Extricity, Inc.

Extricity provides software that triggers and automates information flows between collaborating businesses. Its products interface with the legacy information systems already in use by customers, extract information from them, and send this information over the Internet to trading partners. Extricity's products make a distinction between public processes, which are defined by and accessible to all collaborating partners, and private processes, which are defined by each partner individually and whose data and rules are not visible to others. This case describes Extricity and its offerings and highlights a business decision facing the company as it prepares to enter the market of providing software for e-marketplaces. Should this software include all the rich functionality of Extricity's other software, or should it be simpler? Extricity has developed a novel and potentially powerful tool. However, the company must decide whether to position its new eMarketplace offerings as relatively sophisticated tools, requiring up-front time and investment to learn and use, or simple ones that can be deployed quickly. Making this decision requires an understanding of customers'perceptions as well as their needs, and of industry competitive dynamics.