Bank of America and BroadVision Collaborate to Launch Employee Portals

Providing further evidence that Internet technology is changing how employers handle employee benefits administration and communication, Bank of America and BroadVision, Inc. are partnering to form a new company that will create business-to-employee (B2E) portal solutions for corporate intranets.

Under the terms of the strategic relationship, the new company will develop, market and deliver an online B2E solution to the general business marketplace. Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, and BroadVision, a provider of e-business applications, will be the primary initial investors in the company. Other alliance members include Hewlett-Packard Co., which will be the primary supplier of IT infrastructure products and services, and Amadeus Global Travel Distribution, a travel reservation solution provider.

"The corporate desktop is one of the last untouched frontiers for the Internet," said Pehong Chen, chief executive officer and founder of BroadVision. Using BroadVision's technology, the portal solution will provide employees of subscriber companies with direct access to a range of relevant tools and information, including workplace communications, training, benefits, financial services, travel services, industry news, stock quotes and electronic commerce.

In addition, Bank of America and BroadVision say the portals will offer personalized content, delivering information based on the individual user's professional responsibilities and personal interests.

Bank of America, which employs 156,000 people, plans to be the first subscriber to implement the employee portal. "We believe that organizations today -- if they want to attract and retain the best people -- must provide the technology that enables employees to manage their careers and personal lives in ways that work best for them," said James Dixon, bankofamerica.com executive.

The B2E Internet-enabled portal solution will enable subscribing companies to create an interactive, self-service work environment for their employees. Bank of America plans to help build human resources and employee benefits modules for the employee portal solution.

Following this initial implementation, the companies expect to release the B2E portal solution to employees of the other alliance members and to employees of companies that subscribe to the service. Pricing information was not available.

Bank of America will be the primary provider of banking and financial services offered through the employee portal solution for all subscriber companies, creating a new distribution channel and revenue opportunity for the bank. BroadVision will license its BroadVision One-To-One suite of applications to the new company, and supply maintenance and support services.

Bank of America and BroadVision anticipate that the new company will begin operations later this year.