Electrolux Licenses Sopheon's Accolade Solution for Enterprise-Wide Deployment; World's Leading Producer of Home Appliances Will Implement System to Enhance and Manage Innovation Processes
Share:
MINNEAPOLIS & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2006--Sopheon, an international software and services company, announced today that Electrolux, a global appliance manufacturer, has selected Sopheon's Accolade as its innovation process and product portfolio management solution.
Electrolux will deploy the Sopheon system under an enterprise-wide agreement that covers company locations throughout Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific region, encompassing all product areas including Major, Floor Care and Small Appliances. Access will initially be provided to approximately 1400 users. Sopheon said that the licenses and services order is among the most financially substantial in its history. Specific terms were not disclosed.
Electrolux is the world's leading producer of home appliances for kitchen and cleaning use. Its products are sold in more than 150 countries under such well-known brands as AEG-Electrolux, Electrolux, Frigidaire and Eureka. Electrolux has stated publicly in recent months that product development is one of its core processes and that innovation is key to its ability to sustain its position of market leadership. Since year 2000 Electrolux has almost doubled its investments in product research and development.
Electrolux's adoption of Accolade is part of a broad initiative by the company to change the way it develops new products. Electrolux will use Accolade's capabilities to help it more effectively prioritize investments in new product ideas and to guide its resource support for enhancements to existing products. The company expects Accolade to help strengthen the alignment between innovation strategies and day-to-day development activity, and to enable improved global collaboration among cross-functional teams responsible for conception and development of new products. Electrolux will also benefit from Accolade's capacity to integrate with Microsoft technology, allowing the company to extend the use and value of the Microsoft systems deployed throughout the company's worldwide operations.
Sopheon partnered with Arthur D. Little, the global management consulting firm, in pursuing the Electrolux opportunity. Electrolux, Sopheon and Arthur D. Little will work together to implement the new system.
"We measure innovation by the amount of business and shareholder value it generates," said Johan Hjertonsson, director of Electrolux's consumer innovation program. "Our goal is to continue to lead our industry in revenues and profits from innovation by supplying the market with a steady stream of premium, new-to-the-world products that consumers want. We chose Sopheon's solution because it will help us make the right front-end decisions on which product ideas to invest in, and enable us to increase the speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the processes we use to move those product ideas from the drafting table to the marketplace. Accolade is the most complete tool we've found for supporting the business of innovation."
"The Electrolux name is synonymous with innovation in the appliance industry," said Mike Connolly, European director for Sopheon. "And their strategies for maintaining their position of innovation leadership are clearly drawn. Accolade's capabilities are perfectly matched with Electrolux's requirements for increasing the visibility and coordination of its global product development efforts."
AEG-Electrolux, Electrolux, Frigidaire, and Eureka are registered trademarks of the Electrolux Group.
About Electrolux
The Electrolux Group is the world's leading producer of powered appliances for kitchen, cleaning and outdoor use, such as refrigerators, washing machines, cookers, vacuum cleaners, chainsaws, lawn mowers, and garden tractors. Every year, customers in more than 150 countries buy more than 55 million Electrolux Group products for both consumer and professional use. In 2005, Electrolux had sales of SEK 129 billion and 70,000 employees.
About Sopheon
Sopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of software and services that help organizations improve the business impact of product innovation. The Sopheon Accolade(R) product innovation process and portfolio management system automates gate- or phase-based product development processes and provides strategic decision support that allows companies to increase revenue and profits from new products. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.
