SAN FRANSISCO January 9, 2001 Today marked the second day of the iSource Top 100 e-Procurement Summit
in San Fransisco, an unparalleled congregation of supply chain solution providers that are driving the industry. The morning's presentations included e-procurement giants like Enable Systems, MaterialNet, Prime Advantage, Netfish, Dun and Bradstreet, Vignette and PurchaseNet.
Many of the supply chain solution providers at the Summit represent mid-market companies, which indicates a growing trend within the e-procurement space to move away from enabling large enterprises, and focus on the smaller companies (usually 2,000 employees or less). Several Summit attendees represent companies that strive to move into the niche of smaller companies, recognizing that they face the same procurement problems that face enterprises, but may not have the money to implement an elaborate solution.
PurchasePro, Works.com and Outpurchase.com, have all moved into this space with what appear to be very
flexible, applicable solutions for smaller companies. Jim Stovell, president and CEO of Outpurchase.com,
emphasized the growing need to work with mid-market companies that want quickly implemented e-procurement
solutions for their indirect materials purchasing. In addition, he noted that working with smaller companies allows solution providers to develop quality, long lasting business relationships with their customers and offer them better customer service.
The iSource Summit is reminding vendors not to forget about the little guys. Before breaking for lunch, David Bannister, Business Director for iSource magazine, brought four attendees up on stage, explaining that they represented three different companies that were exploring e-procurement solutions. Bannister challenged the solution providers to help
these people find the solutions that best meet their companies' needs.
Tomorrow, the same four people will be brought to the stage to explain what they are learning, and what e-procurement solutions they may have decided to implement. That these four people can come to the Summit, educate themselves, talk to solution representatives, engage in hands-on presentations of applications in action, and walk away with a
ready-to-implement solution, is what makes the iSource Summit a huge success.
in San Fransisco, an unparalleled congregation of supply chain solution providers that are driving the industry. The morning's presentations included e-procurement giants like Enable Systems, MaterialNet, Prime Advantage, Netfish, Dun and Bradstreet, Vignette and PurchaseNet.
Many of the supply chain solution providers at the Summit represent mid-market companies, which indicates a growing trend within the e-procurement space to move away from enabling large enterprises, and focus on the smaller companies (usually 2,000 employees or less). Several Summit attendees represent companies that strive to move into the niche of smaller companies, recognizing that they face the same procurement problems that face enterprises, but may not have the money to implement an elaborate solution.
PurchasePro, Works.com and Outpurchase.com, have all moved into this space with what appear to be very
flexible, applicable solutions for smaller companies. Jim Stovell, president and CEO of Outpurchase.com,
emphasized the growing need to work with mid-market companies that want quickly implemented e-procurement
solutions for their indirect materials purchasing. In addition, he noted that working with smaller companies allows solution providers to develop quality, long lasting business relationships with their customers and offer them better customer service.
The iSource Summit is reminding vendors not to forget about the little guys. Before breaking for lunch, David Bannister, Business Director for iSource magazine, brought four attendees up on stage, explaining that they represented three different companies that were exploring e-procurement solutions. Bannister challenged the solution providers to help
these people find the solutions that best meet their companies' needs.
Tomorrow, the same four people will be brought to the stage to explain what they are learning, and what e-procurement solutions they may have decided to implement. That these four people can come to the Summit, educate themselves, talk to solution representatives, engage in hands-on presentations of applications in action, and walk away with a
ready-to-implement solution, is what makes the iSource Summit a huge success.
