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| HOME > Press Release > September 10, 2003 |
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 September 10, 2003 A.I. Soft, Inc. Plala Networks, Inc. NTT-X, Inc. The industry's first account aggregation service Agurippa and best-selling home budgeting software Ukkari Mama Home Accounting 8 to collaborate-bundled import of financial institution transaction details and utilities statement data becomes possible over the InternetBeginning in early October 2003, A.I. Soft, Inc. (Noboru Kitazawa, CEO; HQ: Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture) will begin sales of its Ukkari Mama Home Accounting 8 accounting software which contains a feature allowing one-touch importing of consolidated data from an account aggregation service. The account aggregation service consolidates usernames and passwords from multiple online services such as financial services and e-commerce sites into a single ID and displays transaction details and various other personal financial information comprehensively on a given site. This feature is made possible because Plala Networks, Inc. (Koji Bandou, CEO; HQ: Toshima-ku, Tokyo) has made it possible to import account information and transaction details acquired by the account aggregation service Agurippa (1) to Ukkari Mama Home Accounting 8. Agurippa is provided by application service provider Plala Networks to operators of portal sites. In addition, this feature will be offered to the user through NTT-X, Inc.’s (Takao Nakajima, CEO; HQ: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) goo Passbook and Statements account aggregation service which makes use of Agurippa and is planned to coincide with the release of Ukkari Mama Home Accounting 8. Through this service collaboration, it is now possible to manage all the home expenses through the bundled import of transaction details for utilities payments, credit cards, and banks, and to access additional financial services such as the Home Financial Analysis Feature from the home. 1. Background Ukkari Mama Home Accounting has distinguishing features including the Net Collaboration Feature (see note 1) and the Home Financial Analysis Feature which was developed under the guidance of a certified financial planner (2) and which borrowed from his rich experience. It is one of the best-selling home accounting software products, boasting top market share among similar home accounting and asset management software. With the rapid increase in the use of online services such as e-commerce and the various financial services of banks and brokerage houses among certain Internet users, the demand for account aggregation services is growing. Agurippa is compatible with the online services of over 30 mainly financial services content partners. It is currently the largest account aggregation service in both numbers of registered users and number of accounts. In addition, NTT-X, Inc., which operates the portal site “goo”, is using Agurippa in their goo Passbook and Statements, helping to make their daily life “services portal” for home users a reality. This is contributing to the spread of account aggregation services among home users. With the expansion of the user base, there is a diversification in the need for account aggregation features, and several requests to be able to “not just display aggregated data in a single screen, but also to use the data in the management of income and expenses for home accounting”. A.I. Soft, Inc., Plala, and NTT-X, Inc. have responded to these needs by entering a service agreement making possible the linkage of home accounting software with aggregated account and transaction data gathered with the account aggregation service. This is the only such case of linkage between commercially available home accounting software and an account aggregation service, making this the first test of such a service in the industry. 2. Overview of the service making possible the import of aggregated data Through the three-way partnership between A.I. Soft, Inc., Plala, and NTT-X, Inc., the one-touch import of transaction details for the user’s banks, credit cards, and utilities into home accounting software has become possible. From the auto import environment (see note 2) of the home accounting software, it is possible to transition to the Website of a compatible account aggregation service such as goo Passbook and Statements. The user then selects needed data either individually or as a group, and by simply clicking the import button, downloads the information to the home accounting software. Once data has been imported, the user can categorize, display, or edit it just like other manually-entered data. This greatly reduces the need for repetitive data entry which was once an obstacle to the regular recording of info into the accounting software. In addition to such financial transaction details, NTT East, NTT West and other such companies have even made possible the bundled import of fees and usage details for telephone, gas, electric and other such utilities, making the easy management of all household expenses a reality. In particular, with regard to utilities fees, there is a feature that allows for the creation, display, saving, and printing of a provisional utility bill in the prescribed format based on the amount charged so even those who normally use a paperless online billing service can print and store a paper copy with the same content. Furthermore, building on home accounting features that have long been useful, there are limitless possibilities for using the information gathered in the account aggregation service. Examples include chronological data management, Mama Charts (see note 3) for financial analysis and diagnosis, reminders for automatic bank payments, home loan or life insurance policy planning, etc. 3. Future plans With the release of Ukkari Mama Home Accounting 8 this October, A.I. Soft, Inc., Plala, and NTT-X will offer joint sales promotions at their various sites, joining together for a broad marketing pitch for the advantages of using the collaborative features. A special sale price at the various sites as well as the streaming of a demonstration video to help users visualize how it is used also are planned. In addition to using this feature to promote the implementation of Agurippa, they will also move forward with the development and sale of a custom version of Agurippa and Ukkari Mama Home Accounting for banks, credit card companies, and utilities as well as internal corporate benefits services such as the company benefits departments, labor unions, etc. They will also aim for an even greater expansion of the user base for goo Passbook and Statements, building on the increased usability made possible by this collaborative feature. * (Note 1) Net Collaboration Feature Making use of Internet Home Accounting, one of A.I. Soft, Inc.’s Web services, it is possible to enter and browse home finance data from a cellular phone (compatible with iMode, iAppli, and J-sky). * (Note 2) Auto import environment Through collaboration with the Agurippa account aggregation service, this makes possible the automatic entry of bank book, credit card, and utilities fee details. * (Note 3) Mama Charts Home Accounting Diagnosis Feature Produces a monthly home accounting consultation report that analyzes problem areas and areas of the home finances needing improvement. 1 Agurippa refers to the offering of the INFOBOND account aggregation system developed by NTT East, Inc. by Plala Networks, Inc. as an application service provider under license from NTT East. 2 Satoshi Tsukahara, CFPR and Associate Chapter President, Japan Association for Financial Planners, Nagano Chapter 3 Ranked first in number of units sold between October 2002 and July 2003 (According to BCN, Inc.’s Market View) ■For additional information please contact Plala Networks, Inc. Account Aggregation Promotion Office E-mail:agurippa@plala.co.jp  |
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