Event
Summary
In April, professional service provider Ernst & Young LLP and Corio, an
enterprise applications service provider (ASP), entered into a strategic
alliance where Ernst & Young will implement and market hosted solutions
from Corio, and will offer value-added business process outsourcing services.
The companies will offer total enterprise management solutions for a wide
range of core business functions such as e-commerce, procurement, manufacturing,
customer support, finance, accounting, and human resources.
In combining Corio's technology and delivery model with Ernst &Young's
global breadth and expertise in implementation and business process outsourcing,
the two companies are transforming how businesses utilize enterprise applications.
The alliance creates a Business Service Provider (BSP) offering in the
global marketplace by integrating the ASP and business process outsourcing
models.
Market
Impact
Targeting a broad spectrum of companies, including the Fortune 1000 and
dot-coms, the two companies have jointly created a powerful business solution
that features strategic and operational expertise enabled by a suite of
hosted services. This solution leverages Corio's hosting technology platform,
Orion, to provide Ernst & Young customers access to a suite of integrated,
hosted business applications. The joint BSP offering gives customers application
functionality with business process services support in the areas of finance,
accounting, human resources, and procurement.
Corio
and Ernst & Young already have several joint customer opportunities. As
brand leaders in both the ASP and creative sourcing marketplace the two
bring together a unique and very broad client base. What is most interesting
about this announcement is the market reach Corio will enjoy. Leveraging
their new symbiotic relationship, Corio can deliver applications to a
much larger audience with minimal investment. As the market evolves and
Application Service Providers refine their offerings we anticipate similar
partnership announcements from the professional services companies.
User
Recommendations
Corio's integrated suite includes BroadVision, Cognos, Commerce One, ePiphany,
Microsoft, PeopleSoft, SAP and Siebel Systems applications. The partnership
is attractive as Ernst & Young clients can tap their existing relationship
to learn about Corio's offerings. Before selecting an outsourced solution,
we recommend users evaluate the application and support capabilities offered
by application service providers. If you are considering the ASP model,
Corio's broad range of solutions coupled with Ernst and Young's professional
services resources are worth considering.