Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CNQR - Concur Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Probart who wrote (133)	11/17/1999 9:34:00 AM
From: Lane Hall-Witt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 374

Here's an important article, published in late September, that discusses CNQR's B2B model. Especially exciting is CNQR's effort to build a B2B e-marketplace for reverse auctions -- an online space where businesses can announce their needs and invite bids from prospective suppliers. This is an important procurement niche and would appear to fill a gap in the offerings of CNQR's leading competitors. Other important points: (1) CNQR is planning to hire 400 new employees during the next year, raising its total employee base from 500 to 900. (2) CEO Singh emphasized the large installed user base: at the time of the article, the announced user base was 1.8 million desktops, a figure which now stands at 2.1 million. (3) Piper Jaffray analyst Mark Verbeck shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the procurement process, saying, "Concur's business portal may go out to a large percentage of a company's work force, but I don't think those are the people that a company would want participating in a reverse auction." No duh, Mark. But businesses often don't want their employees to make direct purchases of travel services, office supplies, and the like, either. What CNQR does is provides an electronic infrastructure that incorporates the business logic (paper trail, approval process) companies have instituted to manage their procurement processes. Mark's comment suggests that CNQR needs to do considerably more handholding with its analysts to help them understand its business. hoovers.com