The challenge

Realising true collaboration between trading partners has to date been impossible because traditional e-commerce implementations have been isolated and deployed in a silo fashion for buy and sell side initiatives. Such fragmented e-commerce strategies have undermined companies' goals to:

• respond rapidly to business and market changes
• protect existing investments
• manage global brands efficiently across multiple channels and borders
• increase return on investment

 

Companies have since realised that e-commerce cannot thrive in isolation from the rest of the business. A radically convergent marketplace is driving the need for a unifying strategy where companies' customers, partners and suppliers can collaborate across all relevant business processes. Opening up direct sales channels to consumers or maintaining indirect relationships with business partners and affiliates requires a company's sales, marketing, content management, pricing and fulfilment process to be aligned.

The challenge presently facing companies is how to achieve such integration, without having to make expensive and time-consuming changes to existing systems and processes.