STUTTGART, Germany, May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The software and consulting company BizSphere became the latest member of the IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative. With this program IBM and partners help the 'next generation of entrepreneurs', who develop software based innovations to capture emerging business opportunities. As part of the IBM Smarter Planet program the global campaign started last year in the United States and 2011 in Germany. The IBM Smarter Planet agenda develops intelligent and environment-friendly solutions. IBM Global Entrepreneur members receive no-charge access to IBM's software portfolio and support from IBM experts. Selected companies also have the opportunity to benefit from the IBM network of decision makers in industry, government, research and development.

"With its innovative knowledge management solution for sales optimization BizSphere is an excellent candidate for our initiative which aims to identify and integrate solutions that help solving today`s challenges in the context of IBM's vision of a Smarter Planet", said Wieland Köbler, Leader Global Entrepreneur Deutschland and Director ISV Sales and Development at IBM. "We are very proud that we have been selected to the IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative. Our solution structures and manages information in an 'intelligent way', and adds additional value to the data by placing content in the right context", states Jochen Moll, CEO at BizSphere. "The BizSphere Sales Enablement platform is used for sales optimization. Existing web portals, fileserver, CM, CRM and DM systems can be integrated and consolidated within the BizSphere Solution."

In Germany the initiative was kicked-off at CeBIT 2011 in Hannover. Up to now, five companies, specialized in e-Commerce, event and fundraising, process management, marketing and communication asset management as well as knowledge management have been selected. Launch partners in Germany are, for example, the Venture Capital companies Wellington Partners and Earlybird.

BizSphere AG is a software and consulting company with its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2006 "BizSphere" was established as a business unit within SVA GmbH, one of the leading system integrators in Germany. In 2007 this business unit became an independent legal entity as SVA-BizSphere AG, which is doing business under the name of BizSphere AG since October 2010. The company is located in Germany with offices in Mainz and Stuttgart and operates with an international network of staff and consultants.

BizSphere has developed a software platform and consulting framework supporting companies in solving their Sales Enablement challenges. BizSphere Sales Enablement Solution optimizes costs and the quality of existing information by effective structured content. With this solution, sales representatives are able to use the information they need according to their requirements and companies will be able to serve and fulfill constantly changing customer needs within reduced response time. The platform combines know-how in the areas of semantic and social web (Web 2.0/3.0), as well as innovative user interface design.

For more information:

http://www.ibm.com/isv/startup

http://www.bizsphere.com

BizSphere AG Tamara Vierling +491723967686 +4961314970618 tamara.vierling@bizsphere.com Christine Paulus IBM External Relations +498945041396 +4915114270446 christine.paulus@de.ibm.com

BizSphere AG