Companies are in danger of losing valuable customer and supplier information that could seriously impact their businesses in the rush to e-marketplaces, according to Mark Pardini joint CEO of Rubico Products. "We have a lot of experience implementing back end systems that are supposed to ensure the smooth flow of processes from procurement to distribution. In the process we`ve built up banks of vendor and customer information to help us make better business decisions," he says.
"Now we`re suddenly being asked to do everything via electronic marketplaces, but without the relevant information, users have no way of knowing whether they`re realising the benefits of a marketplace."
The primary drivers behind the use of online marketplaces are to streamline the buying and selling process and reduce transaction costs. Buyers and sellers need to be kept informed of what and any other form of business interaction is happening in their marketplaces, which is why Pardini urges e-marketplace participants to insist that operators gather and disseminate such data as a matter of course.
Just how much information will be generated by these e-marketplaces in the future can be seen in projections from Forester Research. In a recent report, it predicted that by 2004, worldwide business-to-business E-commerce will reach $2.7 trillion, and 53% of that commerce will be conducted through online marketplaces.
"As the volume of E-marketplace business increases, so does the need to make sense of the flow of information over the Internet," he says.
Beyond meeting the need for supply chain data, operators could also be providing strategic information such as pricing changes, buying patterns, and market share. By allowing access to information such as order progress or to data warehouses or marts, buyers will, for example, be able to manage their own purchasing activities, check invoices to control spending, or find out whether they qualify for volume discounts. There is also a need for report generation.
On the supplier or buyer side, e-marketplaces should be providing at least aggregated, summarised data about customer buying habits and market trends as well as other information such as customer interest in a vendor`s product.
"Whether or not online-marketplace operators will charge for these services is not the question. There is a real need for them and their availability should be prime consideration in selecting an e-marketplace," concludes Pardini
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Rubico delivers large-scale, mission critical business solutions for unique needs via a set of reusable components - a solutions development approach which GartnerGroup predicts will account for 70% of applications delivery by 2003. The company`s key market focus is the financial services sector, but it has delivered solutions across a wide range of industries.
Rubico`s clients include Sanlam, Bankfin, JD Group and Metropolitan. It has appointed local and international, value-added resellers as its main channel to market. For revenue growth, the company is looking for 80% of sales to be generated overseas by 2004.
The company has 180 staff members, 80% of whom are directly involved in product creation. Of these, two-thirds are business consultants - experts in fields other than IT, as delivering the Rubico solution never requires writing code.
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