Greene King Earns 2008 Summit Award at Consona Customer Conference

LAS VEGAS, INDIANAPOLIS. Oct. 30, 2008—Consona Corporation (Consona), a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for companies of all sizes, today announced at its premier customer conference, Consona Connect, that Greene King, a UK-based brewery and pub operating company and Consona Customer Management user, is the 2008 recipient of the software provider’s Transformation Award.

The Transformation Award, part of Consona’s annual Summit Awards, honors a customer that has been able to either reinvent its business or achieve a strong return on investment in a relatively short period of time. Recipients of the award submit both qualitative and quantitative data that illustrate how the solution has impacted the customer’s business model or overall business performance. Award recipients display significant business improvements and changes, such as unprecedented customer satisfaction levels, the introduction of new products and services, or increased sales.

Greene King has been brewing beer and operating pubs for over 200 years, growing steadily from 800 pubs in 1996 to more than 2,600 today. Greene King faced a number of issues following rapid expansion, including concerns about the potential breakdown of customer satisfaction. Customer contact was fragmented, falling between account managers and weekly customer sales contacts with no transparency of performance levels. The company decided that a dedicated team was required to manage relationships with pub managers and lessees, as well as independent free trade, national, and off-trade customers to effectively manage product quality, distribution and installation of dispense equipment, as well as other business issues. In addition, Greene King also recognized the importance of managing growing consumer expectations for product quality and customer service.

Greene King faced this challenge with the use of the Consona Customer Management Solution and achieved the following:

Rapidly expanded its business through acquisition and seamlessly integrated the acquired companies while maintaining income streams and avoiding the need for eight additional people at a savings of 250,000 pounds per year.
Dealt successfully and efficiently with license reform and new regulatory requirements with an estimated savings of 100,000 pounds per year in cost avoidance.
Reduced new licensee failure rate from 20 to 6 percent within the first two years of implementing the system.
Managed the rent role, annual retail price increases, and rent concessions for pub closures, eliminating an estimated two percent loss totalling about 1 million pounds per year in savings.
“Quite simply, we could not have achieved what we have without Consona CRM,” said Clive Pettitt, director of market planning for Greene King. “Our use of the technology has allowed our vision to be realized.”

“We are thrilled to honor Greene King with a Summit Award for some absolutely tremendous achievements," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona. "Greene King sets a standard for the commitment it takes to gain maximum return on a business system investment. The growth and success this company has achieved with our support reminds all of us at Consona why we're in business."

About Consona Corporation

Consona Corporation (Consona, formerly known as M2M Holdings Inc.) is a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for companies of all sizes. Consona is dedicated to becoming a valued business partner by helping each and every customer continuously improve business processes over time. Toward this mission, Consona invests in the people, processes, technology and tools needed to provide its customers with a unique combination of customer care; product fit; a broad range of consulting, IT and business services; and industry expertise. Consona serves more than 4,500 customers worldwide and across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, financial services, health care, high tech, and local government. Battery Ventures and Thoma Bravo jointly own Consona. For further information, visit www.consona.com, e-mail info@consona.com, or call (888) 8 CONSONA.