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To: TLindt who wrote (5472)	6/30/1998 6:51:00 AM
From: AugustWest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8545

Netscape Strategy Takes Shape -- Gains in financial services breathe life into apps, Netcenter portal June 30, 1998 INTERNETWEEK via NewsEdge Corporation : Netscape Communications has taken some heat lately for the moving target it calls its sales strategy. The most recent plan calls for an equal focus on packaged E-commerce applications and the company's Netcenter portal service. Skeptics abound, but two big wins last week offer a hint at how the struggling developer's latest direction may take shape. John Hancock Financial Services said it will use Netscape's BuyerXpert software to deploy an ambitious Web procurement system to 7,000 employees. Also last week, Netscape confirmed plans to launch an Internet-based bill-presentment service anchored to its Netcenter content and navigation site. Taken together, the latest developments-added to Netscape's Citibank enterprise win, its largest to date-underscore the growing importance of the financial services industry to Netscape. The John Hancock deal is a significant early step in Netscape's plan to be a player in the Web procurement space, where the company has been slow to attract a following. Automation of all phases of corporate purchasing was a driving factor in John Hancock's decision to purchase the $250,000 BuyerXpert application, according to Roy Anderson, John Hancock's director of corporate procurement. One key supplier, Boise Cascade Corp., already uses Netscape's SellerXpert business transaction software, he said. "We have an incredibly aggressive rollout,'' Anderson said. "As we eliminated our purchasing and accounts payable systems due to Year 2000 issues, plans to introduce a Web-based requisition package became a critical success factor.'' Before the end of the year, John Hancock plans to go live with a corporate purchasing system that reaches 7,000 employees across its enterprise. In short order, the company will drive an estimated $300 million in purchases to the system, which would put the installation on par with the biggest procurement systems, including those running at Cisco and Microsoft. John Hancock said it plans to eventually shut down all of its paper-based systems and drive all transactions to the Web system. The success of BuyerXpert is critical to Netscape. At least a dozen other developers of procurement suites have staked claims to the space, yet analysts estimate that fewer than 30 large companies have deployed Web purchasing systems. The Hancock deal will be followed by several other deployments, to be announced before the end of summer, according to product manager Charles Landau. Internet bill presentment also is a potential blockbuster for Netscape. Daphne Carmeli, vice president of marketing in Netscape's application products division, confirmed formation of a team to hammer out a plan to provide software applications and possibly E-commerce services to companies interested in providing customers with online bills and payments. Carmeli declined to offer details, but sources said work is in progress to deliver applications in conjunction with Netscape's Web publishing software, PublishingXpert, allowing billers to present invoices to customers and receive payment without necessarily going through a bill consolidator. The plans thrust Netscape into competition with CheckFree Corp. and the Microsoft Corp./First Data Corp. joint venture called MSFDC. Netscape's plan to move into Internet bill presentment makes sense, said Genni Combes, who tracks Internet bill presentment services at Hambrecht & Quist. Applications enabling banks to develop their own bill presentment and payment systems could prove a key point of leverage for Netscape in trying to sell its entire line of CommerceXpert products. Market research firm Tower Group predicts banks will spend nearly $930 million annually on online banking applications and services by 2002. Copyright - 1998 CMP Media Inc. <<INTERNETWEEK -- 06-29-98, p. PG9>> [Copyright 1998, CMP Publications]