TSYS Launches New Company
DotsConnectSM To Focus Exclusively on E-Payments Market
Columbus, Ga., March 21, 2000 -- Total System Services, Inc.® (TSYS®) (NYSE: "TSS"), a leader in providing global commerce solutions for credit, debit, retail, commercial and stored-value products, today announced the launch of DotsConnectSM, a new company that specializes in fulfilling the e-payment link between buyers and sellers on the Web. DotsConnect (http://www.dotsconnect.com/) will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of TSYS.
"Our e-commerce initiatives have grown so quickly in recent quarters that we realize we can more aggressively target untapped market opportunities with a distinct and autonomous business unit," says Richard W. Ussery, chairman of the board and CEO of TSYS. "We will rely on the DotsConnect team to continue to lead e-payment innovations and define the evolving needs of Web-based commerce."
DotsConnect is the commerce connection for developing value-added e-payments applications. DotsConnect will deliver premier e-payments software that allows buyers and sellers to conduct commerce in a wired society. DotsConnect is continuing a quarter-century of TSYS innovation that has consistently provided real-time tailored, secure and reliable solutions for its financial services clients.
According to GartnerGroup, Inc., a leading business technology advisor, global B2B revenues are expected to reach $3.95 trillion by the end of 2003 and $7.29 trillion by 2004. B2C revenues are projected to reach $380 billion worldwide within the next three years.
"DotsConnect enters the marketplace with an impressive array of online applications designed to enable businesses and consumers to conduct e-commerce. We bring deep experience in providing innovative, real-time e-commerce solutions, customized how clients want it, and delivered when they want it," says Gaylon Jowers, who has been named CEO of DotsConnect. "We want to build the connectivity and applications that deliver content necessary to conduct commerce over the Internet," says Jowers, a former TSYS executive director for corporate strategy, marketing and sales, where his responsibilities included TSYS strategies for the e-commerce strategy for DotsConnect. While at TSYS, Jowers led TSYS growth initiatives during his nine years at TSYS when the company garnered an impressive client roster that included several large domestic and international financial and retail institutions.
"From Total System Services, we've learned the discipline of managing mission critical payment system applications for our clients, who serve more than 300 million consumers," Jowers said. "Even more importantly, we've learned that meeting customer needs with the highest level of service and dedication is the best path to success. Extending our market leadership to this e-commerce organization brings tremendous value to the market. Unlike most new Internet startups, we begin with our e-based products, which have a two-year track record in the market, and we are very excited to innovate and deliver new products."
DotsConnect has four areas of concentration: business-to-consumer (B2C) financial services applications, Web hosting, business-to-business (B2B), and electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP). DotsConnect's B2C services offer e-businesses and financial services entities the ability to not only attract new customers online, but enable them to make a purchase immediately with real-time credit applications, scoring, and decisions. For Web hosting services, DotsConnect will provide high-end hosting services for financially sensitive sites that leverages the 25-year history of managing a world-class data center at TSYS.
In the B2B business line, DotsConnect will provide its financial services clients with a wide range of products that will enable e-payments to be the de facto method of payment for commerce. The vision calls for further expansion of new products to be offered by DotsConnect's clients that will streamline procurement processes, offer better content and content delivery packages and leverage TSYS' dominant market position. TSYS processes 86 percent of the commercial Visa and MasterCard traffic in the United States, and 100 percent of all commercial products for the federal government. In the EBPP arena, DotsConnect will offer its clients the ability for their customers to pay bills online, allowing the billers to retain their connection to their customers, and the consumer the choice to determine when and how their bills are paid.
DotsConnect will have offices in Atlanta and Columbus, Ga., with an initial team of 31 team members. DotsConnect expects to increase its team member base to 50 in the coming months. Employment growth will continue according to business conditions.
About DotsConnect
DotsConnect is an e-payments company that facilitates commerce between buyers and sellers via the Internet by providing software and processing for online credit application, customer service and fulfillment processes for financial services companies and e-businesses. DotsConnect offers a single e-commerce solution that includes online credit application, scoring, decisions and customer service -- all in real time.
With DotsConnect, e-businesses are given a competitive advantage for attracting and retaining customers by providing them the ability to apply, receive and manage their credit accounts in real time via the Internet. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Total System Services, Inc. (http://www.totalsystem.com/), one of the world's leading paperless commerce solutions providers for credit, debit, retail, commercial and stored value, DotsConnect is continuing a quarter century of innovation by providing tailored, secure, and reliable payment solutions that allows clients to serve more than 1.3 million companies and more than 300 million consumers.
About Total System Services, Inc.
TSYS provides global commerce solutions. With more than 210 million accounts on file, TSYS facilitates the paperless payment link between buyers and sellers for more than 300 million consumers. Our systems capture and deliver more of the right information to our clients that allows them to make wiser business decisions, currently yielding portfolio growth more than twice the industry average. TSYS and its family of companies offers a full range of business services, from credit application to collections, allowing our clients to focus on building their brands while we focus on safety, security, ease and convenience. Based in Columbus, Ga., TSYS (NYSE: "TSS") is an 80.8-percent-owned subsidiary of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: "SNV") (http://www.synovus.com/), No. 5 on FORTUNE magazine's list of "The 100 Best Companies To Work For" in 2000.
Contacts:
Danita Gibson-Lloyd
Total System Services
ph. (706) 649-5578
dglloyd@totalsystem.com
Bill Maguire
Ketchum
ph. (404) 287-2000 ext.119
bill.maguire@ketchum.com
Avivah Litan
Gartner Group
ph. (301) 610-7482
avivah.litan@gartner.com