Oct 2004: Belgacom Standardizes on Imaginatik's Idea Central Global to Foster Culture of Innovation

Fast-Growing Belgian Telecom Employs Imaginatik’s Proven Idea Management Software and Methodology to Turn Employee Ideas into Revenue Gains

BOSTON—October 19, 2004—Imaginatik, the leading Idea and Innovation Management company, today announced that Belgacom (Euronext: BELG), Belgium’s largest telecommunications provider, has deployed its Idea Central Global software enterprise-wide, making it the cornerstone of its corporate idea management initiative. With its superior product offering, multi-lingual capabilities, and industry-leading thought leadership, Imaginatik formalizes Belgacom’s innovation process to leverage the knowledge of its 17,000 employees serving the fixed-line, mobile communications and broadband markets.

Belgacom uses Idea Central Global to engage its entire workforce to systematically develop new products, services and cost-saving processes to drive steady growth and expansion throughout Europe. Idea Central Global proved to be the optimal idea management platform for this multicultural, multilingual environment where employees can now contribute and review ideas in their native language: Dutch, English and French.

“Belgacom wanted to develop a corporate culture of innovation where anyone in any job function—sales, support, field service, administration—can share their ideas and help shape the future of the company,” said Wim De Meyer, Strategy & Business Development Director of Belgacom’s Fixed Line Services Unit. “An intelligent and creative workforce is one of Belgacom’s most valued assets. Imaginatik has the proven methodology, successful track record and unrivaled multilingual support we needed to create a successful idea management program.”

Idea Central Global is the latest release of Imaginatik’s idea management platform, which helps companies develop a repeatable, systematic approach to innovation that drives consistent revenue growth. Imaginatik employs an event-based methodology that focuses participants’ attention to solve a specific business challenge in a definite period of time. With support for English, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, Idea Central Global is ideal for multinational companies seeking input from their diverse, global workforce. The software and methodology provide a blueprint for successful idea management, including idea collection, idea development, evaluation, browsing and search, and collaboration and workflow.

In use at Belgacom for three months, Idea Central Global has already become the platform for several successful ideation events. For example, the company recently invited 850 employees to participate in a two-week event to generate new ideas and strategies to capture the fast growing market of young customers. With support for each language spoken throughout the company, any employee could participate in the process. More than 360 participants from a variety of job functions—technical field representatives, sales representatives, administrative staff, business development and marketing executives—generated 180 ideas. After the event, the evaluation team reviewed the submissions and identified 20 promising ideas that went into development to create new revenue streams and marketing opportunities. With other successful events under its belt and more on the way, Belgacom has successfully initiated a culture change regarding innovation and creativity.

“As businesses expand their global reach, giving users the flexibility to contribute ideas and offer feedback in their language of choice is critical to creating a culture of innovation. Belgacom is a great example of how companies can develop successful idea management programs that generate results fast,” said Mark Turrell, CEO of Imaginatik. “Imaginatik is dedicated to innovating the innovation process. The introduction of multilingual idea management in Idea Central Global is yet another example of how we are setting the standard of innovation management technology.”

About Belgacom

Belgacom is the leading telecommunications company in Belgium and a market leader in a number of areas, including retail and wholesale fixed-line telephony services, mobile communications services and broadband data and Internet services. Belgacom offers a comprehensive range of voice, data and Internet fixed-line services to residential and business customers. At the end of 2003, Belgacom provided approximately 5.2 million fixed connections for residential and business customers. Belgacom Mobile is the leading provider of mobile communications services in Belgium through its Proximus and Pay & Go brands, with approximately 4.2 million active customers.

About Imaginatik

Imaginatik is the long-time leader in enterprise Idea Management. Its flagship solution, Idea Central, is designed to elicit ideas and insights from employees and extended enterprise partners, provides a shared collaborative space to develop ideas, and is equipped with sophisticated tools to evaluate and select the top ideas for implementation. Idea Central has won the Basex Excellence Award 2003, and is in use in clients such as Georgia-Pacific, W. R. Grace, ChevronTexaco, Bayer AG, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Imaginatik's software and consulting services have helped clients discover significant sources of additional revenue, as well as tangible cost savings, process improvements and an increased product pipeline. Imaginatik is also committed to developing strategic solutions in the field of innovation, working with academic institutions such as the London Business School and the Cass School of Business, London, and leading practitioners of corporate innovation. To learn more about Imaginatik and Idea Central please visit www.imaginatik.com or call (617) 275-7140.

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