esolutions brings B2B marketplace to New Zealand

Business-to-business online trading in New Zealand has taken a major step forward as a result of esolutions and Ariba agreeing to work together to deliver a marketplace offering through esolutions' BusinessXchange product.

BusinessXchange uses Ariba's world-leading open-ended business-to-business software infrastructure to allow businesses to connect together and transact over the internet, says Jane Freeman, esolutions general manager.

"BusinessXchange provides the platform to develop, host and give access to market places, trading packages and online resources such as auctions and reverse auctions, electronic payments, logistics, supplier enablement, content services, streamlined transaction routing services and analysis services," says Ms Freeman. "It also gives co-ordinated access to multiple business communities and common applications that could be industry specific or industry generic."

B2B Marketplaces offer real benefits to New Zealand businesses A business-to-business marketplace can help organisations conduct their business more efficiently and reduce the need for non-essential phone calls, faxes, duplication of effort and information within day to day work practices when dealing with customer or supplier organisations, says Ms Freeman.

"It will allows organisations to work together online and share intellectual property or collaborate like never before. It therefore opens up the possibilities for new market offerings, and of course can reduce costs through streamlining processes. For example, it can capture, leverage and improve processes using product functionality, and through participation in a community of interest, offers the ability to source specific content for this community and give access to financially beneficial commerce solutions without high capital investment."

B2B marketplace already online The first example of a business community coming online is Telecom and its supplier community. Telecom implemented a BusinessXchange eprocurement solution, based on the Ariba ORMX software, and so has become in effect a hub to a number of its suppliers.

Electronic catalogues from eight Telecom suppliers are already available including OTC Workplace Partners, Moore Gallagher, Eurest New Zealand, Cafe Express, Fuji Xerox, New Zealand Liquor, Marshall Promotions, and Wickliffe Press. One hundred business purchasers within Telecom operate the entire procurement process for the products offered by the participating suppliers online. The solution is fully integrated with Telecom's back end systems that support the procurement process, such as SAP.

Similiarly, esolutions are working with Baxter (the largest health industry product supplier after the food industry) who sees value in becoming a participant in a health sector market place. We see value in this being hosted on esolutions BusinessXchange and are actively developing the opportunity for varied providers to base or develop products for this marketplace.

Benefits for all businesses Whilst the larger business hubs such as Telecom will tend to be the catalysts of B2B marketplaces, businesses of all sizes will be able to take advantage of this opportunity.

"Packaged marketplace offerings are being developed by esolutions, in partnership with Ariba, and hosted on esolutions BusinessXchange, which will be scalable to meet the needs of organisations of all sizes," says Jane Freeman. "It will create a level playing field for customer and supplier organisations of all sizes, and will meet the needs of e-commerce enablement programs within all businesses.

The next leap forward Sue McCarty, esolutions Brand and Marketing Manager, says a BusinessXchange trading environment is the next leap forward in business-to-business online trading.

"This is very different from just ordering online or buying goods over the Internet. There is a misconception that B2B is just about ordering something over the internet. It's not.

"Envisage an online marketplace where businesses interact with businesses. Now envisage the services that would be required to support that environment - procurement services, payment services, common applications, database management, cataloguing. These are the realities of a B2B marketplace.

"An online marketplace such as the one that can be offered by esolutions BusinessXchange will mean that all business transactions between organisations can be accessed and processed in a single online environment. Add to this mix issues such as time saved, a more secure, captive audience, a variety of choice, and the benefits are obvious," says Ms McCarty.

esolutions is an alliance between Telecom, EDS, and Microsoft. It was launched in February this year to provide a range of services to customers combining the breadth and capabilities of all three parent organisations.

Ariba, Inc. is the leading business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce platform provider. 70% of online market places worldwide are based on the Ariba B2B Commerce platform.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Sue McCarty Brand and Marketing Manager, esolutions 025 931 854

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