A beaming Commerce One CEO Mark Hoffman welcomed analysts and the Press to the eLink 2001 conference in Berlin yesterday, with news on increased revenues, an update on its far-reaching partnership with SAP and several major deals.
The year 2000 saw the e-marketplace player expand its operations across 17 countries, increase its customer base from 65 to 504, grow its marketplaces from 28 to 141 (with 67 of those currently live), and send its revenue soaring from $33.6 million to $401 million by year-end 2000.
John Biestman, Commerce One senior director of investor relations, reports cash reserves of $341 million by the end of last year, and believes the company will break even in the second quarter of this year.
Hoffman is dismissive of analysts` predictions of severe consolidation in the e-marketplace industry, saying while there will be some degree of a market shift in that direction, he believes there will be thousands of exchanges operating worldwide by the end of the year - and some of them will even be turning a profit.
Hoffman describes Commerce One`s relationship with enterprise resource planning vendor SAP as critical, saying the companies have collaborated on joint development of the supply chain functionality on the various Commerce One product offerings.
They have developed joint go-to-market channel plans, and are showcasing four new clients at eLink 2001. But as Hoffman acknowledges, the company has hardly touched SAP`s install base of about 15 000 customers.
Although it carved its niche in the field of public e-marketplaces, Commerce One`s strategy has expanded of late, with a growing focus on private e-marketplaces, in which clients wary of sharing sensitive information online can instead concentrate on its own customers and partners. Any component of the private marketplace has the capacity to evolve and upgrade to the public marketplace, which paves the way for what Hoffman believes is the ultimate end of business-to-business commerce - e-marketplace to e-marketplace.
The company also plans to introduce advanced business services to its customers, which will incorporate supply chain management, customer relationship management, collaboration, financial services, auction capability, content generation and management, and advice and assistance when dealing with issues of tax, currency and language barriers.
Here, says Hoffman, is where Commerce One`s open architecture model is critical. "We must partner to be able to provide these services." These partners include the likes of Compaq, Microsoft, Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Stirling Commerce and GE GXS.
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