Market fallout, uncertain prospects for operators, integration costs, interoperability hurdles and the "bullying" of suppliers came under the spotlight at yesterday`s E-Marketplaces 2002 Executive Forum in Johannesburg.
[VIDEO]Hosted and organised by ITWeb and aimed at facilitating discussion between all business-to-business (B2B) e-marketplace participants, the one-day conference attracted over 90 delegates.
In his keynote address, IT and e-business analyst Andreas Bertoldi said research by BMI-TechKnowledge predicted that e-marketplace B2B volumes would grow from "almost nothing" in 2000 to about R16 billion by 2005.
Despite "significant fallout" in the market, he expected certain players would continue to survive and show steady growth in the future. Although there was still "a lot of confusion and hype" surrounding e-marketplaces, he believed valuable lessons had already been learnt and that participants had "much to look forward to".
[VIDEO]Bertoldi predicted that private exchanges, already the most successful local e-marketplace model, would remain the most common. The next big components that needed to be addressed, he said, were electronic billing and invoicing.
He cautioned against those who thought "good, old-fashioned" procurement managers had little to no relevance in the electronic era, and said they would become even more important than before.
In essence, he said, the "promise" of B2B, namely a reduction in transaction costs, had yet to be fully realised. He highlighted the provision of services and recognition of the importance of change management as being critical success factors for the future.
[VIDEO]Dennis McCarthy, MD of Procuretrade, said although the primary value of an e-marketplace remained the reduction of transaction costs, the challenge facing operators was to "be about more than just the transaction process". E-marketplaces should be about adding value to all participants, not merely shifting value from sellers to buyers.
Despite having been one of the earlier e-marketplace entrants, McCarthy said he still had "more questions than answers. In the long-term we will wonder how we ever managed without them [e-marketplaces] and why we even raised questions about them."
Users and operators alike stressed the need for interoperability issues to be urgently addressed. Sean Emery, MD at TradeWorld, went so far as to suggest a Section 21 company be set up to facilitate discussions around interoperability.
Another common concern among speakers and delegates was the high cost of integration. Janice Kallmeyer, director of new business at MarketSite Africa, said: "Integration was the biggest challenge in the past and will remain the biggest focus in the future."
Although some speakers, like Paul Oosthuizen from RCI, said they had taken a "do it our way or go away" approach to suppliers, most stressed the importance they placed on developing close working relationships across their e-marketplaces. Thys de Villiers, purchasing manager at AngloCoal, said although his e-marketplace initiative had greatly simplified its procurement, he still did not place any "unnecessary pressure" on his suppliers.
ITWeb e-marketplaces survey results:
What the e-market has learnt
Integrate, collaborate, communicate say operators
E-marketplaces: Great for buyers, not for suppliers
Face-to-face with e-marketplace frustration
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