Intentia Offers Agents To Do Your Bidding

In the latest twist on electronic procurement, enterprise software vendor Intentia International AB has announced plans to offer a system with intelligent agents that will seek out and negotiate deals to purchase products of all kinds. To be available by the third quarter of 2000, Intentia's Movex Intelligent Agent promises to automate a key aspect of the purchasing process. "The use of intelligent agents has so far been limited to small-scale features such as reporting and Web-search technology," says Johan Berg, managing director of Intentia's research and development unit. "With Movex Intelligent Agent, we have taken a huge step toward automating the enterprise procurement process by enabling software agents to find and negotiate deals instead of having personnel do it." Intentia expects to capitalize on the growing trend toward business-to-business "auctions" of goods that take place on Web-based marketplaces. The Movex Intelligent Agent also could be used to track customer activity, learn from previous experience, make conclusions, and recommend actions based on changes in customer behavior.