Major investors include Chevron, Texaco, and software developer Ariba. PetroCosm, which launched last week, is one of many exchanges that consultants are setting up and sometimes raking equity stakes in. Andersen helped develop the site's business model. Separately, Andersen extended its outsourcing alliance with Dow Chemical in which 450 Dow technology employees work in an organization jointly managed by Andersen and Dow. The alliance is responsible for designing and implementing changes at Dow, including developing Dow's e-commerce strategy.
Consultants say that they have been guilty of getting involved in the hype surrounding the Internet.
The major firms say they were too hasty, however, and have since realized that they needed to build their own internal Internet expertise. I don't think anybody would say companies have obtained the promised value out of ERP systems. Many people expected much greater returns. That may also be the case with the Internet, says Marriott. The major consulting firms posted revenue gains last year, but they were lower than in 1998, a result of many businesses implementing a six-month freeze on investments to build reserves for potential Y2K problems.