BURLINGTON, MA, August 14, 2002—Bayer plc, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, one of the world's largest and most diversified chemical and pharmaceutical companies, is today using Cognos Series 7 to provide its extended enterprise with rapid, Web-based access to the critical information driving its corporate performance.

Turning to Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) after evaluating the major alternative ERP/business intelligence solutions, Bayer UK today uses the full, integrated range of robust reporting, true analysis, ad hoc query, scorecarding, visualization, and data integration capabilities offered in the Cognos Series 7 solution. The result is a Web-based business intelligence solution that offers Bayer UK managers and sales representatives split-second access to customer, marketplace, and operational trends across a broad array of operational and relational data stores including SAP R/3.

Supplying products that are involved in every major area of industrial, commercial and domestic life, including diagnostic instruments, medicines, agrochemicals, Bayer UK needed a highly scalable business intelligence system that offered both enterprise-proven performance, security and scalability, while at the same time provided an easy-to-use environment accessible through a central, Intranet-based console for its business users.

"Our users don't want a cumbersome and complicated information system that doesn't perform well," explains John Culverhouse, senior analyst, Bayer UK. "They want to be able to click on something they know will work and get a report back rapidly with the information they need. Cognos Series 7 meets that demand, as well as provides a solid foundation of Corporate Performance Management (CPM)."

The organization also needed one consistent, unified view of corporate data. Bayer UK uses one of the market's leading data integration solutions, Cognos DecisionStream, to pull information from various databases including SAP R/3, Oracle, Lotus Notes and Access, transforming disparate data into one co-ordinated business intelligence data center. The unified view of data allows the company to spot trends earlier and develop business strategies faster in the highly competitive pharmaceutical and chemical marketplaces.

Today Cognos Series 7 offers Bayer UK users rapid access to the rich operational data housed in the organization's SAP R/3 environment. In addition, IT managers are able to monitor and manage the entire integrated BI solution from a central dashboard with the new configuration management features, resulting in a solution that is easy to troubleshoot and maintain.

Bayer UK also benefits from the robust reporting with sophisticated customization capabilities in Cognos Series 7 to ensure that individual users receive tailor-made reports and analysis without the need to create hundreds of individual static reports. Users can dynamically change views on the data in a Web-based environment, allowing them to build custom reports in seconds.

"Users love the flexibility," said Dave Gardner, project manager, Bayer UK. "Given the highly diverse needs of our user base, Cognos was the only solution that would allow this highly flexible, user-driven reporting, without the need for IT intervention."

"Originally users would spend ages trying to find one answer to a critical business question. Now they can go straight to the Cognos Series 7 system and find all the answers in one central portal," added Culverhouse.

"Cognos Series 7 offers users like Bayer UK a unique value proposition: a mission-critical business intelligence solution that offers split-second response times, while at the same time, offering business users an easy, Web-based environment to get the answers they need quickly," said Dave Laverty, senior vice president, Cognos. "We are enthusiastic to work with pharmaceutical/chemical industry leaders like Bayer UK, helping them to focus on driving innovation, and ensuring they are able to provide a high level of service to their customers."

About Cognos

Founded in 1969, Cognos employs more than 2,600 people and serves more than 20,000 customers in over 135 countries. Our customers are involved in every industry sector including automotive, banking and insurance, energy and natural resources, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.

Cognos BI solutions, applications, and services are sold directly and are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. These solutions are supported by an experienced field force of more than 1300 customer-facing personnel.