Saatchi & Saatchi Commences Global Rollout of Applix's Enterprise CRM Software

152 Offices in 92 Countries Will Deploy Enterprise's Java-Based Web Client to Maximize Global Sales Opportunities

Westboro, MA, September 21, 1999 -- Applix, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLX), a leading provider of customer relationship management and business intelligence solutions, announced the following success from the Applix London, England office.

One of the greatest advantages that global media organizations have over their smaller competitors is the opportunity to cross-sell services to its key customers on a regional basis. Despite this, most miss huge opportunities due to lack of integrated and current customer information across regional offices. Determined not to fall into this category, Saatchi and Saatchi, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, has selected Applix's Enterprise CRM software to manage its new business leads on a global scale. The system will enable all account staff responsible for new business to view sales activity in other geographies. This will enable them to uncover cross-selling opportunities, avoid client conflicts and share sales and marketing materials, including new business presentations.

The pilot for the system is scheduled to go live in November 1999 at Saatchi and Saatchi's London office. The second phase will roll out in the US, China and Hong Kong eventually going live in all of Saatchi's 152 offices in 92 countries.

Although this is a very large scale rollout, Saatchi and Saatchi is optimistic that the implementation will be straightforward thanks to Enterprise's unique Java-enabled Web client. The only equipment needed to run the application on the Client side is a standard Web browser. This means that time and costs associated with adding new users and maintaining the system are extremely low when compared to traditional client/server software.

Saatchi and Saatchi chose Applix Enterprise over a number of competitive CRM products for the following reasons:

• Enterprise was the easiest to customize thanks to its Applix ESP (or "Enterprise Solutions Platform") foundation. ESP consists of a suite of application design and customization tools that require no programming skills to master.
• Enterprise includes a very powerful workflow engine that is bundled with the software. Competing products required the purchase of an add-on solution.
• Enterprise enables users to update the central database via e-mail through its virtual incident processing engine.
• Enterprise offers a fully functional Java-based Web client; competitors only offer HTML interfaces that do not enable real-time data transactions with the server.
• Enterprise's support for multiple languages was essential for Saatchi and Saatchi's pan European rollout.
• Users who experimented with Enterprise during the evaluation were very pleased with the product's functionality and ease of use.

"The main reason we chose Applix as a vendor was because of its people," explains Clint Witchalls, business systems manager for Saatchi and Saatchi. "They really did their homework, taking the time to understand our business and speak to us in our language. Other vendors were treating us like a manufacturing company. When it came to choosing a CRM solution, we felt that it was important to select a vendor that actually understood its own customers."

About Saatchi and Saatchi

Saatchi & Saatchi plc is a world-wide creative marketing communications group operating in 152 offices in 92 countries and employing approximately 5,200 people. The Group consists of: Saatchi & Saatchi; Rowland Communications (integrated communications and PR); Cliff Freeman & Partners (advertising); a 70% shareholding in The Facilities Group (pre-production services) and a 50% shareholding in Zenith Media Worldwide (a leading global media services and planning agency).

About Applix, Inc.

Applix, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLX), headquartered in Westboro, Mass., develops, markets and supports web-based, front office business solutions, which allow organizations to improve decision-making and corporate productivity. The Front Office Business Solutions include the Applix iCustomer.Advantage suite of thin-client Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and real-time Business Intelligence applications: Applix iEnterprise, Applix iHelpDesk and Applix iTM1. In addition to its Front Office Business Solutions, Applix also provides a set of Decision Support applications, consisting of Applixware and Applix Anyware products. The Company's products are available on a variety of software platforms, including Windows, Windows NT, UNIX and Linux environments. More information can be found at www.applix.com and linux.applixware.com.

Notes to Investors

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Specifically, comments related to the demand for, revenue from and acceptance of the Company's products and the Company's position in the markets, may be considered forward-looking and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: the rate of growth in market demand for the products; the acceptance of the Company's products; intense competitive conditions; rapid technological change; frequent new product introductions and evolving domestic and international standards which may render existing products and services obsolete. Refer to the Form 10-K for the year ended 1997 for a list of factors as discussed under "Risk Factors ".

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