Event
Summary
Yantra and Andersen Consulting have announced a broad
strategic alliance to provide supply chain solutions through PureEcommerce,
a Web-based customer transaction management solution for extended enterprises;
PureEcommerce was launched by Yantra in November 1999.
PureEcommerce
modules execute and manage complex orders, through order creation, allocation
to supply nodes, modification, exception monitoring and returns. The application
provides real-time visibility into complete order information across complex
distribution systems, which makes it an asset in software implementations
for multi-enterprise environments. Founded in 1995, Yantra is growing
quickly in response to demands for efficient transaction management created
by digital marketplaces. As a contribution to continued growth and a vote
of confidence, Andersen has taken an equity stake in Yantra in conjunction
with the alliance.
Market
Impact
Large,
full-service consulting firms like Andersen deal almost exclusively with
projects involving multiple enterprises or multiple applications. Yantra
is ideal for this purpose as it brings to the table an application best
suited to environments where large volumes of transactions must be passed
efficiently among extra-enterprise partners. PureEcommerce modules occupy
a position between traditional enterprise applications (ERP, supply chain
planning, EAI-enterprise application integration) and the commerce servers
that interface to customers, marketplaces, suppliers and shippers via
the Internet as well as other channels. Because it links crucial components
of a company's overall technical architecture, Yantra PureEcommerce represents
a valuable tool in Andersen's implementation arsenal.
A
potential conflict arises because EAI software can arguably perform the
same core functions that PureEcommerce offers, which raises the question,
why install Yantra at all. The inclusion of Yantra in system architectures
depends on Andersen's ability to convince clients that PureEcommerce is
better at handling large transaction volumes than EAI software would be
alone.
User
Recommendations
Users should not read too much into the announced partnership of Andersen
and Yantra, in spite of the benefits Yantra can bring to large projects.
Andersen has forged similar alliances with dozens of software vendors
through the years and many of these constituted little more than marketing
deals. The argument that since a vendor has partnered with Andersen, it
"must" be a safe bet can be persuasive, but users should review other
aspects of a vendor's story that may be brought in to fulfill a role in
system architecture. These aspects include corporate viability, corporate
strategy, and corporate service and support capabilities - the same criteria
that apply when considering a best-of-breed vendor independent of a consulting
partner.