DALLAS, TX January 22, 2001 Has B2B put the cart before the horse? Companies everywhere are making the move to e-procurement solutions and touting their e-sourcing capabilities. But who are they e-procuring from?
Supplier enablement is the new B2B concern. (For more information, see February issue of iSource magazine, cover story). Many suppliers are hesitant, taking the once-bitten, twice shy attitude: believing that they did not see sufficient ROI on their EDI program, and are now reluctant to dive headfirst into e-commerce. Therefore, getting your company's suppliers on board with a B2B solution, and managing your mutual progress, is an important new focus in the industry. The new category of solution has been made possible by recent advances in collaborative and e-marketplace technology. According to Meta Group analysts, it is a market that is expected to grow to more than $32 billion over the next several years.
i2, it's no surprise, has their proverbial hand on the pulse of the industry in this respect. The supply chain and marketplace solution provider recently released their fully integrated SRM (supplier relationship management) solution. The solution is a suite of B2B design, sourcing and procurement capabilities that enable companies and their suppliers to collaborate to create and launch better products. Supported by the i2 TradeMatrix platform, which synchronizes procurement processes like design, sourcing, planning and buying, and by the Infinite Content Network, which enables business process collaboration and optimization.
Supplier relationship management the new category of solutions that enable manufacturers to optimize their relationships and expenditures with suppliers is becoming even more important to doing e-business, said Barry Wilderman, vice president of research of Meta Group. As companies look for their investments to produce real value for their bottom line, they need look no further than what they're spending to design, source and manufacture their products. Enabling strategic sourcing and collaborative design across divisional and multi-company boundaries can help reduce the cost of goods sold, and speed time-to-market.
Among i2's first SRM customers are Dana Corporation, Ashland Oil and Sky Chefs. For more information on the product, see their press release at www.i2.com.
