Accenture and Bowstreet Join Forces to Create E-Business Solutions for Financial Services Industry
Organizations Form Alliance to Help Clients Extend Their Market Reach by Linking Partners and Suppliers on the Internet
New York and Lynnfield, Mass., April 30, 2001 – Accenture and Bowstreet (www.bowstreet.com) have formed an alliance to work together to deliver e-business solutions to financial services organizations around the world.
The alliance will provide financial services organizations with the means to link partners and suppliers on the Internet, create new customizable web services, and personalize product offerings. Accenture’s expertise in strategy, business process and information technology will be complemented by Bowstreet’s next-generation Business Web Factory – a platform for discovering, assembling and delivering dynamic applications composed of plug-and-play web services.
As part of the alliance, Accenture will deploy the Business Web Factory at financial services client sites worldwide. Bowstreet’s vendor-neutral Business Web Factory enables business people to rapidly customize and proliferate web services without technical programming. This in turn enables companies to respond to new or changing business demands by dynamically linking partner and client systems together, resulting in reduced business costs and faster time to market.
For example, a large property and casualty insurance company could use Business Web Factory to sell policies to thousands of agents over the Internet and improve the speed with which it responds to requests for pricing and underwriting. Each agent requires customized policies to reflect different geographies, state laws and contracts, and by using the Business Web Factory the insurance company could create customized “business webs” for every agent – private sites accessible over the Internet that display tailored information. This eliminates the costly, time-consuming process of hard-coding individual sites.
“The financial services industry is characterized by constantly changing products individually tailored to diverse audiences through multiple distribution channels,” said Kate Fessenden, research director, Enterprise XML, for the Aberdeen Group in Boston, Mass. “The combination of Accenture’s integration power and Bowstreet’s technical agility holds great potential for helping financial services providers use the Internet to reach their partners and ultimately their customers.”
Under terms of the agreement, Accenture will be a global preferred implementation and solution provider of Bowstreet software for the financial services industry. A team of Accenture professionals will be established to deploy the Business Web Factory. To showcase business webs, the Business Web Factory has already been installed at Accenture Solution Centers in the United States and eventually may be installed at Accenture’s Solution Centers around the world.
The companies are currently developing joint opportunities at more than a dozen top-tier financial services organizations. Accenture and Bowstreet also are extending their services to other industries beyond financial services.
“Successful financial services organizations of the future will be those that can use the Internet to link their partners and suppliers quickly and to achieve economies of scale, as well as rapidly expand into new business areas,” said Colin Davies, global managing partner in Accenture’s Financial Services B2B eCommerce practice. “By teaming with Bowstreet, we can help our customers do just that. This relationship underscores Accenture’s commitment to providing innovative B2B eCommerce solutions to clients, in part by developing a network of inter-related businesses and alliances.”
“Customer satisfaction in the 21st century will depend heavily on the services you provide and the quality of your partner relationships,” said Bowstreet president and CEO Bob Crowley. “We’re joining forces with the world’s most formidable consulting and integration partner, and a thought leader in web services. Our customers stand to reap tremendous benefits from Accenture’s vision.”
About Accenture Accenture is the world’s leading provider of management and technology consulting services and solutions. More than 70,000 people in 46 countries deliver a wide range of specialized capabilities and solutions to clients across all industries. Under its strategy, Accenture is building a network of businesses to meet the full range of client needs — consulting, technology, outsourcing, alliances and venture capital. Accenture’s home page address is http://www.accenture.com.
About Bowstreet Bowstreet, recognized as a leader in web services by industry analysts, enables businesses to transform themselves from hard-wired enterprises into fluid, purpose-driven “business webs.” Bowstreet’s pioneering web services automation system, the BowstreetÔ Business Web Factory and Business Web Portal Solutions (including enterprise information sharing, eCRM, syndicated storefronts, corporate intranets, partner extranets and supply chain collaboration), brings massive economies of scale to e-business. Bowstreet empowers IT people to create reusable application models that business people can then “mass-customize” and manage – without programming – for customers, partners and employees. More information may be found at http://www.bowstreet.com or by calling 781 586 7100.
Bowstreet is a trademark of Bowstreet, Inc. All other company names and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or owners.
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