Premera Blue Cross Deploys SumTotal to Streamline Regulatory Compliance and Healthcare Accreditation
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (May 4, 2004) – SumTotal Systems (NASDAQ: SUMT), the industry’s largest provider of business performance and learning technologies, processes and services, today announced that Premera Blue Cross, one of 41 independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans that collectively provide healthcare insurance and services to more than 88 million Americans, is implementing the SumTotal Enterprise SuiteTM as its strategic platform for learning management and learning content management.
With more than 3,000 associates in four western states, Premera needed a centralized solution for delivering and tracking training to support business initiatives and government regulations. Following an exhaustive evaluation of products in 2003, Premera’s Learning Systems team selected SumTotal, in part for its scalability, ease-of-use and customer focus, to power a new blended learning solution for its claims processors, customer service representatives and other Premera professionals.
The SumTotal Enterprise Suite provides a comprehensive platform intended to allow Premera to accelerate product launches, reduce training costs and measure organizational performance. Having the ability to proactively push prescriptive learning plans and manage and report on compliance gives Premera more peace-of-mind, allowing it to focus on other business initiatives and operational efficiencies.
“It’s crucial that our associates have the knowledge and skills they need to deliver the highest-quality products and services as well as the greatest value to our 1.5 million members,” said Derek Tyree, manager of educational systems at Premera. “We needed a robust learning management system to help our team deliver innovative solutions for verifying regulatory compliance training, provide access to more information and reduce administrative overhead.”
Premera will utilize SumTotal to deliver hundreds of instructor-led and self-paced online courses in areas such as leadership, new associate orientation, sales, healthcare services, care management and operations. Courses will range from claims and customer service to safety and privacy. Sophisticated analytics and reporting capabilities in the SumTotal Enterprise Suite will allow Premera to track learner activities as they relate to business performance and simplify the process of reporting learner compliance.
Laura Hansen, EDC team leader, added: “We anticipate that our associates will appreciate the breadth of functionality in the SumTotal Enterprise Suite and how easy it is to use. We’re also very pleased with the quality and attentiveness of SumTotal’s customer service and support team during this initial phase. Now that this implementation is completed, we are looking forward to showing the impact that our training is having on our business and customer satisfaction.”
About Premera
Premera Blue Cross is a nonprofit, independent regional health plan providing members, employers, providers and brokers with high-quality coverage and service. Operating as Premera Blue Cross in Washington State and as Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield in Alaska, the plan serves more than a million members. Premera offers a large, diverse network of providers – nearly 18,000 health care professionals and 100 hospitals in Washington and 840 professionals and 23 hospitals in Alaska.
About SumTotal Systems, Inc.
SumTotal Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMT) is the business performance and learning technology industry’s largest single provider of technologies, processes and services. Formed by the merger of industry pioneers Docent and Click2learn, the company is uniquely focused on helping organizations harness and manage mission-critical intellectual power to solve real-world business problems and produce significant bottom-line results. SumTotal has helped accelerate performance and profit for more than 600 of the world’s best-known companies, including Microsoft, Cingular Wireless, Vodafone, Lucent, Accenture, Cendant, Harley-Davidson, Wyeth, Wachovia and D & B. SumTotal Systems is headquartered in Mountain View, CA, with offices throughout the US, as well as London, Paris, Heidelberg, Sydney, Tokyo and Hyderabad, India.
Safe Harbor Statement/ Forward-Looking Statements
Information in this press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about future business operations, industry leadership, financial performance and viability, customer benefits, timing and features of our product offerings, acceptance of our solutions, expected innovation, and other potential benefits and synergies to be derived from the transaction and other market conditions that include risks and uncertainties. These statements are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance or events and are based on current expectations, estimates, beliefs, assumptions, goals and objectives, and SumTotal Systems does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future results and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by these statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, (i) the challenges and costs of integration and restructuring and the ability to achieve anticipated synergies associated with the recent merger; (ii) an emerging and rapidly evolving market, (iii) market uncertainty with respect to the merger and acceptance of SumTotal System’s product offerings by customers and partners; (iv) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (v) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (vi) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (vii) intense competition in the marketplace and (viii) other events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time SumTotal Systems’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the joint proxy statement/prospectus on Form S-4 filed under the name Hockey Merger Corporation.
Media Contacts
Karen Peck
SumTotal Systems, Inc.
+1 425 637 1643
kpeck@sumtotalsystems.com
