Indianapolis-based Brightpoint Inc. is seeking millions of dollars in damages from a Massachusetts software provider that
allegedly failed to deliver on contractual promises.
The distributor of wireless phones is suing Emptoris Inc. in Marion Superior Court, charging that the company committed fraud
and negligence, as well as breaching its agreement and warranty.
Brightpoint is requesting reimbursement of roughly $3 million it paid Emptoris, in addition to damages related to the $2
million it spent to fix the software that “for the most part was a complete failure,” according to the Feb. 18
suit.
Citing company policy, a lawyer for Brightpoint declined to comment on the case. But the complaint makes clear Brightpoint’s
dissatisfaction.
“Simply put, over the past two years, Emptoris has consistently over-promised and under-delivered in every aspect of
its software and its services,” Brightpoint said in the court filing. “The software was such a failure and such
an impediment to Brightpoint’s business that Brightpoint had no alternative except to stop using the software.”
Emptoris denies the allegations and is surprised to learn that a complaint has been filed, a company spokesman said via e-mail.
“Emptoris has more than 300 global companies as customers, and their success and results are a testament to the service
Emptoris provides,” the spokesman said.
Those customers include American Express Co., The Boeing Co., ConocoPhillips Co., GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Kraft Foods Inc. and
Motorola Inc.
Brightpoint’s formal relationship with Emptoris began in October 2008, when the two entered into a contract that called
for Emptoris to provide Brightpoint with "spend management" and "spend analysis" software.
Brightpoint, which has acquired several companies in past years, was operating on many different sets of procurement and
distribution systems, and sought the upgrade to streamline operations, the complaint said.
During installation, however, Brightpoint said it discovered that Emptoris had misrepresented its ability to cleanse data
that Brightpoint had provided. Without that capability, Brightpoint charged, Emptoris was unable to implement the spend management
platform as it claimed it could.
Formatting templates did not function correctly, Brightpoint said, and despite numerous complaints with ample notice, Emptoris
could not fix them. As a result, Brightpoint was forced to contact Emptoris much more than it would have needed if the proper
training had been provided, as promised, the company said.
When Emptoris did respond, the complaint alleges, it continually sent new consultants with little background on the project
whose “solution” was to have Brightpoint resend data even though that was not the problem.
“Instead of correcting and curing the issues, Emptoris would fail again or exacerbate the situation to make it worse
than it was before,” the suit said.
Ultimately, the relationship between the two broke down and nothing more has been done by Emptoris, said Brightpoint, which
has quit using the software.
Brightpoint is seeking a jury trial.

















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1. Can I fully test the solution at no cost before I buy?
2. Can I buy this solution as service or do I have to buy a usage based software licence?
3. Can this solution be deployed across my organisation quickly with minimal footprint?
If any of the answers from your providers to these questions are negative then take a step back and look again at the problem with a focus on 'Cloud' based solutions.
In this day and age, with ample access to blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more, it's no longer possible for companies to provide less than superior service to their customers and not expect that information to be shared with the rest of the public.