AXA Financial Employs Centra’s Web Collaboration Platform to Power its ‘Real-Time Enterprise’
LEXINGTON, MA (October 1, 2002) – Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA), the leading provider of integrated software solutions for real-time Internet business communication and collaboration, today announced that AXA Financial, one of the world’s premier financial services organizations, has successfully deployed Centra’s collaboration technology to give more than 1,000 associates and employees instant access to real-time training and information over the Web. This number is expected to grow dramatically over the coming year with the Centra platform being used to provide as many as 10,000 associates and employees with synchronous and asynchronous Web-based training. Because Centra is managed as a corporate asset, existing as part of AXA Financial’s enterprise IT infrastructure, the technology can be universally applied to serve all collaboration, on-demand training, and education needs across the organization.
“Our success as a financial services company depends on us staying ahead of the curve, making it imperative that we get product knowledge and competitive information to our employees and to the field as quickly as possible,” said Pauline Morris, Vice President of HR Learning and Development for AXA Financial. “With Centra, AXA is taking the power of the Internet to the next level to support a real-time enterprise – enabling a faster, more nimble workforce, and directly addressing core enterprise online communication and learning needs.”
Initially, Centra was brought in to support a rollout of PeopleSoft to branch offices. Because the PeopleSoft product is extremely robust and the application highly customized, AXA could not rely on traditional training options. Centra’s virtual classroom application, which is part of the CentraOne( collaboration platform, allowed AXA to quickly and cost-effectively deliver customized training over the Internet, in real-time. The success of Centra as an enterprise-wide application has allowed AXA to easily expand the use of Centra across the organization. For example, AXA was able to train more than 300 field associates in its Retirements & Benefits Group on a new technology platform in less than a month, attaining a trained-at-launch date that previously would have not been possible.
According to Jason Miller, Senior Training Consultant in AXA’s HR Learning and Development Group, “Centra has enabled us to bring knowledge, learning and collaboration to employees and field associates in offices around the country faster and more cost effectively than previously possible. Today, branch offices regularly use Centra to hold meetings, share information about services, product changes or introductions, and deliver training on how to use systems – simultaneously over the Internet, from their home or office, and without the expense of travel and time away from work.”
Scaleable Software Solution for Enterprise Collaboration
Used by more than 900 companies, government agencies, and universities worldwide, Centra’s scaleable software solutions are based on CentraOne, an open and extensible Web collaboration platform. Leveraging the core capabilities of CentraOne, Centra offers a suite of compatible, real-time Web collaboration applications, content composition tools, and knowledge delivery systems that can be quickly installed on-site using Centra’s rapid deployment methodology, or conveniently accessed through Centra’s secure, full-service ASP. The applications supported by CentraOne – including interactive Web meetings, virtual classrooms, and large-scale conferences – ensure universal access to users through firewalls and proxy servers, and deliver full-performance IP audio conferencing, streaming video, application sharing, and dynamic multimedia over low-bandwidth network connections through a standard browser interface.
“AXA Financial is executing on Centra’s vision for creating a real-time enterprise, embracing the power of our Web collaboration platform to realize its full potential as an enabler for improving time-to-performance and competitive advantage,” said Tony Mark, Centra President and Chief Operating Officer. “The emerging nexus of digital collaboration, eLearning, and knowledge management is increasingly becoming an IT infrastructure decision. By providing the leading collaboration platform, Centra is able to meet customer demand for an enterprise knowledge delivery that not only integrates with existing IT infrastructure, but also provides real-time access to information in all of its various forms.”
About AXA Financial
AXA Financial, Inc., with approximately $480.9 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2001, is one of the world’s premier financial services organizations through its strong brands: The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S., AXA Advisors, LLC, Alliance Capital Management. LP, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., and its premier wholesale distribution organization, AXA Distributors, LLC. AXA Financial is a member of the global AXA Group, a worldwide leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA’s operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific region. AXA had $802 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2001 and reported revenues of approximately $67 billion for the full year 2001. The AXA ordinary share is listed and trades under the symbol AXA on the Paris Stock Exchange. The AXA American Depositary Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AXA. For more information, visit www.axa-financial.com.
About Centra
Leading with an undisputed track record of helping millions of users to increase revenue and improve overall business performance, Centra provides Web collaboration solutions that enable the delivery of information in a variety of live and self-service formats, and add value through unmatched capabilities to capture interactions and content, personalize and manage this information, and instantly re-use it across the enterprise. Today hundreds of global organizations across every industry and market sector choose Centra, including Cadbury Schweppes, Citigroup, AT&T, Procter & Gamble, McKesson, Merck, Nationwide Insurance, and Sysco. Centra’s products are bolstered by a vital ecosystem of strategic partners, including PwC Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, Microsoft, Siebel, Cisco, and Oracle. Headquartered in Boston’s technology corridor, Centra has sales offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit
Centra Software, Inc.
430 Bedford Street
Lexington, MA 02420
http://www.centra.com
phone 781-861-7000
fax 781-863-7288
