Looking to bolster its WebSphere electronic-commerce product line, IBM Monday announced that it has acquired OpenOrders which provides order management and fulfillment software.
The acquisition is aimed at expanding IBM's presence in the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce market, and will lead to IBM incorporating OpenOrders' advanced technology in order management and fulfilment into its WebSphere Commerce Suite, said an IBM spokesperson. WebSphere offers content management, relationship marketing and order and payment management for Internet businesses.
OpenOrders is privately held and based in Newton, Massachusetts. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. OpenOrders' software enables companies to manage orders and fulfillment, offer customer service and support through multiple channels, including the Internet and call centers.
There has been so much focus on the front-end of e-commerce in the last two years that emphasis on the back-end has fallen to the wayside, said Jonathan Katz, president and chief executive officer of OpenOrders. Big companies now are beginning to realize that managing the back-end, like coordinating orders and fulfillment, is more complex than they thought and needs more attention, according to Katz. Companies like IBM are seeking to add more advanced order and fulfillment technology to their e-commerce software offerings, he said.
IBM can be reached at http://www.ibm.com/.
OpenOrders can be reached at http://www.openorders.com