Business Objects, Ventro Raise Net Markets' IQs

Paris-based Business Objects S. A. and Mountain View, Calif.-based Ventro Corp. are teaming up to bring e-business intelligence extranet solutions to B2B e-commerce companies. This alliance, announced June 19, will blend Business Objects' WebIntelligence Internet online analytical processing into the Ventro e-marketplace technology platform.

Ventro builds Internet marketplace companies, such as its own European venture, Ventro Life Sciences, and other Net exchanges such as Amphire, Broadlane, Chemdex, and Industria. The alliance makes Business Objects Ventro's preferred business intelligence solution.

"By its nature, a Net marketplace is a digital storefront that allows buyers and sellers to conduct business online," says Timo Elliott, Business Objects senior director of extranet marketing. Online transactions are an important source of interaction information for both buyers and sellers. "Because of this", Elliott adds, "Ventro recognized the opportunity to apply e-business intelligence technology to their business, and turned to Business Objects, the recognized leader in providing solutions that allow companies to share critical business information over the Internet."

Ventro will use the query, reporting, and OLAP functionality of WebIntelligence for the Internet to provide e-BI capabilities to supply chain buyers and sellers. The Business Object solution will help Ventro's marketplace customers to access and analyze their own purchasing histories in order to plan for more efficient purchasing. Sellers will be able use WebIntelligence to study sales and pricing trends or customer demographics. Ventro and Business Objects' professional services organization are working with FutureNext, a consulting firm, to roll out this project.

Ventro chose Business Objects after evaluating solutions from several business intelligence vendors, including Brio, e.Piphany, and Microstrategy. Business Objects impressed its new partner with scalability, ease of use, security management, broadcasting, self-service report creation, and a clear vision of where business intelligence technology and marketplace needs were going, according to Elliott.

Business Objects' success stories also swayed Ventro. E-businesses now realize that in both intranet and extranet environments, there is an opportunity to "turn information into knowledge into profit," says Elliott. "We've seen some very real profits." Owens & Minor, a $4.1 billion distributor of medical supplies, credits winning up to $60 million in new business last year "thanks to their ability to show prospects how they would benefit from a business intelligence extranet," Elliott says. Zurich Insurance, a $6.2 billion insurance provider, has calculated a 250 percent return-on-investment through the use of their Business Objects' solution. That company also reports that about 5 percent of new accounts were won by showing prospects their risk-management extranet system, which uses WebIntelligence.

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