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New Service Uses Business-to-Business Portals to Streamline Communication Between Manufacturers and Dealers

31 March 1999

New Service Uses Business-to-Business Portals to Streamline Communication Between Manufacturers and Dealers

          Ford Motor Company Uses Coolfire CommunicationPoint(TM) to
                       Web-enable Dealer Relationships

    NEW YORK, March 31 -- Coolfire.interactive, inc. announced
the availability of a service that web-enables communication between
manufacturers and dealers named CommunicationPoint(TM).  Coolfire's
CommunicationPoint(TM) streamlines the constant flow of information,
education, and communication between manufacturers and their dealer networks
using web portals.  The service is being employed by Ford Motor Company's Ford
Division to improve communications with its dealers.  Coolfire is now making
the service generally available.
    CommunicationPoint(TM) portals are 24/7 communication centers that
incorporate a full range of capabilities such as interactive message boards,
chat rooms, email, live conferencing, online information archives, search
engines, strategic presentations and streaming video.
    Online for less than a year, the secure Ford Dealer Communications Center
already has 11,000 users.  "This portal is transforming many of our business
processes and has become vital to communications with and between Ford
dealers," said Darryl Hazel, Ford Customer Service Division General Manager,
and former Ford Division General Marketing Manager.  "No business is changing
faster than the retail automobile business.  Coolfire strategically took
advantage of the Internet's speed and responsiveness to help dealers keep up
with these changes."
    Coolfire's CommunicationPoint(TM) allows Ford dealers to communicate with
the company, and with other dealers.  It is a repository of current company
strategies and dealer council initiatives, but that is only the beginning.
It's also a place for dealers to share news, views and "best practices" ... it
includes an up-to-date listing of current sales incentives ... it details the
latest product news ... it displays company press releases.  In short, it's a
place dealers can go to get answers to just about any question they may have
about their business.
    "The bottom line," said Ford Dealer Council President Ron Boyer, "is that
the site has heightened the quality of the relationship between company and
dealer.  And I'll tell you what, this is the first Internet site that I really
find useful.  We -- Ford dealers -- are now a community online.  And a
community working together can really get things done."
    The site is also constantly changing.  "Speed is the most important aspect
of online communications, so we utilize incremental development -- get the
information out immediately and then refine things like look later," noted
Coolfire co-founder Carl Zatz.  In fact, the Ford communications center was
launched in just six weeks.  It then rapidly evolved online in plain view of
everyone thanks to an honest active feedback loop.

    About Coolfire.interactive, inc.
    New York-based Coolfire.interactive, inc., was formed in 1997 to help
corporate clients use the Internet to streamline communication intensive
processes.  Co-founders Carl Zatz and David Gifford have been solving
business-to-business communication problems for over two decades serving
global clients including Ford Motor Company, IBM, Sony, AIG, Merck, American
Express, State Farm and McDonald's.
    Coolfire.interactive specializes in building and operating work,
education, and meeting spaces on the Internet in support of corporate goals
such as faster information flow, better relationships with customers, and
improved market data.  The company offers a number of turnkey services
addressing particular problems.  FocusPoint(TM) improves upon traditional
research techniques by building custom Internet communities and using them to
research customer preferences and opinions.  CommunicationPoint(TM)
web-enables relationships between companies and franchisees by using
business-to-business portals to streamline communication flow.
    Coolfire will plan, conceive, design, build, and operate Internet spaces
on behalf of its customers.