SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

SOPHEON PLC

("Sopheon" or the "Company")

Sopheon's Accolade 11.1 EmpowersEnterprise Strategy-Execution Capability

Sopheon, the international provider of software and services for complete Enterprise Innovation Management (EIM) solutions, announces today the latest version of its Accolade® EIM solution.

Operating in a dynamic, fast-paced business environment, established market leaders are looking for ways to innovate at the pace of small companies, while leveraging the scale advantages of a larger organization. They are challenged to execute strategic plans for digital transformation, speed and business agility in the face of historically low rates of successful strategy execution. Research by The Economist Magazine shows that on average only 56% of strategic initiatives are considered successful1.

According to industry analyst Gartner, among the primary reasons for the low success rate of strategic initiatives is poor transparency to the goals of the strategy, and the inability to ensure that everyone working on accomplishing those goals has visibility to interdependencies and progress2. Gartner recommends that companies strengthen capabilities such as continuous, almost real-time decision-making, agility in response to change, and multidirectional communication across the organization3.

Dr. Steven Moskowitz, Senior Principal of Strategic Technology, Innovation Management at Entegris, Inc. stated: "Dynamic communication and dataflow through divisions, into business units and across operations teams is something Entegris views as vital to innovation. Increasing the visibility of plans and decisions is just one of the ways that Accolade is supporting our organization's aspirations."

Supporting the long-term success and relevance of customers is the foundation of Sopheon's mission. Sopheon has been deeply engaged with and committed to helping its customers increase their business agility in the face of market disruptions. Accolade 11.1 includes capabilities and enhancements that ease communication of the strategy, providing clear visibility to the connections between high-level strategy and the underlying execution activities. These capabilities connect organizational and functional silos, surface meaningful connections and interdependencies, and increase user engagement, ease of use and efficiency - further strengthening process adoption and ensuring more informed, faster decision making.

Andy Michuda, CEO of Sopheon, commented: "Many companies in the market are challenged with communicating strategy across their organization and as a result face a gap in alignment around strategic goals, and low employee engagement. By closing this gap, all stakeholders in the process can more clearly understand what needs to be done, what role they play in making that happen, and what interdependencies need to be managed. Thanks to collaboration and input from our clients on the latest Accolade release, we expect our customers to significantly increase their rate of strategy realization."

1 Why Good Strategies Fail: Lessons for the C-Suite The Economist, 2013

2 Market Guide for Enterprise PPM Software, Gartner, 2015

3 Market Guide for Strategy Execution Software, Gartner, 2016

Sopheon® and Accolade® are trademarks of Sopheon.

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About Sopheon. Sopheon (LSE: SPE) partners with customers to provide complete Enterprise Innovation Management solutions including software, expertise, and best practices, that enable them to achieve exceptional long-term revenue growth and profitability. Sopheon's Accolade solution provides unique, fully-integrated coverage for the entire innovation management and new product development lifecycle, including strategic innovation planning, roadmapping, idea and concept development, process and project management, portfolio management and resource planning. Sopheon's solutions have been implemented by over 200 customers with over 60,000 users in over 50 countries. Sopheon is listed on AIM, operated by the London Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.