MindLink Launches Corporate Innovation Program

Combines creativity skills training with idea/solution generating software


NORTH POMFRET, Vermont (April 24, 1996) -- MindLink Software Corporation
today announced the Corporate Innovation Program, a service that combines
training in innovative thinking skills with multiple copies of MindLink
Problem Solver Corporate Edition, the companys creative solution and
brainstorming software for personal computers operating under Microsoft
Windows. 

The Innovative Workplace Practices at U.S. Companies study (June 1995)
commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor and conducted by Harvard and
Wharton Business Schools with Ernst & Young found that 85 percent of U.S.
companies are currently sponsoring workplace innovation programs.
MindLink's Corporate Innovation Program was developed to support such work
place initiatives by providing both training in creative thinking for
managers and employees and the software as a desktop resource for idea
generating and step by step problem solving.

According to MindLink Chief Executive Officer Michael Shattow, the
increased interest in corporate innovation programs can be attributed to
the fast pace and intensity of change occurring in most industries.
"Companies often have a business as usual attitude when things are going
well," says Shattow. "But add intense international competition,
re-engineering, declining profits or deregulation to the mix and
corporations are clamoring for a new approach and expanded vision. They
often turn to creativity and innovation to set them on a new course," adds
Shattow.

Corporations that have purchased the Corporate Innovation Program to date
include 3M, Gillette, AT&T, Illinois Power, Kraft General Foods, W.W.
Grainger, Motorola and State Street Bank (Boston, Mass). 

The Corporate Innovation Program can be used to tackle virtually any
business issue. Recent problems include using existing resources to
develop new products, developing a metric to measure the effectiveness of
a new telecommunications system, improving a working relationship with an
important European subcontractor, determining additional product lines to
add to a sales catalog and improving the process of re-painting molding in
automobile repair.

"With the Corporate Innovation Program, weve improved our team building
skills and have developed a truly innovative solution for revising the
financial business unit's employee compensation program," says Murray Sim,
an in-house business consultant for Illinois Power in Decatur, Illinois.
"Plus with the software, we have access to creativity techniques and a
built-in tutorial right on our desktops."

Corporations are offered two versions of the Corporate Innovation Program:
The Standard version includes ten copies of MindLink Corporate Edition
software, one day of on-site facilitation and training in the process of
creativity and six months of ongoing telephone consultation with MindLink
consultants. The Expanded version offers 25 copies of software, two days
of training and one year of telephone consultation.

Leaders in Creativity and Innovation in Business

The training offered in the program is a series of intensive creative
problem solving sessions led by recognized leaders in innovative thinking.
The facilitators work with corporate managers and employees on actual
problems that are supplied by the client. Depending on the nature and
complexity of the problem, the facilitators usually complete two to three
problem solving sessions in a day with up to ten individuals in each
session. The MindLink software is used to support the sessions, rather
than as the focal point.

The MindLink Corporate Edition software helps users expand their thinking
for a greater range of ideas and possible solutions. It offers a
step-by-step problem solving process that begins with defining the problem
and takes the user all the way to solutions and next steps. Throughout the
process are triggers, creativity exercises that force users to think about
something unrelated to the problem and then connect those thoughts back to
the problem to forge new ideas. 

Additional software features include an Evaluate and Refine option for
overcoming concerns about promising ideas, Thought Warehouse database for
storing and categorizing ideas and solutions, and report frameworks for
presenting solutions and strategies to others. 

The processes behind MindLink Corporate Edition are based on the Innovation
Team Building methodology developed by the Synectics Corporation, an
international management consulting firm specializing in innovation,
creativity and change management.

The price for the Standard version of the Corporate Innovation Program is
$3,495 and the Expanded version is $5,495. As a stand-alone product, the
suggested retail price for MindLink Corporate Edition for Windows is $295
(street price is $195). Special pricing is available for volume
purchasers, dealers, VARs and educational institutions directly from
MindLink Software Corporation. 

For more information on the Corporate Innovation Program or MindLink
Corporate Edition call 800-253-1844, or if outside the U.S.A., call
802-457-2025.

MindLink Software Corporation, founded in 1990, is a privately held company
that develops applications to promote innovation and creativity in
business for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh environments. The
company is headquartered in North Pomfret, Vermont with offices in
Wellesley, Massachusetts.
 
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