Cognos 'Planning Leadership Awards' Honor 'Best-In-Class' Enterprise Planning Solutions- World's leading organizations recognized for driving excellence in planning and performance management - ORLANDO, Fla., PLAN 2003, May 9, 2003 -- Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management, today announced the winners of its annual "Planning Leadership Awards," honoring leading organizations that have excelled at innovation, influence, and thought-leadership, and who share a vision and passion for enterprise planning. The winners were announced at the Planning Leadership Awards ceremony today at PLAN 2003, Cognos' fourth annual international enterprise planning conference. "Our customers value and attribute their organizational success to the important role of enterprise planning in driving visibility into corporate performance," said Dave Kleinhans, vice president of Enterprise Planning for Cognos. "The Planning Leadership Awards call out the unique approaches our customers have taken in applying enterprise planning throughout all areas of their organizations and deriving real business value by having a complete picture of future operating performance." - Categories and Winners - The Planning Leadership Awards recognize outstanding innovation and ingenuity in addressing the unique planning needs of the world's leading organizations through the adoption of Cognos enterprise planning solutions. The categories and winners of the Planning Leadership Awards include: * Rising Star: This category distinguishes Cognos customers who break new ground in gaining insight into future operating performance with innovative applications and deployments of Cognos Enterprise Planning. The winners of this year's Rising Star category are Affymetrix, Pioneer Standard Electronics, Qwest, Time Life Inc., and TravelCenters of America. * Thought Leader: This category honors Cognos customers who share a vision for enterprise planning and evangelize the benefits among their peers, colleagues, and industry at large. The winners of this year's Thought Leader category are Ceridian, The Cheesecake Factory, L-3 Communications, Medtronic, and Pilgrim's Pride. * Change Agent: This category recognizes the Cognos champions inspiring process and cultural changes deep within their organizations to drive best practices in enterprise planning to include financial analysts, managers, executives, and administrators. The winners of this year's Change Agent award are Chipotle Grill, Dial, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, Springs Industries, and Stryker Howmedica Osteonics. * Enterprise Deployments: This category acknowledges the Cognos customers who achieved "best-in-class" enterprise planning through the integration of planning applications across lines of business and divisions such as sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, and finance. The winners of this year's Enterprise Deployment award are Abbott Labs International Division, Brown Forman, Halliburton, Lucent, Merck, Target, and UnitedHealth Group. About Cognos: Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and corporate performance management, delivers software that helps companies drive, monitor and understand corporate performance. Cognos delivers the next level of competitive advantage - Corporate Performance Management (CPM) - achieved through the strategic application of BI on an enterprise scale. Our integrated CPM solution helps customers drive performance through planning; monitor performance through scorecarding; and understand performance through business intelligence. Cognos serves more than 22,000 customers in over 135 countries. Cognos enterprise business intelligence solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com. Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Note to Editors: Copies of previous Cognos press releases and Corporate and product information are available on Cognos' Web site at http://www.cognos.com, and at PR Newswire's site at http://www.prnewswire.com Media Contacts: Antonietta Iafrate Cognos, 781-313-2454 antonietta.iafrate@cognos.com Amy Shanler Lois Paul & Partners, 781-782-5747 amy_shanler@lpp.com Investor Relations: John Lawlor Cognos, 613-738-3503 john.lawlor@cognos.com SOURCE Cognos Web Site: http://www.cognos.com |