Firm Webifies Buying Of Data, Voice Services
By Tim Wilson, InternetWeek
8 Nov 1999
techweb.com
Ariba did it for procurement. Now MVX.com wants to do it for telecommunications services. MVX.com, a 2-year-old developer of business-to-business e-commerce software, is now delivering a package of software and services that enable small and midsize businesses to purchase and manage a variety of telecommunications services through a single Web site.
“The technology is different, but as a business model, it's similar to what Ariba has done in e-procurement,” said analyst Heather Ashton of the Hurwitz Group. “Ariba provides a single source for office products and streamlines the purchasing process. MVX.com is doing the same thing for telecom services.”
Through relationships with wholesale service providers, MVX.com can provide businesses with all kinds of network services, including frame relay, Internet access, T1 connections, DSL and voice, according to company officials. The services are provisioned via InterAct, a Web-based software platform that lets companies purchase new capabilities and get customer service through a single portal.
InterAct, introduced in May and shipping next week, has helped some early users to discover previously hidden costs in their telecommunications services.
“Our phone bill was one foot thick each month,” said Debbie Mings, CFO at Nelson Staffing, a human resources company. “We received no help to determine which lines were in use and which were not. With MVX.com, we discovered phone lines that were not being used that we were being charged for. It turns out that we were spending $2,000 a month for unused lines.”
Another customer reported a similar discovery. “Until now, we had no way of knowing that our neighbor was piggybacking on our communications lines and services. MVX.com helped us discover that we were actually being charged for their services, in addition to our own,” said Sean Peters, director of sales at WestCom Healthcare Communications Solution.
The MVX.com interface lets companies purchase a variety of services from a single provider rather than dealing with several different carriers, explained Jeff Richards, the company's co-founder. Because the MVX.com site integrates all of the company's telecom services, it can eliminate redundancies and hidden costs that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, he said.
“Companies are saving 20 to 30 percent off their telecom costs by using our service,” Richards said.
Ashton said the MVX.com offering will not attract larger companies that manage their own telecommunications services, but should catch the eye of small and midsize ones that don't have the time or skills to select and manage five or six different carriers. “These kinds of services are becoming more complex all the time, but they aren't a competitive differentiator for most [midsize] companies,” she said. “It's in the user's interest to let somebody else handle that.”
MVX.com is custom priced for each user, depending on the services selected and the amount of consulting required. |
