Mercedes-Benz USA Selects DataCert for Legal E-billing Services and Invoice Management; Solution Promises to Streamline Invoice Process and Eliminate Paper Invoices

    HOUSTON--April 16, 2002--DataCert Inc., a leading provider of legal e-billing services, announced today that Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC has selected DataCert to provide e-billing services to improve legal cost-controls and enhance relationships with its outside law firms. The e-billing solution will streamline the luxury car dealer's invoice process and provide a full range of services including data analysis, benchmark development and matter management integration.
    "The inclusion of DataCert's products and processes will allow Mercedes-Benz USA to realize a greater return on investment in a short amount of time," commented Phil Neely, principle of Simpson Neely Group, lead consultant on Mercedes' e-billing project. "The solution will help the luxury automobile maker increase efficiency and profitability with its outside law firms."
    Mercedes-Benz will implement DataCert's ShareDoc/LEGAL(TM) and AIMS(TM) technology to manage electronic billing information from its law firms, partners and vendors. The company also will use the solution to route, edit, approve and pay electronic invoices faster and more efficiently. Using the combined solution, Mercedes-Benz will be able to capture invoice data, calculate outside legal expenses, run reports on monthly expenditures and track purchase trends. The luxury car company will also use the solution to conduct cost-analysis measurements to calculate internal and external legal expenses.
    "Our products and services will help Mercedes-Benz monitor expenses and maximize the efficiency of their outsourced professional services," adds DataCert President and CEO Eric M. Elfman. "Because the entire process is automated, the legal department will now be able to identify and correct errors that otherwise would have been missed in a paper invoice."

    About ShareDoc/LEGAL and AIMS

    ShareDoc/LEGAL is designed specifically for the legal industry to move sensitive information between a corporate legal department and its outside law firms. ShareDoc/LEGAL translates electronic-billing information from law firm billing systems into a single format a corporate legal department can easily use. Through Web-based integration of data, ShareDoc/LEGAL creates total, paperless invoice processing -- including invoice submission, approval and upload to data management and financial applications.

    AIMS is a secure, Web-based, fully automated invoice management and workflow tool that provides on-line review, adjustment and approval of electronic invoices. AIMS creates an easy to use framework for receiving invoices from ShareDoc/LEGAL, routing the invoices along a customized approval-chain and posting the invoices directly into any data management application.

    About DataCert Inc.

    DataCert Inc. provides products and services that reduce the cost of exchanging information between businesses, their suppliers and their partners, by moving traditionally paper-based processes to an automated electronic process. DataCert offers unique compatibility between trading partners' core software and applications, independent of standards or data formats. Headquartered in Houston, DataCert's client roster includes 35 corporate clients, almost all of which are Fortune 500, and more than 2,000 law firms. Visit DataCert at www.datacert.com for more information.

    About Mercedes-Benz USA

    Responsible for the sales and marketing of all Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles in the U.S., Mercedes-Benz USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG. MBUSA is headquartered near New York City in Montvale, N.J., and employs approximately 1,500 people in 20 locations across the U.S. Through a nationwide network of over 300 retailers, Mercedes-Benz sold 205,612 vehicles in the U.S. during 2000, setting the highest sales volume in its history for the third year in a row.