Up Next: Online Purchase of Services
You can search for products online, but what about services? Despite service suppliers' reluctance to move online in certain industries, it is nonetheless the next phase in B2B sourcing practices.
[From iSource Business, January 2001] Even on a good day, soliciting bids from building contractors "can take forever" says Daniel Levine, president of Levine Properties, a developer of commercial real estate in Charlotte, N.C. So when Levine heard of a B2B commercial real estate services marketplace that might automate this paper and phone intensive business ritual, he jumped to investigate.
Called avidXchange.com and supported by Clarus eMarket technology, the site boasted of the latest in bid management solutions, helping users compare complex and oftentimes widely divergent offers in an apple to apple format, so to speak.
It also tracked spending trends and other various supplier statistics in this $82 billion marketplace.
Impressed, Levine began advising avidXchange in its real estate operations. More to the point, he also used the exchange to invite contractors to bid on Levine Properties' most recent venture
