E-Commerce Software an industry perspective… …Sunil Bhargava Contract CTO

Personal Background Started undergrad at GWU at 15 – BS – Computer Engineering, 1987 – MS – Software and Systems, 1989 – D.Sc. – Computer Science, abandoned in 1992 CTO for many web-technology companies – Spent last year at OneSoft, local e-commerce software and application services provider Contact:

What is e-Commerce e-Commerce has become e-Business Business automation – Web-based by definition – Application by nature Involving the whole commerce chain – manufactures and customers – suppliers and buyers

The more traditional definitions? Retail (B2C) - Sell-side – Market peaked last year and still dropping – Bill presentation and payment on the rise Procurement (B2B) - Buy-side or Sell-side – Market plateau’d last year but stable – Different from when business act as consumers Collaborative Commerce (B2B2C) - Sell-side – Exploiting and assist the existing channels Market places - Buy-side and sell-side – Emulate all benefits of real-world, single-product marketplaces

Retail (B2C) Value Proposition – Disinter-mediate the retail channel – Better shopping experience Personalized up sells Comparison shipping – Evaporating myth Wider net (anytime; anywhere); lower cost; viral sales Technical Challenges – International commerce – Multi-lingual content management – Cost effective distribution and fulfillment

Procurement (B2B) Value Proposition – Disinter-mediate brokers and traders – Buy side Implementers are large customers Saves money by reducing inventory and purchase costs – Sell side Implementers are targeting their medium customers Reduces cost of sale and increases revenue per customer Technical Challenges – International commerce – Automation of custom, non-uniform processes

Collaborative Commerce (B2B2C) Value Proposition – Exploit and extend existing channels Direct market the brand but sell thru traditional channels Enable B2C solutions for franchises and dealers – Complex selling Value added products and services combinations Technical Challenges – Managing conflict with e-initiatives of the channel – Supporting variety of business processes, logic, and rules

Market Places (Bs2Bs) Value Proposition – Private exchanges Bring Shopping to the traditionally Buying focus – Public exchanges Exponential growth in the market place Technical Challenges – Custom catalog management – Custom and dynamic price management – Complex payment processing support

What is e-commerce Software? Front-end – For Visitors and Customers Web-based by definition Backend – For enterprise business managers Merchandisers, Account Mangers, Customer Support, etc. Middleware – To interface with existing systems Customer, Inventory, Credit, Payment and Order Processing systems

e-Commerce Front-end Web Application Server Functionality – Personalization and Profiling – Complex, Dynamic Content Presentation Process Support – Shopping Process – Buying Process

e-Commerce Backend Content Management – Merchandizing – Catalog management – Price and on-line collateral management Process Support – Customer Support – Anomaly management Payment or Order processing hiccups

e-Commerce Middleware Payment Processing – Customer specific credit, purchase orders, etc. – Electronic payment including EDI and credit cards Order Processing – Interface to proprietary, custom enterprise systems – e-enabled systems of large warehouses – e-Services that provide Order Distribution Inventory Management – Soft and hard reserve functionality – Direct access to specific inventory

The critical success factors Backend System Management Functionality – Support for workflow and process management – Appropriate use of technology for process support – Access control in content management – Business rules in anomaly management On-line collateral Management – Images, Audio, or Video; for virtual examination – Structured; for comparison shopping

What’s missing? Community – Polls, Message Boards, Chats, etc. Services – Fee , Consumer news and information, etc. Marketing Campaign Management – Referrals, Affiliates, Banner ads, s, etc. Hot features of the day – ‘Amazon innovations’ – Mobile commerce – Shopping robots

What about services? Shopping Portals Process Re-engineering e-Services – Branding – On-line collateral development and management – Search engine placement optimization – Efficiency improvements in web delivery

The e-commerce leaders Almost everyone does almost anything Retail – BroadVision, ATG, Blue Martini, MS Commerce Server Procurement (buy-side) – CommerceOne, Clarus Procurement (sell-side) – I2, Manugistics Collaborative (sell-side) – Click Commerce Market places – Ariba, VerticalNet

Other important software players Net Perceptions – Business intelligence for Commerce eShare – Community and Customer Communication TaxWare – Almost universal Tax Computations CyberSource, CyberCash – Credit card authorization with value-added services webMethods – With ActiveWorks a formidable middleware vendor

Other important service players OrderTrust – Payment and Order routing Double-click – Banner ad provider VeriSign – SSL encryption certificaties

Core Solution Requirements Database – Oracle – Microsoft SQL Server Application Servers – With integrated or separate web server – General purposes AppServers BEA’s WebLogic, IBM’s WebSphere, Microsoft’s ASP – Specific AppServers BroadVision, ART Technology Group, Oracle

The vender we love to hate Front-end: IIS – Web Server – Application Server (ASP) Choice of languages but scripted –.Net support Easier deployment of services; complied code Middleware: BizTalk – Standards (XML) based inter-application communication broker

Microsoft Continued Backend: Commerce Server – Catalog Management – Customer (profile Management) – Targeting Content to Customers – BizDesk Campaign management Catalog, Customers, Content management Order Processing including shipping, tax, returns processing, etc. Traffic, Product view, and product purchase analysis

Important Technologies Everything from the two 400 lbs gorillas – Oracle – Microsoft DHTML – Microsoft won the browser wars in e-business XML – Microsoft’s and IBM’s support for SOAP is promising – webMethods is proving the value in inter-application communications Java – Server side – J2EE, JavaBeans, JSP

Questions Responses

Parting thoughts Understand the business behind e-business It is business application development for users outside the implementer’s company The line between software or service is blurring