For Immediate Release              For More Information, Contact: Ned Barnett   

Enterprise Information Systems and Avalara Form Partnership Alliance

Team Up To Better Serve Small and Medium-Sized Clients in the Carolinas

Ned Barnett, APR
Marketing/PR Fellow, AHA 420 N. Nellis Blvd., A3-276 Las Vegas, NV 89110
Phone 702-696-1200 FAX 702-696-1211
Ned@barnettmarcom.com

For Immediate Release              For More Information, Contact: Ned Barnett   

Congruent and Avalara Form Partnership Alliance

Software Developer, High-Tech Business Support Firm Team Up To Better Serve Greater Seattle Area Small and Medium-Sized Clients

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Washington, April 21, 2005 – Avalara, provider of affordable, on-demand sales and use tax calculation and reporting solutions for small and medium businesses, has forged an alliance with Enterprise Information Systems in Matthews, NC. "Small and medium businesses need a better, more accessible way to calculate sales and use tax for the more than 8,000 distinct U.S. taxing jurisdictions – and we are delivering on those needs with AvaTax ST™," according to Avalara’s CEO, Jared Vogt. "To help us reach these businesses in the Carolinas, Enterprise Information Systems has joined Avalara as our regional Business Partner."

AvaTax ST is currently integrated with some of the SMB market's most popular accounting systems, including Best Software's ACCPAC Advantage Series™, MAS 90® and MAS200®, as well as Microsoft's Great Plains, among others. Other significant accounting-system integration versions of AvaTax ST are scheduled for release later in Q2.

“Enterprise Information Systems provides a unique consulting approach, combining high-tech software and IT support services for small and medium-sized businesses in the Carolinas, and is well-positioned to help both their clients and other small to mid-sized businesses in implementing Avalara’s AvaTax ST,” Avalara’s President and Founder Rory Rawlings said.

“We’re excited to become part of Avalara’s network of business partners,” according to Phil Brown, President of Enterprise Information Systems.  “We recognize that many of our clients have faced the challenge of determining sales and use taxes for a growing number of taxing jurisdictions – and until now, there were no low-cost, highly reliable technology solutions.

"AvaTax ST is an affordable alternative to expensive software installations – and time-consuming updates – or worse, to the error-prone, manual system of sales tax calculation many businesses now employ," Rawlings pointed out. "When taking on sales tax calculations internally, Enterprise Information System’s business clients have the harrying task of assigning one or several of the more-than-8000 U.S. tax jurisdictions to a customer's location and grouping all applicable rates to the customer. On top of that, these businesses – and businesses throughout North America – have the responsibility to track and apply the more than 900 new sales tax law changes that are enacted in the U.S. market each year.

"Other factors," Rawlings noted, "such as product taxability, exemptions, amnesties and a myriad of statutory regulations, which vary state-by-state, must also be taken into account. The more states in which a business has a legal presence, the more complex dealing with sales tax becomes. Savings generated by replacing such a time-intensive, manual updating system with a Web-service solution adds directly to the bottom line."

"With many years of experience developing and implementing cost-effective business solutions for their clients in the Carolinas, Enterprise Information Systems brings to Avalara a proven record of success in creating value for businesses and developing technological solutions to clients’ most challenging needs," according to Tom Bemiller, Avalara's Business Development Manager. "As our business partner, Enterprise Information Systems will work directly with clients and prospective end-users – to ensure that their clients – and ours – receive the on-demand sales tax calculation services they need to maximize their own business opportunities."

"We have an aggressive plan to more than double our sales in 2005," Bemiller explained. "To help make this happen, Enterprise Information Systems is an excellent example of the kinds of skilled, professional Business Partners and allies we are adding to our team in key locations across the U.S and Canada. Our on-demand, integrated sales and use tax service is specifically geared to small and medium businesses," Bemiller said, "and for those companies who match our profile, we can make a significant and direct impact on their bottom line."

About AvaTax ST
AvaTax ST is an "on demand" web service that instantly and accurately calculates sales tax for clients in any of the more than 8,000 taxing jurisdictions in the U.S. Introduced to the small and mid-sized business market in 2004 and now serving over 160 partners and end users, AvaTax ST is a web-service solution to businesses' sales and use tax calculation needs. It is available already integrated within some of the SMB market's most widely-used accounting systems, including Microsoft's Great Plains, Navision, Small Business Financials, Best Software's ACCPAC Advantage Series™, MAS 90® and MAS 200®, and Scala, among others. The AvaTax service can also be easily integrated with any e-commerce, third-party or custom-built solution.
Pricing for AvaTax ST is transaction-based and geared to the SMB market, making total compliance accessible to businesses that have been unable to cost-justify expensive, difficult-to-maintain software solutions.
"AvaTax ST gives businesses, as well as our partners who serve the business community, an opportunity to solve a common, frustrating and costly problem - and in doing so, delivers a cost-effective approach to sales and use tax compliance," Bemiller pointed out.
To learn more about how Avalara can help build your business's bottom line, visit http://www.avalara.com.

To schedule an interview with Avalara CEO Jared Vogt or Business Development Manager Tom Bemiller, please contact Ned Barnett – 702-696-1200 or ned@barnettmarcom.com.  To schedule an interview with Phil Brown at Enterprise Information Systems, please call him at 704-845-9732, or email him at phil@eisnc.com.

SOURCE: Avalara

For Avalara
Ned Barnett, 702-696-1200
email: Ned@barnettmarcom.com

For Enterprise Information Systems
Phil Brown, 704-845-9732
Email: phil@eisnc.com