This article mentions Genesys (GCTI):
techweb.com
(Excerpts follow:)
A new generation of Web-based networks may permanently change the way business is done, a trend worth hundreds of billions of dollars in online transactions.
The Web and networking technology has matured to the point where corporations are beginning to feel safe moving their most critical applications online. A growing number of companies are expanding these extranets beyond their own corporate boundaries, integrating resellers, suppliers, and other business partners tightly into their own online networks.
It's a trend worth hundreds of billions of dollars in online transactions and potentially millions in cost-savings to the companies involved. But beyond the dollar signs, the second-generation business Web networks may be permanently changing the relationship between vendors and their sales partners.
"We've begun to see a huge increase in the number of companies that are moving from the intranet environment to the extranet environment," says Alyse Terhune, a Gartner Group research director.
Solidifying Relationships
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, a San Francisco-based computer-telephony company, is one of the companies that's using its extranets to bring its business partner closer. Genesys has relationships with resellers all over the world to bundle its products with corporate computer packages, and maintains close ties to companies such as Andersen Consulting that help integrate the software into individual corporate structures.
Until very recently, all these relationships were patched together with an awkward mix of e-mail, faxed questions, hit-and-miss searches through various document servers around the world, and all too frequently, a phone call at the end of fruitless searches for information.
"In the past, communication was really catch as catch can," says Joe Ruck, the company's director of strategic alliances. International partners and consultants would spend hours looking for the right sales or setup information, and often draw a blank, he says.
That's changing now. Genesys is one of a growing number of companies expanding their internal networks onto the Web, bringing resellers and other partners into intranet-style communications systems on their extranets. |
