Bowne Global Solutions Announces Global eCommerce Initiatives; gCommerce - Enabling the Next Wave in eCommerce - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Dec 20, 1999

Bowne Global Solutions, a unit of Bowne & Co, Inc. Thursday introduced "gCommerce" -- a technology and business roadmap which assists customers to take advantage of global eCommerce opportunities.

"eCommerce revenues are growing at a rate surpassing even the most conservative predictions -- worldwide eCommerce revenues are expected to surpass $1.4 trillion in just a few years," said Carl Glaeser, chief executive officer of Bowne Global Solutions and senior vice president of Bowne & Co.

"A significant portion, approximately half of this revenue, will be transacted outside of the United States," said Glaeser. "This is ideal for the globally-active company. Bowne is uniquely positioned to assist our customers to capitalize on these global eCommerce opportunities."

According to Bowne, companies must possess four fundamental components for effective gCommerce:

1. Global Website Architecture

2. Global Content Management

3. Deep Website Localization

4. Global eBusiness Architecture

Bowne Global Solutions' Content Business Unit has developed a robust global content management system, code-name "Octopus," to help companies manage the complex editorial and publishing process required for a successful multilingual website and to preserve content integrity.

"As a result of our award-winning work with Microsoft Encarta and other large-scale content development projects, we have developed sophisticated systems to manage globally-distributed content and editorial teams," said Bernhard Kohlmeier, executive vice president. Bowne has been previewing Octopus to select customers this quarter. In addition, Bowne previously announced a partnership with Idiom Technologies to deploy global website platforms.

Bowne has just concluded an exhaustive study, which includes primary and secondary research, of the global eCommerce opportunity. "gCommerce is our roadmap to help our customers take advantage of largely untouched opportunities in global eCommerce," said Donald Plumley, executive vice president. Plumley is responsible for Bowne's global eCommerce initiatives. "gCommerce leverages our unmatched in-country footprint in all major markets for technology products, our experienced technical teams, and ability to help traverse the cultural, language, and regulatory barriers that stand between our customers and global success," Plumley continued. Bowne will be releasing the findings of its study in January through a gCommerce white paper that will outline the challenges and solutions for global eCommerce.

Allied Business Intelligence reports that website localization services as a sector will grow from $640 million to over $1.1 billion in the next four years. eMarketer reports approximately 100,000 large-company websites that are actively engaging customers or conducting eCommerce transactions today. Forrester Research indicates that commerce sites routinely receive 30 percent of inquiries and 10 percent of orders from outside the United States -- yet U.S.-based business-to-business sites are turning down half of international orders.

"Bowne Global Solutions has partnered for years with market-leaders, such as Microsoft, Palm Computing, Novell, and others to develop international versions of their technology products," Plumley said. "Because of our intimate knowledge of our customers' products and international markets, we are often asked to assist them with their global website efforts. This is a natural extension of our expertise and we are proud take this leadership position in the emerging field of gCommerce."

Bowne Global Solutions, www.bowneglobal.com, is the industry leading provider of product localization, Web globalization, and content creation and management services to software developers, hardware manufacturers, entertainment publishers and other information technology companies worldwide. With production facilities in every major language center around the globe, more than 700 Bowne Global Solutions localization professionals deliver essential services that enable technology industry leaders to conduct global commerce with their international customers.

Bowne Global Solutions is a business unit of Bowne & Co., Inc., www.bowne.com, the world's largest financial printer and a leader in the field of Information Empowerment. Bowne can manage, repurpose and distribute a client's information to any audience, through any medium, in any language, anywhere in the world.