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THOMSONS ONLINE BENEFITS ANNOUNCED AS E-COMMERCE AWARDS FINALIST

October 2003 - thomsons online benefits are pleased to report that they have been announced as a finalist in the prestigious E-Commerce Awards. thomsons online benefits were one of just eight organisations to be short listed in the National Innovation Category of Advanced Supply Chain Integration. The National Innovation Categories were created in recognition of the Government's drive to make to UK the best environment in the world for e-business, highlighting the fact that UK SMEs are often leading the way in the application of new and developing technologies.Liz Grant, Director of ePolicy and Delivery, UK online for business explained, "The Innovation categories demonstrate how information and communication technologies enable companies to be more innovative in the way they work, do business and communicate with customers, employees and suppliers. It is through innovation that companies achieve real business success and competitive advantage."Michael Whitfield, Managing Director of thomsons online benefits commented "We are very pleased to have our achievements officially recognised in such a prestigious event. We are particularly pleased to be the only financial services company to be announced as a finalist in the National Innovation awards. We launched 3 years ago after becoming increasingly frustrated by the growing paper mountain and the inefficiencies in the way that employee benefits are run. We have strived to break down the barriers and accepted practices of our industry with both our business model and revolutionary technology. This was demonstrated when we were the first provider to get approval from the Inland Revenue for a fully online signatureless sign up for a group personal pension. The recent introduction of our new .net technology further pushes the boundaries of what is possible in employee benefits and demonstrates our commitment to continuous innovation.""Most of the employee benefit software products on offer are standalone and do not have the established links to providers that we offer, whereas ours is fully integrated to the providers using XML. In terms of both our own operation and the benefit providers that we link with, using our platform is a much more cost effective way of conducting business which is particularly important in the era of stakeholder pensions. One of our suppliers has recently calculated that it is 82% cheaper for them to conduct business with us over standard IFAs."

thomsons online benefits was formed with the objective of using web technology to revolutionise the way that employee benefits are administered and communicated. Rather than an employee, employer, Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) and benefit provider all exchanging pieces of paper, their web-enabled platform provides an end-to-end solution with all the parties accessing one set of data. This not only dramatically cuts down the time required to set up and administrate employee benefits but means that there are no issues with data errors and reconciliation. Such a solution is of particular importance in today's economy where employers are seeking to improve their cost base and transactional efficiency, and to find new and alternative ways to attract, retain and motivate employees.

For more information go to

http://www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk/shortlist/index_innovation.html

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For more information on thomsons online benefits

Caroline Shenton
thomsons online benefits
Tel: 020 7808 7588
Email: cs@t-bx.com
www.thomsonsonlinebenefits.com