S.
McVey - May 5, 2000
Event
Summary
SynQuest, Inc. will team with e-commerce software solution provider, InterWorld
Corporation in a strategic marketing and technology alliance designed
to bring sales and fulfillment applications to joint customers. The exact
form of the alliance is unclear, but SynQuest and InterWorld plans to
sell jointly to native Internet businesses and brick and mortar companies
who are expanding to the Web.
Potential
for the new alliance is great given the proliferation of online storefronts
and the fulfillment challenges advanced planning capabilities can address.
InterWorld brings sell-side capabilities for online product merchandising,
order processing, and customer self-service via its Commerce Exchange
solution. SynQuest's supply chain management applications, which have
been recast as "e-business engines," enable manufacturers with distribution
networks to plan, source, and ship goods for optimum order fulfillment.
Market
Impact
Alliances like the SynQuest-InterWorld deal are becoming more and more
prevalent, but few will ever provide promised value for clients. A similar
B2B partnership was signed recently by Adexa, a direct competitor of SynQuest,
and Commerce One. Adexa and SynQuest are both small supply chain management
companies of the order of $40 million in total revenues and are eager
to investigate new avenues for growth.
The prospect of being the "e-business engine" of choice for e-commerce
software vendors can have bottom-line benefits for SynQuest and Adexa
and improve their valuation in future IPO pricings. The greatest potential
market impact these and other such alliances have is hastening consolidation
among e-commerce software companies and e-fulfillment companies.
Though
some acquisitions have occurred in this area, alliances predominate mainly
because these vendors lack the technical domain expertise required to
evaluate the viability of potential acquisitions and can ill-afford to
make a mistake. .
User
Recommendations
Users should ask the following questions when evaluating the SynQuest-InterWorld
combined offering:
- Are any price advantages offered to clients who elect to purchase
both SynQuest and InterWorld products?
- What technology, if any, is used to integrate the two applications?
Does either vendor offer services for integrating the products or is
this left to third party integration firms or the client?
- Do the applications share a common server platform and GUI?
- What assurances can the vendors give that installed products will
be supported if the alliance falls apart in the future or one or another
of the partners is acquired by a competing vendor?
These
questions coupled with a thorough selection process can prevent users
from choosing the wrong software vendor for their needs and squandering
dearly bought IT budgets.