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October 23, 2000 |
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Deals Put Online Employee Services To Work
Alaska Air, Novell, and Abilizer to add personal services to company portals
By Diane Rezendes Khirallah
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he young market for online employee services gained momentum this month, with vendors striking deals to provide such services to Abilizer Solutions, Alaska Air Group, and Novell. Xylo Inc., formerly called Employeesavings.com, will make online services available to Alaska Air and Novell employees. Circles Inc. will provide services to 70 clients of Abilizer, a developer of employee intranet portals that was previously called Perksatwork.com.Employee portals that reside on company intranets often include information on benefits such as retirement planning and health care. But the primary focus of Xylo, Circles, and others is to help companies develop or enhance portals with personal services: vacation packages, concert tickets, and house cleaning, for example, usually offered at an employee discount. Extending such perks to employees is intended to help companies retain talent. "Everyone wants discounts to the movies," says Xylo CEO Norman Behar.
Novell approves of personal Internet use among its 3,400 U.S. employees, says a company official, and has even studied such usage to develop the most effective portal. Online shopping makes up 63% of personal Internet use at Novell, with employees most likely to purchase electronics, sporting goods, and gifts. Travel and entertainment sites also rank high among Web surfers.
However, because online services may not serve all employees, companies may need to augment them with paper-based information about services. Alaska Air makes high-speed Internet connectivity available to its office workers, but pilots, flight attendants, and ground crew spend little to no time at desktop computers while at work. For these workers, Alaska Air also makes services information available through paycheck envelope stuffers and company newsletters.
Xylo is pursuing deals with companies with 5,000 or more employees. Like many of its competitors, Xylo's revenue comes in two streams: royalties from participating retail and services vendors, and subscription fees based on number of employees. Fees range from $5 to $10 per seat per year. Financial details of the Abilizer, Alaska Air, and Novell deals weren't disclosed.
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