Oracle, AmEx Partner in E-Commerce Endeavor

Credit Card provider American Express has entered into a strategic
partnership with Oracle to streamline online payments.

As part of the strategy, Oracle, a leading provider of e-business
software, is integrating the American Express corporate purchasing card into
its e-business suite.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The interoperability will facilitate the process of order placement,
fulfillment, reconciliation, data management and program maintenance,
according to Anthony Fernicola, senior vice president of Oracle Corp.

“The Oracle e-business suite is a complete Internet-based solution,” he
said. “Adding interoperability with the American Express card eliminates the
need for invoices and checks and provides our customers with another
value-added service that is tightly integrated with e-business processes.”

The partnership will benefit both small and large businesses, noted Marc
Schuessler, vice president, corporate e-payment services at American
Express.

“This integration will streamline e-procurement for companies of all
sizes,” he said. “The integration offers customers a quick and easy payment
solution and helps speed up the migration of transactions online.”

The debut will hopefully put etailers on the right track for processing
online payments. Forrester Research anticipates that sales over the Internet
will skyrocket to $2.7 trillion in 2004.

Meanwhile, according to research by ActivMediaResearch, online sales for
B2C marketers will reach $1.1 trillion by 2010.