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`Trilogy Making A Name For Itself
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`One of the best-kept secrets in the e-business software marketplace is Trilogy
`Software. You don't know Trilogy?
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`I
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`By Laton McCartney | July 28, 2000 —— 19:46 GMT (12:46 PDT) | Topic: E—Commerce
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`One of the best-kept secrets in the e-business software marketplace is Trilogy Software. You
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`don't know Trilogy? Well, there are a number of good reasons you should. —— by Laton McCartney
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`/nter@ct/ve Week
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`10 May 2000 — Privately owned and based in Austin, Texas, Trilogy has quietly emerged as a major
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`player in both the enterprise e-business software and dot com spaces. It sells exclusively to Global
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`2000/Fortune 500 firms, employs 1,200 people and has more than 300 corporate customers and
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`200,000 worldwide users. Although it's an 11-year-old enterprise software company targeting brick-
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`and—mortars, it has also incubated a number of successful dot com start—ups, including
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`pcOrder.com.
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`Earlier this year, however, Trilogy entered into ajoint Internet venture with Ford Motor that earned
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`the software company a prominent and highly visible place in the e—commerce arena. The new
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`entity will oversee all of Ford's \X/eb—based dealings with customers and dealers. The venture "earns
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`Trilogy a world-class reputation in the e—commerce software market," according to Forrester
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`Research.
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`"That the second biggest company in the U.S. would choose to do something strategic with us is
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`really a validation for Trilogy," says Ajay Agarwal, the company's executive vice president of sales
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`and marketing and the primary architect of Trilogy's e—commerce strategy.
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`All this has been accomplished largely outside the limelight. "\X/e haven't made a lot of noise," says
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`Krista Rollins, vice president of corporate communications at Trilogy. "\X/e sell direct to the Fortune
`500, so there hasn't been a need for massive market awareness."
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`Trilogy MakingA Name For |tse|f| ZDNet
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`Yet, the company keeps penetrating new markets. Trilogy is starting to market its much touted
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`configuration engine. which is almost a standard in the computer industry, to the automotive.
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`electronics, financial services. health—care and manufacturing industries.
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`Not bad for a company started by a bunch of kids from Stanford University.
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`Trilogy was founded in 1989 by Chris Porch and four other Stanford students — including current
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`Chief Executive and President Joe Liemandt. who today still reportedly drives a Saturn and chows
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`down at \X/endy's even though he's made the Forbes 400 list, grew up in what one of his associates
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`terms "a Fortune 500 household."
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`Liemandt's father was one of Jack \X/elch's senior managers at General Electric. \X/atching GE's
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`operations from the familial sidelines. Liemandt, saw the problems big manufacturers experienced
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`selling complex products such as computers, which typically were delivered with the wrong — or
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`missing — parts. Determined to start a company that could use technology to address this issue.
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`Liemandt dropped out of college and, with his four Stanford colleagues. started Trilogy.
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`Over several years, Trilogy developed a software configuration and pricing engine that enabled
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`corporate chief information officers to analyze and order exactly the system they needed. Trilogy.
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`which sold its software to computer vendors such as Compaq Computer. Hewlett—Packard and IBM.
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`had about 80 percent of the computer industry as customers by the mid—19gos.
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`Then along came the Net and the first killer business on the Web — selling computers. Trilogy was in
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`the right place at the right time, though inadvertently so. ''I'd like to tell you this was a grand scheme
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`of ours. but unfortunately that's not the case." says Porch, who now serves as CEO of the Trilogy-
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`Ford venture. "Certainly, though. the configuration, pricing and ordering [capabilities] we developed
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`early on would become key components to our e—business strategy."
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`As the Internet started to take off. Trilogy added a customer—driven front end to its software that
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`featured \X/eb—enabled business tools such as an electronic catalog. In 1996, it spun off pcOrder,
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`which was aimed at suppliers. resellers and end users who bought and sold PCs over the Web.
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`"PcOrder.com led our Internet charge," Rollins says. Today, the company generates an estimated
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`US$44 million in revenue.
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`With the success of pcOrder, Trilogy expanded into other vertical markets, such as financial services
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`and the automotive industry, with additional spin—offs such as carOrder.com, which leveraged its
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`configuration, pricing and ordering capabilities. On the software front, however. the big move was
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`the shift to a multichannel e—commerce platform that was built to fill the requirements of major
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`corporate users. "|t's based on an architecture designed exclusively for Fortune 500 companies with
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`hundreds of thousands of customers and multiple sales channels." Agarwal says.
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`"As an example, we're selling to auto companies like Toyota that are massively scaled and have. say.
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`20,000 simultaneous hits, yet require subsecond response time," Rollins says.
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`Blue-chip clients
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`With that platform as core. Trilogy has added a number of industry—specific solutions that have
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`helped it secure blue—chip clients in about a dozen vertical markets.
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`In the automotive industry, for example. Trilogy has Ford and recently signed on
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`Bridgestone/Firestone and Jaguar Cars. It remains a dominant supplier in both the computer
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`hardware and software sectors, with a client list that includes EMC, HP, IBM and Tivoli Systems.
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`Trilogy also has a strong presence in financial services. with customers such as Fidelity Brokerage
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`Services and Mutual of Omaha. Leaders in health care, medical supplies, electronics consumer
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`durables, telecom and heavy manufacturing are also well—represented. It's a client list would be
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`coveted by any vendor.
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`Now that Trilogy's success is no longer such a secret, it's likely to encounter some heavy opposition
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`from both dot com and established software vendors. "There's a broad range of competitors out
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`there." says Eric Schmitt, an analyst at Forrester. who lists BroadVision. Calico Commerce. i2
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`Technologies, IBM and Oracle among the vendors with which Trilogy will be increasingly vying for
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`both business and talent.
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`''In the past. Trilogy has been able to attract really bright programmers out of college," says Schmitt,
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`who notes the company's increased visibility may make its employees recruiting targets. "The
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`challenge will be keeping employees around."
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`In response to this challenge. Trilogy. which in the past targeted specific colleges such as Cornell
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`University, Duke University, Rice, Southern Methodist University and Stanford for management and
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`technical talent. plans to expand its recruiting efforts.
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`And with the security of selling to giant, well—established clients coupled with spin-off opportunities.
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`the company thinks it is well—positioned to attract and retain the talent it needs to keep pace with its
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`accelerated growth.
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`''I really think we offer the best of both world," Porch says.
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