Management consultancies bolster ecommerce portfolios

Management consultancy firms Andersen Consulting and Cap Gemini separately attempted to take a foothold in the ecommerce market last week.

Cap Gemini has formed an alliance with Microsoft to help customers set up ebusiness infrastructures based on the software giant's long awaited Windows 2000 operating system, which is due to start shipping on 17 February. The two will initially focus on markets such as retail, electronic commerce, and knowledge management.<

Cap Gemini will also train 1,500 of its consultants to become either Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers or Microsoft Certified Developers.

Pierre Hessler, a member of Cap Gemini's executive board, said: "In working closely with Microsoft, we gained an intimate insight into its future enterprise strategy. We also evaluated Microsoft's suite of Windows 2000 products. We liked what we saw and felt it was a solution our customers will find attractive."

Andersen Consulting, on the other hand, will act as a preferred implementation partner for business to business online trading portal supplier, Commerce One, with the aim of helping the US-based firm widen its net across the globe.

Commerce One provides the technology to enable vendors such as BT and Deutsche Telekom to build online trading communities.

Leah Knight, an analyst at the Gartner Group, said: "Business to business ecommerce represents a huge growth industry. Partnerships between electronic commerce firms and system integrators will help accelerate this on a global basis."