i2
Announces e-Business Strategy
S. McVey - September
28th, 1999
Event
Summary
At its annual
user conference on Oct. 13, 1999, i2 Technologies will announce details of its
Internet Fulfillment Server application suite that will enable businesses to
take orders, manage website content, and provide price quotes via the Internet.
Also forthcoming at the conference are details of its Rhythm Exchange Services,
a solution for on-line trading partner collaboration. In addition, i2 plans
to announce the first six suppliers to participate in the new Internet trading
community.
Market
Impact
More than a
year after overtaking beleaguered veteran Manugistics Group, i2 Technologies
continues to enjoy strong sales and earnings despite the fact that many corporate
supply chain management budgets are being reassigned to address Y2K issues.
For the last six years, i2 licenses have accounted for over 60% of total revenues,
evidence that i2 is having no problems penetrating the marketplace. In light
of the numerous modules comprising the current suite, it is easy for one to
forget that as recently as 1996, the Rhythm suite consisted primarily of Factory
Planner and Supply Chain Planner. i2 has expanded by making shrewd acquisitions
of complementary vendors like Think Systems and combining them with internal
technology and expertise.
Rhythm Internet
Fulfillment Server (IFS) and Exchange Services provide good examples of this
ability to mold and augment acquired technologies to deliver timely, relevant
solutions to market. IFS combines back-end functionalities native to Rhythm
such as Available-To-Promise (ATP), with new front-end features like on-line
order entry and delivery date quoting. Long known for its powerful planning
engines that take into account complex relationships among materials and capacity,
i2 is working towards making these modules available for on-line users. This
is not to say that i2 lacked an interface before as Delivery Date Quoter for
ATP checking has been a part of Rhythm for several years. Rather, the paradigm
under which Rhythm is usually deployed in enterprises fails to deliver features
like DDQ into the hands of those who really need them customers. The Internet
provides the ideal medium for providing this visibility, uniting an enterprise
with its customers. Similarly, Rhythm Exchange Services tackles the beginning
of the supply chain, providing suppliers with visibility into customer orders
and enabling them to anticipate material requirements with greater precision.
User
Recommendations
If history
provides any indication, i2 should be successful in deploying the more customer
critical portions of its IFS and Exchange Services suites, such as customer
care and on-line product configuration, over the next twelve months. Although
competitors have announced alternatives to these packages (Manugistics' e-Chain,
Logility Value Chain Solutions, and Numetrix xtr@ to name a few), most of these
are in similarly early stages of development. i2's strong position in the market,
their record of successful technology integration, and mature back-end functionality
should reassure users that may be considering one of these new Rhythm offerings.
One caveat: i2 has a history of weak first releases and users should set expectations
accordingly.