"e"Lloy,
Went over today to that PaineWebber "ASP" day panel discussion conference or whatever they called it.
Eichorn wuz a no-show but they had Jeff Bussgang, VP of Marketing, there who did a fine job representing the company. The weather here today was dreadful but there was still a respectable turnout of maybe 100+ people although I heard crowds were thicker earlier in the day.
The format was 4 reps from the respective co's and the PaineWebber analyst moderating. Although it was interesting I don't think it will necessarily impact OMKT's stock one way or another although it was certainly positive in general.
Bussgang reiterated that OMKT is the market share leader according to numbers supplied by Dataquest. He said OMKT believes that we are nearing an inflection point (3-6 months away) where their business will really begin to accelerate. Up to this point things have been quite linear but with all the VC money pouring into startups and bricks and mortar guys getting religion they think that we are on the verge of a dramatic acceleration in their business.
That is here in the USofA. They think Europe is probably two years away from ramping and Asia/Japan will probably take even a little longer than that.
In any case, they think that once we get thru Dec. 31st a lot of resources will be free to concentrate on e-commerce solutions. A few months into the new year it will not be an issue of demand but rather supply, ie. training all the system integrators, etc. that they are using to meet demand.
OMKT will be facing many execution issues going forward. Bussang talked about a customer who has 3-4 different ERP platforms, 6 differnt catalogues, etc who needs help and all this is not easy. He also talked briefly about their relationship with LCOS and how discriminating they are and compared it to an SAP installation where the system is down for a week as they set it up. That does not fly in this biz and you better be up 24x7.
We are still in the early innings of this game and the coming year will be crucial to this company surviving in this space. They are now 500 employees strong and in a good position to capitalize on their leading market share position. Execute, Execute, Execute is the theme for '00.
Finally, Bussgang talked about a scene in Glengarry Glen Ross. Apparently there is a scene where they hold a sales contest. First place in the contest is a Cadillac, second place is steak knives and third place, you are fired. Sounds like they think it will be pretty much winner take all in this space.
NoteallyTenseaboutheirFutureNeiderhoffer
|
