Palo Alto, CA (November 19, 2007)   — The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council – in association with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), IBM, and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) – today announced the launch of an in-depth global research study focused on identifying challenges and best practices in developing effective customer retention strategies.

The initiative, entitled Business Gain from How You Retain™, will assess the degree to which major brands are unifying and centralizing customer data, undertaking effective marketing analytics, and embracing advanced segmentation strategies to minimize customer turnover and maximize the profitability of individual customer relationships.

A key element of the program will examine the degree to which marketers are integrating customer information to further the value of customer relationships. Additionally, the study will analyze and define best practices to help companies “operationalize” data to forge a single, unified view of the customer.

“This CMO Council program will be a landmark study and an unprecedented analysis of the causes of churn and customer retention challenges,” notes Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “The results will help marketers to anticipate and predict customer requirements across the lifecycle by properly utilization growing sources and volumes of transactional, behavioral, directional data generated from both inside and outside the enterprise.”

The Business Gain from How Your Retain campaign will look at ways to improve the return on customer equity and lifetime value by making customer insight, understanding and intimacy a hallmark of the organization. It will audit and assess the degree to which major brands are unifying and centralizing customer data, undertaking effective marketing analytics, embracing advanced segmentation strategies, and empowering the frontline to act on customer profiling and behavioral knowledge.

“Global companies have made the investment in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, but these large organizations are quickly realizing that in a post-CRM world, simply understanding data is insufficient. Integrating the data to gain a single view of the customer and acting on or “operationalizing” the data is critically important,” says Alexander J. Black, Senior Partner, Strategic Services Group, CSC.

“The study will help companies assess their effectiveness in integrating and leveraging disparate customer data sources and using this to make smarter, more informed marketing decisions,” said Jay Glick, Director, D&B IBM Strategic Partnership.

The program will launch with the assembly of a distinguished group of industry leaders, analysts and business school educators who will offer evaluative insights and opinions. More information about the program can be found at www.retaintogain.com . For more information about the CMO Council, please visit www.cmocouncil.org .

About the CMO Council
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior marketing and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 3,000 members control more than $70 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures. Companies represented on the CMO Council have combined annual revenue of over $600 billion. Visit the CMO Council web site to find out about the initiatives geared to address executive marketers’ challenges at www.cmocouncil.org.

About the BPM Forum
The Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum is dedicated to advancing performance accountability, process improvement, operational visibility and compliance in global organizations. It provides support to thousands of senior executives and practitioners representing enterprises with more than $500 billion in combined annual revenues. The BPM Forum’s C-level members engage in research, thought leadership, and knowledge exchange programs around a variety of strategic issues and challenges. More information is available at: www.BPMForum.org .

About CSC
Computer Sciences Corporation is a leading global IT services company. CSC's mission is to provide customers in industry and government with solutions crafted to meet their specific challenges and enable them to profit from the advanced use of technology. With approximately 87,000 employees, CSC provides innovative solutions for customers around the world by applying leading technologies and CSC's own advanced capabilities. These include systems design and integration; IT and business process outsourcing; applications software development; Web and application hosting; and management consulting. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., CSC reported revenue of $14.9 billion for the 12 months ended March 30, 2007. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.csc.com .

International Business Machines (IBM)
IBM is the world's top provider of computer products and services. Among the leaders in almost every market in which it competes, the company makes mainframes and servers, storage systems, and peripherals. Its service arm is the largest in the world and accounts for more than half of its revenue. IBM is also one of the largest providers of both software (ranking #2, behind Microsoft) and semiconductors. The company continues to use acquisitions to augment its software and service businesses, while streamlining its hardware operations with divestitures and organizational reengineering.

About Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)
D&B is the world’s leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, enabling companies to Decide with Confidence® for over 165 years. D&B’s global commercial database contains more than 115 million unique businesses. The database is enhanced by D&B’s proprietary DUNSRight® Quality Process, which provides customers with quality business information. This quality information is the foundation of D&B global solutions that customers rely on to make critical business decisions.