Commerce
One and Adexa Build Castles in the Air
S. McVey - March 29th, 2000
Event
Summary
Everyone acknowledges that Internet-based procurement is of limited value
without fulfillment capabilities to support it. Such foundation is important
if analyst projections of $1.3 trillion for the B2B market by 2003 are
to come true. In response, many B2B software vendors are pairing up to
work out the details of the integration. A recent alliance between e-commerce
powerhouse Commerce One and SCM-turned-B2B collaboration vendor Adexa
(formerly Paragon Management Systems) takes aim at combining Commerce
One's MarketSite e-procurement portals with Adexa's iCollaboration fulfillment
applications.
The
two companies plan to link MarketSite's buyers and suppliers with order
procurement and fulfillment synchronization capabilities through the use
of dynamic business-to-business collaboration tools. Adexa's iCollaboration
suite will provide applications for accurate order promising, intelligent
order allocation, demand visibility, and collaboration capabilities. Such
features can allow MarketSite suppliers to respond more quickly to changing
demand, an all too certain consequence of Internet-based buying.
Market
Impact
The problem with many of these alliances is the lack of a strong incentive
that keeps the partners together through difficult times. In order to
produce tangible results for consumers, these alliances must be reinforced
against the negative forces of competition between partners, other priorities
that draw attention and resources, and apathy that undermines the vast
majority of partnerships.
Adexa
already offers B2B portal technology through its iCollaboration suite,
which provides many of the same features available through Commerce One's
MarketSite. Of course, the potential overlap is mitigated somewhat by
the possibility that Adexa has worked out some of the integration issues
between its portals and its supply chain planning applications, experience
that will be helpful as it and Commerce One get down to business.
One
incentive for Commerce One and Adexa to make good on their alliance is
the proliferation of competitive alliances, the largest threat being the
recently announced "megalliance" of IBM, Ariba, and i2. Internally, Adexa
and Commerce One have built other incentives that should facilitate their
proposed integration. Adexa will be the exclusive planning and collaboration
engine for Commerce One's MarketSite solutions. The two partners have
already organized joint integration and long-term development teams to
perform the integration between iCollaboration and MarketSite.
On
the technology side, Adexa's solutions use a common open architecture
called the Single Data Model (SDM) that is shared by every module of iCollaboration.
SDM can reduce integration times, costs, and complexity because only one
point of integration is required. Theoretically, once MarketSite is integrated
to SDM, the iCollaboration modules are able to use its data for planning
purposes. With competition chasing behind and an integration plan leading
them forward, Adexa and Commerce One are likely to make a serious effort
to integrate their solutions and deliver a product within the next twelve
months.
User
Recommendations
In spite of the elements in their favor, Adexa and Commerce One have a
large task to accomplish before they can produce a tangible product. Users
should view the proposed alliance with a protective level of skepticism,
as they should all such unions of market portals and supply chain optimization
due to their novelty.