According to Icon Medialab, Why don't B2B Portals Work? Maybe It's Because Nobody Asked Users What They Really Want.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2000

(...what if you build it and they don't come?)

Despite all of the hype, one of the great casualties in B2B e-commerce remains the industry portal, note e-business strategists at Icon Medialab--but a new generation of sites may begin to put life back into this potentially valuable format.

Chad Gallant, co-managing director of Icon Medialab New York, a leading global e-business and Internet professional services firm, can address:

-- Why many industry portals don't work, either in terms of revenue generation
or user-effectiveness--and why they continue to live on virtually as ghost
sites.

-- Why use of off-the-shelf technology is one of the biggest factors in portal
failure--and how new approaches using human computer interaction, or HCI,
technology is changing that.

-- Why marketers often fail to use even the simplest consumer research
techniques in researching the real needs of business users--and how newer sites
are avoiding this pitfall.

Icon Nicholson experts can also talk about:

-- Global challenges to e-business.

-- Integration of back-end strategies in local markets.

-- The role of branding in the development of effective

e-strategies.

Icon Medialab (www.iconmedialab.com) is the e-business consultancy with the most expansive global reach, providing innovative strategic, creative and technology solutions to clients in the U.S., Europe and Asia. With more than 1,800 employees in 16 countries, Icon Medialab provides competitive advantage to clients through rapid local deployment and customization of best-in-class strategies and applications. Founded in Sweden in 1996, Icon Medialab offers expertise across all platforms and devices, including wireless and mobile applications. The firm has developed and executed award-winning programs for clients like Coca-Cola, Fujitsu, L'Oreal, Motorola, Nestle, Opel, Siemens, Sony, Tetra Pak, Telia and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Volkswagen. Icon Medialab stock is traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (ICON).