KeyCorp also announced the establishment of brand names for its B2B programs: KeyNext is the name for Keys B2B eCommerce group for its mid-sized corporate clients (those with $10 million to $1 billion in annual revenues). KeyProcure is the name of the new marketplace, while KeyGuide provides the e-business solutions that help Key clients build their own capabilities to sell online.
In addition, KeyCorp says its KeyNext sales force is in place and signing up Key clients from regional sales offices in cities such as Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo in Ohio; Albany and Syracuse in New York; Portland, Maine; Denver and Seattle.
Today, 20 Key clients are purchasing online and an additional 150 plan to join over the next few months. There is no cost or capital expense to Key clients to join KeyProcure as buyers. The first KeyProcure supplier is Corporate Express, a Buhrmann Company, of Bloomfield, Colo. Corporate Express is the worlds largest B2B supplier of essential office and computer products and services. The Corporate Express online catalog available through KeyProcure includes more than 20,000 items.
Linda Grandstaff, executive vice president of KeyCorp and CEO of KeyNext, said, As a fully functioning e-marketplace, KeyProcure is providing access to volume pricing, electronic ordering and order tracking. As we add more middle-market corporate clients to the buyer side and the seller side, the power of this marketplace will expand even further.
Grandstaff said the pilot project (referenced in the November issue of iSource Business) provided KeyCorp with substantial insight into the challenges and opportunities of B2B e-commerce. We appreciate the efforts of our pilot projects buyers and Corporate Express, she said. We gained a lot of understanding about their needs and our ability to meet their needs. Together, weve been able to move to the cutting edge of e-procurement. We strongly believe technology that goes beyond traditional banking adds significant value for our clients and enhances our ability to serve those clients.
KeyCorp created KeyProcure as a full-service B2B marketplace to enable its middle-market corporate clients to buy and sell online. Office supplies, computers and software are the initial product categories to be sold through KeyProcure, although other types of products are expected to be added over the next few months. Each participating Key client logs into the online procurement program through a secure Web site that will provide direct access to its account.
In addition to the ordering features already offered, later this fall, KeyCorp is planning to unveil an automated payment processing capability, in which funds from a buyers account will be automatically transferred to the sellers account. Until then, KeyProcure and many other e-marketplaces will use traditional invoicing, accounts payable and accounts receivable procedures.
Key is using the Ariba Marketplace Network Edition platform, a fully hosted, network-based solution for companies that want to quickly create, brand and deploy their own procurement marketplaces without having their own e-commerce infrastructures. The platform was formerly known as Ariba Internet Business Exchange (IBX).
