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2004 2003200220012000 |
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By Mark Watson The Commercial Appeal Local firms help put correct tools in belt of E-commerce users Memphis, TN (March 25, 2001) - Any transaction has three parts: a buyer, a seller and the exchange itself. The fact that the exchange in electronic commerce takes place through wires or through airwaves only makes is seem less visible. Memphis has several companies that participate in the exchanges by providing transaction clearing services, establishing a company's online transaction system, developing systems that enable a company to communicate with its customers or by delivering the goods ordered online. Concord EFS, National Commerce Bancorporation and First Tennessee National Corp., for example, help electronic businesses complete their online transactions. Concord EFS established its Internet transaction clearing service on Feb. 7, 2000, said Danny Barnwell, the company's vice president for E-business. "Even though there has been a downturn in dot-coms, we've seen increased transactions because we do offer services to conventional businesses that have started selling online in addition to their brick-and-mortar presence," Barnwell said. "We also offer services for business-to-business clients, and that has continued to grow." But Ed Labry III, the company's president, noted that the volume remains minuscule, in comparison to traditional commerce. Amazon.com sold about $1 billion worth of goods in 2000, which is about what Wal-Mart sold the day after Thanksgiving, he said. "It's got a long way to go," Labry said. Taylor Vaughn, First Tennessee senior vice president for cash management services, said, "It's growing quickly, because many more folks are becoming comfortable with electronic transactions." First Tennessee is one of the top 50 banks in terms of automated clearing house transactions, Vaughn said. An automatic clearing house transaction enables a person to buy something online by using his checking account, rather than a credit card. First Tennessee has 11 people working in this service. National Commerce Bancorp. helps facilitate E-commerce by providing credit card transaction services, which tends to be the more common payment method. Another local company, Germantown's uMonitor.com, helps facilitate E-commerce by providing a way for consumers to aggregate their accounts with various institutions on one, secure Web site. Despite the dot-com stock meltdown, uMonitor president Dinesh Sheth said, "There never before was as much online shopping as there was this Christmas." uMonitor.com has, more recently, been seeking commercial partners, such as banks, to provide its account aggregation service as part of the partner's customer service. Labry said he expects E-commerce to grow, and as Concord EFS grows with it, he expects Memphis will have more job opportunities in customer service, telemarketing and mid-management positions. For call centers, eOn Communications provides a Linux-based call and data routing system that has proven popular. eOn moved in late 2000 from Memphis to Kennesaw, Ga., but it maintains most of its operational team in Memphis. "We like to think of ourselves as putting the `E' in `E-commerce,' " said Troy Lynch, eOn Communications executive vice president and chief operating officer. Concord now employs about 1,000 people in Memphis, Labry said, but almost all of them work in functions related to traditional transaction methods. The company employs about 30 people nationwide just on E-commerce, Barnwell said. "What I see is that businesses overall are trying to grow and expand in any market they can, and they see the Internet as one more way to offer their services," Barnwell said. "We offer low-cost ways to get into that space." Nick Elkins, SCB Computer Technology chief technology officer, said, "From the strategic standpoint, I think every company, including brick-and-mortar firms, has to make a business decision about what's appropriate for them to do in the E-commerce arena." SCB Computer Technology helps companies decide about what hardware and software is appropriate for their goals. "If it's retail, you have to have the tools in place to put the products in the shopping basket, to handle charges to credit cards, things of that nature," Elkins said. SCB partners with other companies that provide these systems, so the wheel isn't re-invented with each client. Another important element in an E-commerce transaction is the delivery of the goods or services. Laurie Tucker, FedEx Corp. senior vice president for global marketing, said, "We've been the fortunate beneficiaries of the growth of E-commerce." FedEx launched online package tracking in 1994, and now 70 percent or more of the company's delivery transactions originate online, she said. And FedEx's success has itself spawned more businesses that use FedEx. For example, Mason Kauffman left FedEx and founded AccuSHIP, a company that helps clients choose the most appropriate shipping method for a particular document or device. Jay Gibbs left FedEx to join Farms.com as executive vice president and chief technology officer. Madan Birla ended a 20-year career at FedEx to establish a company, WORKLIFEweb that helps companies deal with work/life balance issues. Bill Razzouk, a former FedEx executive vice president, founded PlanetRx.com and now is a partner in Paradigm Capital Partners, a Memphis-based venture capital firm. And FedEx is working to help foster smaller companies enhance their E-commerce capabilities, Tucker said. "FedEx has been and will continue to be very focused on leading our customers to the really right processes and tools that will help them optimize their E-commerce channel," she said. Contact: Cindy Hofmeister Thomas uMonitor.com, Inc. 901-757-1212 x113 email: cthomas@umonitor.com Don Mundie Delta Capital Management LLC 901-755-0949 |
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