August 14, 2000

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DareStep Takes Steps To Expand Scope

By Larry Greenemeier

hen Ernst & Young Consulting launched its DareStep E-services division in March, the plan was to infuse the buttoned-down Big 5 services organization with a dose of dot-com energy.

Ernst & Young initially formed DareStep to serve clients who needed a way to take new business ideas online and those who needed help advancing early Web initiatives, says Mark Rankin, DareStep's managing director. DareStep nearly doubled in size with the addition of Cap Gemini personnel. It also expanded its scope beyond providing consulting, branding, Web-site design, content management, and implementation services to the business-to-consumer, North American market. Now, it plans to branch out to designing and implementing Web interfaces in the business-to-business and business-to-employee markets.

The merger accelerated DareStep's global expansion. Nearly 200 consultants from Cap Gemini's Bit-IC division have been moved to DareStep, increasing the division's population to 420 consultants--220 of which are located outside the United States. Bit-IC had been one of Cap Gemini's primary instruments for providing E-business consulting, online training, and online support for customers in Europe.

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's support for DareStep indicates the company's emphasis on E-services. The two companies combined sold $1.6 billion in E-services in 1999, and Ran-kin projects $3.2 billion in sales for the combined company by year's end.

Of DareStep's 100 customers, nearly 80% are companies looking to enhance their existing Web presence; the remainder are dot-coms starting from scratch. Projects include development of an online application that offers Bank of America central control of global spending, as well as development of Hewlett-Packard's eFinance service, which allows HP's resellers to offer financing from HP online.

Return to main story, "Smooth Transition."

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