Ford Selects AskMe Enterprise to Power Employee Knowledge Networks in Consumer Service Divisions

    SEATTLE--July 10, 2002--AskMe Corporation, a world-leading provider of Employee Knowledge Network (EKN) software solutions, announced today that Ford Motor Company has selected AskMe Enterprise to power the Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) Employee Knowledge Network in its North American and Global Customer Service Divisions.
    With AskMe Enterprise, FCSD's North American field force, which is responsible for implementing marketing programs within Ford dealerships across the U.S., will be able to obtain just-in-time expertise from the company's general office.
    "Ford's selection of AskMe Enterprise is another strong endorsement of AskMe's approach to solving a ubiquitous need in large organizations -- the need to deliver employee expertise to other employees on an as-needed basis," said Udai Shekawat, co-founder and chief executive officer of AskMe Corporation. "With AskMe Enterprise, Ford will be able to significantly improve the productivity of its field force while delivering a higher level of service to one of their most critical constituencies: their nationwide dealer network."
    In an ongoing effort to increase the quality and speed of service delivered to its dealer network, Ford realized that a significant portion of its field force's time was spent tracking down answers to dealers' specific questions regarding different marketing programs. Using AskMe Enterprise, FCSD's field force will be able to immediately discover the right experts, receive accurate and timely responses that are automatically captured for reuse, and provide dealers a higher level of service.
    The additional capacity generated from the timesavings benefits of AskMe Enterprise will enable FCSD's field force to concentrate on higher-return activities such as implementing Ford's marketing programs across more dealerships to generate significant financial results for the company. In addition, North American Customer Service Division employees and their global counterparts -- which include the business-development specialists of all of Ford's cross-trustmark organizations such as Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, and Range Rover -- will use the FCSD Employee Knowledge Network to discover and exchange expertise and leverage best practices globally to create more successful marketing programs.

    About AskMe Corporation

    AskMe builds software solutions that enable global 2000 companies to create and manage Employee Knowledge Networks. Employee Knowledge Networks are software systems that deliver employee expertise directly to other employees blocked on critical tasks exactly when they need it most.
    AskMe's solutions enable employees with business-critical problems to discover the best expertise within the organization, facilitate the exchange of that expertise, capture the outcome for re-use, dispatch the best practices to employees who need to know, and provide the tools to analyze the results to make the entire company more effective. Such blue-chip companies including Procter & Gamble, 3Com, and CNA have implemented the company's flagship product, AskMe Enterprise. Founded in 1999 by former Microsoft executives, AskMe is privately held with headquarters in Bellevue, Wash. (www.askmecorp.com)