New York July 2, 2001 Accenture has formed alliances with five integration and software providers to offer a set of solutions targeted to participants of B2B marketplaces, according to an announcement today from the consulting firm.
The five providers include Click Commerce, Intershop, Microsoft, Peregrine Systems and webMethods.
The partners will initially target their solution sets at the utilities, metals and mining, forest products and energy industries, with subsequent plans to expand to clients in other industries.
The solutions are structured to address issues associated with e-marketplaces, provision of Web storefronts, content management and internal integration. Accenture, working in conjunction with these suppliers, has developed solutions that use a combination of pre-packaged and customized software components to address single- and multiple-marketplace connections.
Quadrem, the mining, minerals and metals e-marketplace, is the first B2B marketplace to use Accenture's new solution. Accenture became Quadrem's first preferred integrator after it met all criteria of the e-marketplace's integrator certification program. "Our Preferred and Certified program provides us the opportunity to offer highly qualified systems integrators, like Accenture, to our trading partners," explained Quadrem CEO Mike Efting.
"Accenture's offering is designed to facilitate the integration of buyers and sellers into e-marketplaces such as Quadrem, a prerequisite for achieving the increased volumes that are the goal of e-marketplaces," said Bill Morris, an Accenture partner.
The solutions will cover such components of e-marketplace participation as application integration and quick connectivity to one or many marketplaces. Transaction formats such as electronic data interchange (EDI) or direct connection with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are available; Web storefront solutions; and hosted connectivity solutions for those wishing to leverage existing EDI infrastructures to connect to marketplaces while minimizing capital investment.
Accenture claims that by working with the five providers to develop joint solutions and implementation procedures, it can shorten implementation times and lower the overall risk and cost of integration.
