Global Technology Leader and Innovator, Samsung SDS, Commits to Comprehensive Worldwide Alliance with FreeBalance

Socially responsibly-based Government Resource Planning (GRP) partnership laser-focused on financially sustainable governance to improve government effectiveness in emerging economies

Seoul, Republic of Korea (August 16, 2012) – FreeBalance and Samsung SDS today announced a global product and services alliance focused on public financial management and e-government in the public sector. The product and services portfolio from the partnership covers the entire spectrum of open government, transparency, public financials, procurement, revenue and human resources management. This includes data centre, cloud computing and shared services infrastructure and deployment on wireless devices. The alliance leverages the Samsung SDS “open innovation” model to uncover new ways to make e-government and public financial management financially sustainable for emerging economy governments. This Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment is core to Samsung SDS corporate citizenship and FreeBalance For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) mandates. Samsung SDS and FreeBalance strive to make the world a better place to live through effective technology.

Good governance through public financial management reform and open government transparency is considered critical to country growth and reducing poverty. “Many government software implementations in emerging economies and developing countries are difficult to adapt to modernization and reform, and are not financially sustainable,” said Manuel Pietra, FreeBalance President and CEO, “The alliance with Samsung SDS provides a proven and effective Government Resource Planning (GRP) alternative to legacy approaches.”

Samsung SDS, based in Seoul Republic of Korea, provides a variety of ICT services, such as ICT convergence services, business innovation services and reliable ICT infrastructure services to improve the clients' overall competitiveness. Samsung SDS is part of the Samsung Group, one of the most recognizable global brands. “This alliance will help Samsung SDS to achieve this year's goal of making 30% of its total sales in the global market,” said Andrew Chang, Executive Vice President of the Global Business Division of Samsung SDS. “More importantly, this will provide adaptable and financially sustainable technology and services to governments to enable reform. Governments around the world can learn from the FreeBalance and Samsung SDS expertise to technologically leapfrog and deliver breakthrough governance to citizens.” Recently, SDS overhauled its global organization to boost overseas capabilities and plans to expand its investment in future projects to W260bn to achieve one of its 2012 business targets of increasing the contribution of its overseas sales to 30% of total sales.

The FreeBalance and Samsung SDS alliance includes joint business development to governments around the world. Existing FreeBalance and Samsung SDS partners will be used to strengthen the value of the alliance to governments. Samsung SDS will continue to promote proven solutions used by the Government of Korea internationally as part of the alliance. Samsung SDS is leading the way for computerization and advancement of public administration across the world, spreading the Korean e-government model to other markets. FreeBalance software will augment the Samsung SDS product portfolio. The Samsung SDS Smart Answer methodology and focus on smart convergence will be leveraged for effective PFM and e-government in emerging economies. This methodology meets the international process standards (SPEM 2.0) and CMMI.

FreeBalance, based in Ottawa Canada, is a global provider of Government Resource Planning (GRP) software used in Canada, developing countries and emerging economies. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is distinguished from legacy software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) through a pure-web design and the use of configuration rather than code customization to enable governments to progressively activate support for PFM reform. FreeBalance is certified for ISO-9001/2008.

About Samsung
Samsung SDS is an enterprise with vast information and communications technology (ICT) business experience accumulated from working with major enterprises and public organizations, domestically and internationally. With over 13,000 employees and annual turnover exceeding US$4B, Samsung SDS is part of the Samsung Group that includes Samsung Electronics. Samsung SDS offers a diverse array of services based on accurate understanding of customers’ needs, and forward looking thought leadership, while paying close attention to providing value to our customers. More information is available at Samsung website.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. FreeBalance solutions are active in 19 countries managing more than a quarter trillion ($US) in annual budgets worldwide. For more information, visit FreeBalance website.

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Read the FreeBalance and Samsung SDS Partnership – Backgrounder.

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