AWARDING EXCELLENCE: LEADING PROVIDER OF WASTE LOGISTICS AND RECYCLING SOLUTIONS WINS THE 2008 MICROSOFT DYNAMICS™ CUSTOMER EXCELLENCE AWARD

OAKLEAF Recognized for its Evangelism, Implementation and Loyalty
of the Microsoft Brand  

East Hartford, Conn. (March 5, 2008)-- OAKLEAF, the nation’s leading provider of sustainable waste logistics and recycling solutions, has been awarded the 2008  Microsoft Dynamics “Customer Excellence” Award— winning in the Excellence in Evangelism category. The Excellence Awards recognize, honor and celebrate customers who have achieved outstanding success with their Microsoft solutions as well as Microsoft partners’ solutions.

OAKLEAF has not only been recognized for evangelizing Microsoft business management solutions, but for also serving as a valuable source of continual feedback to Microsoft—taking the time to engage with other customers or potential customers to share learning, as well as acting as a referral in Microsoft’s Reference Program. In this vein, OAKLEAF has acted as a reference site multiple times for Microsoft partner, Navint Consulting LLC, a consulting and technology solutions firm  offering an end-to-end delivery capability across strategy development, technology implementation and business process improvement.  Several of these references have resulted in securing new business for Microsoft and Navint.

OAKLEAF, which currently generates $630 million dollars in annual revenues, leverages Microsoft technology and integration to improve workflow in their organization. As a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement customer, OAKLEAF has standardized their infrastructure on Microsoft solutions. With 26 Dynamics GP users, 30 Dynamics CRM users, 530 Microsoft Office desktop users and over 50 production servers in their data center, OAKLEAF relies heavily on Microsoft technologies every day.

The utilization of cutting edge Microsoft technology, including the .NET 2.0 framework, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Analysis Services, BizTalk 2006, Great Plains Dynamics 10 and SharePoint Portal 2007, were key components in laying the foundation for OAKLEAF to build an internal system named ACORN. ACORNS’ systems architecture places OAKLEAF at the leading edge of technology. ACORN successfully processes more than 2 million transactions a month and handles tens of thousands of phone calls from customers coast to coast and in Canada.  ACORN enabled OAKLEAF to implement a smooth transition of handling the waste management of all 4,000 Wal-Mart locations in a matter of weeks.

“We are extremely pleased that Microsoft has recognized OAKLEAF’s efforts in evangelism by awarding us with the Customer Excellence Award,” said Jim Barnes, CEO of OAKLEAF.  “OAKLEAF’s implantation of Microsoft technologies has enabled us to improve our business performance, as well as increase our level of efficiency.  We are proud that we can share the knowledge and success we have found with Microsoft with other potential customers.”

“As a company dedicated to providing superior customer service, OAKLEAF is a proven leader when it comes to utilizing the latest in innovative information technologies,” stated Frank Wilk, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of OAKLEAF. “OAKLEAF’s usage of Microsoft integration technologies has enabled us to become better streamlined in our daily operating functions.”

OAKLEAF will be formally honored in Orlando, Florida on March 12 at the Customer Excellence Awards ceremony held during Convergence 2008, the premier Microsoft Dynamics event.

                    

About OAKLEAF 

OAKLEAF, founded in 1995, is an authority in providing waste and recycling solutions for a broad base of multi-location retail, restaurant, hotel, manufacturing, property management and mall clients including Sears, United Technologies, Kmart, GAP, TGI Fridays and more.  As the most rapidly growing waste outsourcing company in the nation with more than 450 employees and a nationwide network of over 4,800 certified haulers, OAKLEAF provides services to approximately 90,000 locations throughout North America.  OAKLEAF has been recognized nine times since 2001 by Inc. Magazine, including being named four times to the Inc. 500 List (now the Inc. 5000 List) and being recognized five times by ICIC, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.  For more information on OAKLEAF, please visit www.oakleafwaste.com.

Contact:
Mary Beth Tryon
Director of Marketing
Phone: 860-256-2018
Cell:  860-778-0803
Email: marybeth.tryon@oakleafwaste.com