InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
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October 23, 2000 |
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E-Commerce Platforms
E-Commerce Platforms Mature
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This process is made much easier through the use of XML. Microsoft brings a lot to the table in this area, with its BizTalk Server for XML-based data exchange and Simple Open Access Protocol initiative. Intershop will soon be a leader here, with XML integration for server-to-server communication through its Remote XML interface. Both products will let applications communicate with each other using object-oriented constructs through XML.
If you doubt the importance of supplier enablement for marketplaces, look no further than IBM and Intershop. These vendors recently unveiled editions of their commerce products designed for helping suppliers work with electronic marketplaces. For example, Intershop will let users replicate catalogs to multiple marketplaces, and accept shipment, fulfillment and payments from the online marketplaces
As companies do more of their business on the Web, there's a need to push the application development, customization, and maintenance down to the folks who really understand how those applications should work. This means giving application ownership to the lines of business themselves, rather than having ownership rest with IT.
The E-commerce platforms that are positioned as packaged solutions generally do a much better job of this than toolkits that require extensive customization and programming. For example, toolkits from Allaire and Microsoft require significant coding efforts in order to build sophisticated applications.
The products that do the best job of addressing the needs of business users are those from BroadVision and Blue Martini, both of which offer simple interfaces for building business rules. Art Technology Group's Scenario Server also is strong here. But even these products can't be completely managed by the lines of business. IT personnel are still required for initial setup, configuration, and some development and maintenance tasks.
Assuming the commerce platform vendors eventually incorporate all of the capabilities discussed in this article, what are the next areas of development? Big opportunities lie in the areas of CRM, community development, business-to-business functionality, and application server capabilities. The vendors will address these areas through a mix of new development, acquisition, and partnerships.
In the CRM area, we're already seeing many of the platform vendors incorporate content management and personalization features that are critical for CRM applications. The question is, just how far will the platform vendors go in adding CRM-specific features? We predict the vendors will continue to beef up their products in the CRM area, but will stop short in competing directly with major CRM vendors such as Nortel Networks, PeopleSoft, and Siebel Systems.
Communities will be a major differentiator for E-marketplaces in the next year or so. The marketplaces know they must provide greater added value than just transaction support and are creating communities of interest in which trading partners can interact with each other. This means that companies will need the tools to help them tie into the marketplace communities, and the E-commerce platform vendors are a logical choice to provide this capability.
We also expect to see some shakeout in the E-commerce and application server markets. As mentioned, all of the products in this roundup either use their own application server or a server from a third-party partner. Clearly, the application-server vendors are adding more commerce-specific features to their products, while the commerce vendors realize that they need application servers for scalability and reliability. These markets are likely to converge in the next couple of years, leaving a consolidated market of middleware for building large-scale Web applications.
Finally, business-to-business capabilities are becoming more critical as businesses want to engage in ongoing relationships with their customers, suppliers, and partners. There are specific capabilities, such as contract management and accounting system integration that are critical for ongoing business-to-business trade. These capabilities will also be critical for businesses trading through marketplaces, as they attempt to use the exchanges for ongoing trade rather than just as spot markets or clearinghouses for excess inventory.
Frank Meister is an analyst, Jeetu Patel is VP of research, and Joe Fenner is a senior technical writer at Doculabs, an independent advisory firm that helps businesses choose the right technologies and strategies for E-business. They can be reached at info@doculabs.com or on the Web at http://www.doculabs.com
Illustration by James Yang
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