03/16/19 PREFAB MATERIALS TO BUILD E-COMMERCE SITES

PREFAB MATERIALS TO BUILD E-COMMERCE SITES

TINY INTERWORLD CORP., a three-year-old Silicon Alley company that makes electronic-commerce software, has an impressive $42.5 million in funding from such marquee names as George Soros and Paul Allen. Now, it is getting some major sales help: Big-name computer-services companies Electronic Data Systems Corp., Andersen Consulting, and KPMG Peat Marwick.
The consulting companies appreciate InterWorld's flexible approach to E-commerce. InterWorld, which has 180 employees and is headquartered in lower Manhattan, uses prefabricated software components for specific tasks such as displaying a catalog or billing. Customers utilize these to put order processing, customer-service systems, and catalogs on the Internet. The use of prefab components makes it easy for customers to snap the pieces together to fit their way of doing things--instead of having to create a new method of, say, taking online sales orders.
Another big feature: The software components, which cost between $75,000 and $190,000, connect to corporate programs from SAP and PeopleSoft.
EDITED BY IRA SAGER