.com.
Initiate Systems, Inc.
Maria Diecidue, 312-395-1345
mdiecidue@InitiateSystems.com 
