InformationWeek

April 17, 2000

Behind The Scenes:
IT Confidential

John Soat

Deloitte Consulting, the services vendor, is set to launch a company, yet unnamed, that will build customer-relationship management products tailored for vertical markets. Deloitte will team with Web-personalization vendor BroadVision and marketing company WPP Group, but will retain majority ownership. The company, to be headed by former CRM practice leader Bo Manning, is slated to go public if there are no problems. Another new Deloitte venture, called Nextlink, takes advantage of the work the company has done integrating disparate CRM packages such as BroadVision and Siebel Systems. Customers wanting an integrated front office can connect to Deloitte's data center in an application service provider model. Deloitte says it will take a cut of the transaction fees, which it will share with the software vendors involved.

Everybody wants to buddy up to BroadVision. Unica is working on integration between its marketing-campaign-management software and BroadVision's personalization systems. The companies are set to disclose the partnership in the next couple of weeks. Unica is working on the integration at the request of Fingerhut, which just signed a contract for an enterprise implementation of Unica's Impact application. Fingerhut, the database marketing giant that's a division of Federated Department Stores, is also a big BroadVision user.

Speaking of partnerships, SAP and Clarify still won't 'fess up to the deal they're supposed to be making that will have SAP selling Clarify's FrontOffice suite, but observers say it's as good as done. Mike Sinoway, managing partner for front-office solutions at Deloitte Consulting, says SAP is readying integration between SAP and Clarify based on work it did with Nortel Networks, a big SAP customer and Clarify's new parent. Sinoway says the deal won't affect SAP's plans to do its own CRM package; it will simply give SAP something to sell until that package is ready. A spokesperson for Clarify called the alleged deal "rumors and speculation."

Another bricks-and-mortar exec has gone over to the dot-com side. CenterBeam, the Internet infrastructure services provider for small companies that debuted last year to much hoopla, last week tapped Ron Hoge as its president and chief operating officer. Hoge is a 30-year veteran of traditional heavy-metal industries, most recently president and CEO of MagneTek and before that president of the aerospace and equipment systems division of AlliedSignal. According to CenterBeam's chairman and CEO Sheldon Laube, formerly of Novell and Price Waterhouse, "With his extensive track record of building successful organizations, Ron will create and implement the businesses processes needed as CenterBeam scales to a global company." The privately held company's investors include Accel Partners, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, and USWeb/CKS.

The Hurwitz Group, a Boston consulting firm, recently signed on with PresentPlus.com, a new application service provider that hosts teleconferences and online collaboration. However, the first outing didn't quite go as planned. When the research firm attempted to hold a Webcast to discuss the findings of its latest study, incorrect code numbers provided by the ASP caused audio difficulties that forced Hurwitz to cancel the presentation. The proposed subject of the teleconference? ASPs: Promises, Possibilities, and Pitfalls. Judith Hurwitz, the firm's president, quickly fired off an E-mail apologizing for the mishap, in which she made this observation: "Even 99.99% availability translates to 100% downtime if it occurs when you are in most need."

Irony like that makes life worth living. I know it's what keeps my marriage going--ask my wife, if you don't believe me. Or send her an industry tip at jsoat@cmp.com or phone 516-562-5326 or fax 516-562-5036.

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