Although U.S. companies will outsource close to $20 billion this year for the
strategy, marketing, design and technical services involved in building
advanced e-commerce sites, many integrators are falling down on the job, says
a new industry report.
The prime beneficiaries of this spending are the e-commerce integrators
(eCIs) — professional services firms that design, build and deploy these
sites. But despite the demand for their services, the eCIs are characterized
by widespread weakness, says the report from Forrester Research Inc. entitled
“eCommerce Integrators Exposed.”
Forrester graded the top 40 eCIs in five categories and concludes that none
is capable of delivering excellence across all service areas and few can
provide expertise in more than one.
Forrester said it graded the eCIs on their strategy, marketing, design,
technology and business practices, examining several key factors within each
category.
Overall, the scores were unimpressive, with the highest rated eCI (Sapient)
earning 35 out of 50 possible points and the average eCI scoring just 24
points.
No eCI proved capable of delivering a complete solution — each of the five
categories was won by a different company, while none of the eCIs received
seven or more points in all five categories.
“Despite the eCIs’ claims to design and technology expertise, we found very
little evidence of either in practice,” said Paul Sonderegger, senior analyst
at Forrester.
“Reviews of the eCI reference sites suggest that design
fundamentals have yet to
permeate these organizations. And few eCIs appear capable of delivering the
features and functions that provide a real competitive advantage. But the
eCIs aren’t solely to blame for these results. With clients providing unclear
or incomplete objectives and exerting tremendous pressure to deliver projects
on time, many eCIs toss both site requirements and good processes overboard
in order to get the job done.”
To get the most from their investment, clients need to hire eCIs with
strengths that make up for their own weaknesses in design, strategy or
technology, Forrester said. Clients must also carefully weigh their need for
speedy delivery against the goal of long-term success.
If speed to market is critical, client companies must choose an integrator
with sound methodologies and try to lock in their top performers. Similarly,
clients should select an integrator with specific product experience —
provided it’s the right product for their needs. Knowing a platform pays off;
even experienced integrators can’t recover project/product mismatches.
“This remains an industry in transition,” said Christine Spivey Overby, an
analyst at Forrester.
“While mergers and acquisitions will continue, few of
these efforts will result in complete offerings. Instead, best-in-class
solutions will come from networks of
cooperating service providers that pool their talent. Clients should look for
shared methodologies and vocabularies that allow these service providers to
seamlessly come together “
