Children's Choice Leverages On-Demand Business Intelligence Solution to Extend High-Quality Care While Increasing Profitability

DALLAS, TX and SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - November 10, 2009) - Avalon Consulting, LLC, a leader in the development and delivery of advanced Enterprise Web Presence solutions, and Birst, a leading provider of on-demand solutions for business intelligence (BI) and analytics, today announced that Children's Choice is leveraging Birst's easy-to-use, affordable analytics to extend services to more children while increasing business profitability. Children's Choice Learning Centers provide high-quality early care and education programs to children and families.

"When we started looking for a BI solution, we turned to Avalon for help," said Dan Lawler, Chief Financial Officer, Children's Choice. "Avalon knows our business -- and BI -- inside and out. So, when they recommended Birst, we knew we were getting a reasonably priced, easy-to-use solution that would help us improve our business performance while allowing us to continue to focus on our primary mission -- caring for children."

Children's Choice is dedicated to providing care to the children of employees near their parents' workplace, and offers extended hours. This reduces the stress of the family schedule and allows parents to more easily visit the centers and participate in learning experiences. "In today's work environment, it's vital that parents working non-traditional hours have access to high-quality care," said Lawler.

To provide this extended care to as many children as possible, Children's Choice must effectively manage labor outside the eight to ten hour schedule of most childcare centers. With its commitment to delivering excellent care at all times, Children's Choice must also maintain specific educator-to-child ratios. Using Birst, each Learning Center can now easily track educator availability to optimize the number of children able to attend, while more efficiently managing labor costs and increasing profitability.

"When we better understand and more effectively control our labor costs, we can bid more competitively on new business," added Lawler. "When we win new business, we can provide extended care to more children. Birst is a winning solution not just for Children's Choice, but also for the kids and their families."

Avalon and Birst are partnering to deliver easy-to-use, affordable analytics to clients such as Children's Choice. By combining Avalon's progressive methodologies and techniques with Birst's robust BI solution, the new partnership provides clients with the critical BI metrics they need to better manage their business. Avalon's expert consultants provide the technical know-how and leadership necessary to seamlessly integrate Birst with clients' existing systems and data sources so that clients can focus on the business-value achievable via on-demand BI. In addition, Avalon's e-Learning practice is collaborating with Birst to deliver high-quality, on-line learning curriculum for Birst's services and capabilities.

"Together with Birst, we're providing the relevant information and analysis clients need to react quickly to changes in today's tough business environment," said Mike Green, Practice Manager, Avalon Consulting. "Our expertise and Birst's innovative, on-demand solution combine to minimize the impact on companies' IT departments. So, clients can enjoy the benefits of BI while continuing to do what they do best -- concentrating on their core business."

"More and more businesses are selecting on-demand solutions such as Birst as a way to stretch their limited financial resources -- and quickly realizing the benefits go far beyond cost savings," said Brad Peters, CEO, Birst. "With Birst and Avalon, clients are getting a powerful, easy-to-deploy BI solution that quickly provides the business insight they need, without breaking the bank."

About Children's Choice

Children's Choice Learning Centers, Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Richardson, Texas, is a national leader in quality, education-based child care. Some of our facilities offer care 24 hours per day, 365 days a year to accommodate non-traditional work schedules in industries such as healthcare. Children's Choice centers are constructed with every need of the child in mind and provide a nurturing environment and experience for children six weeks to 12 years of age. Our proprietary, literacy-based curriculum gives each child a developmentally appropriate education that encourages creativity and inspires imagination. All centers are staffed with exemplary teachers and equipped with state-of-the-art security systems and Choice Tracking®, a proprietary software system capable of integrating and monitoring the company's operations on a real-time basis. For more information, call (972) 881-1900 or visit the Children's Choice Web site: www.childrenschoice.com.

About Avalon Consulting, LLC

Avalon Consulting, LLC architects and implements solutions in areas such as Enterprise Content Management, Enterprise Search, Social Computing, e-Learning, and Business Process Management that help Global 2000 and other large organizations achieve productivity by capitalizing on enhanced Enterprise Web Presence. Avalon enjoys strategic partnerships with innovative enterprise platform vendors such as Autonomy, OutStart, Baynote, Birst, Open Text and Vivìsimo. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Avalon also has offices in Washington, DC and Denver, CO.

About Birst

Birst™ is the leading provider of on-demand business intelligence solutions. Birst brings the benefits of fact-based decision-making to a much broader audience by making it affordable, fast, and easy to use. Birst is designed to support users of all sizes -- from individuals to groups and entire companies, so that everyone can benefit from greater insight into their business.

More information is available at www.birst.com.

Contact Information: For more information, contact: Kimberly Weber Atomic PR birst@atomicpr.com (415) 402-0230 Sable Robertson Avalon Consulting, LLC robertsons@avalonconsult.com (469) 424-3449