SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

SOPHEON PLC

("Sopheon" or the "Company")

Certis Europe Partners with Sopheon to Drive Growth and Innovation Ambitions

Sopheon's Accolade software aligns business growth strategy with external market needs and operational cross-functional budgets

Sopheon, the international provider of software, expertise, and best practices for Enterprise Innovation Performance, today shared that Certis Europe, an established crop protection business, is well underway with its transformation from a stand-alone innovation and development process to a more market-driven operating model with the help of Sopheon's Accolade® software solution.

"The Accolade application is improving our focus on growth projects aligned to the market needs as well as our efficiency in development and bringing new products to market," said Certis Europe Head of Portfolio, Jennifer Lewis. "We see it as an important tool that will underpin our future growth strategy."

Certis Europe is a European crop protection specialist focusing on the development, registration and distribution of products based on unique and patented active ingredients from its Japanese shareholders. Two years ago, Certis Europe set out to transform its development activities from a country by country approach to one that is more collaborative and portfolio (product group) focused. This was fueled by a desire to streamline their new product research and multi-country product registration processes, thereby reducing complexity, making them less time intensive, increasing efficiency, and ensuring a combination of operational and commercial excellence. The outcome has been increased revenues and growth in market share.

Sopheon's Accolade software, branded internally as AToM ("Advance To Market") is playing a key role in Certis' company transition. It is streamlining innovation processes and the collaboration between the different functions within the company. The system serves as the central corporate repository for all Development and Registration Projects, and is used to prioritize and manage this portfolio in close alignment with Product Line (Portfolio) Teams and markets and countries in which they are sold. Without the transparency enabled by the software for decision making by the various business functions, this new operating model would not be possible. Accolade is now integral to day to day work within the business, being used throughout the company within marketing, development and country functions.

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.