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Business Professionals Unprepared as Writing Responsibilities Increase

BackDRAFT Survey Reveals Writing Activity Has Risen Sharply While One-Third of Professionals Lack Adequate Writing Skills

OTTAWA-October 17, 2005-BackDRAFT, a leading provider of Business Writing Training Solutions, today reported that writing activities account for an average of 30% of the typical professional's workday, according to a survey of more than 2700 workers in the U.S. and Canada. The BackDRAFT survey conducted by Greenfield Online also revealed a 10-25% spike in writing activities over the past five years in the Wholesale, Government, Business Services, and Transportation/Utilities sectors.

Among the findings:

• Financial/Insurance employees spend over 36% of their workdays writing (up 6% from five years ago.
• Writing in the Wholesale industry has increased 25% over five years, accounting for 24% of the overall workday.
• Writing in the Government sector is up 18%, accounting for 37% of the workday.
• Business Service professionals spend over 31% of their workday writing, up 16%.
• Transportation/Utilities writing has increased 12% over the past five years, now accounting for more than 21% of the workday.

While overall writing activity is increasing sharply, two recent reports by the National Commission on Writing (December 2004 and July 2005) reveal that more than one-third of U.S. professionals do not possess adequate writing skills. The organization's surveys of 120 American corporations and 50 state government institutions also reveal that email has become the predominant writing activity for most business professionals, accounting for more than two work hours per day per person, or 400 hours per year.

"Writing ability is now a core competence requirement for advancement. Workers who cannot write and communicate clearly will not be hired and are unlikely to last long enough to be considered for promotion," state the reports by the National Writing Commission. "Survey results indicate writing is a ticket to professional opportunity, while poorly written job applications are a figurative kiss of death."

"In the age of the Internet and email, professionals across all sectors are increasingly dependent on writing to communicate with customers, partners, employees and each other," said Brian Hanington, CEO of BackDRAFT. "More than ever, an organization's writing quality is reflective of its intelligence. Managers need to ensure that their workforces are adequately prepared to maximize the effectiveness of written communication."

About BackDRAFT QMS
BackDRAFT QMS is the first and only technology application and writing-quality management system that organizations can use to produce precise, engaging and coherent writing across groups. The three-part system incorporates an organization's existing writing style and brand guidelines, and augments that style with a set of principles by which writers can spot, name and fix the 40 most common fumbles in writing. The heart of the system is an 18-hour, personalized online curriculum that teaches users how to produce documents with flawless grammar, diction, syntax, logic and rhetoric. The system also features 1-on-1 Guided Curriculum, which monitors the writer's performance and adjusts the focus and difficulty of the program, as well as BackDRAFT DEX, a peer review process that cuts editing time by as much as half, and enables the achievement of a consistent group or organizational writing standard.

About BackDRAFT
BackDRAFT is a leading provider of Business Writing Training Solutions that help organizations build stronger brands and better serve customers and partners through the written word. The BackDRAFT Quality Management System (QMS) is the industry's only business writing system that results in a sustainable, uniform writing style across a group or organization. Benefiting a variety of companies in diverse industries worldwide, BackDRAFT QMS enables organizations to harness writing intelligence potential to improve corporate productivity, enhance branding efforts and boost revenue through better overall business practices. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, BackDRAFT was founded in 2003 by the leadership team of Stiff Sentences, Inc., the world's first company of writers to achieve ISO 9000 registration. For more information about BackDRAFT, visit www.backdraft.org

OTTAWA-July 18, 2005

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