IS intro`s industry-specific e-commerce solutions

The Internet Solution (IS) has launched a multi-million rand company, IS Tradebridge, to provide business-to-business electronic commerce services to specific industries using Internet-based transaction and message switching systems.

IS TradeBridge will initially focus on the medical industry through its subsidiary, IS HealthBridge. Entries into other vertical industries, probably media and automotive, are also envisaged. More than R42-million has been set aside for the HealthBridge venture over the next two years. The strategy is ultimately to implement an industry-wide e-commerce infrastructure in the Healthcare industry.

The infrastructure needed to support real-time financial and clinical information flow between medical service providers and the medical aid administrators is already in place, and rollout to selected doctors will start in June. This service will be expanded to include secure messaging between employers and the medical aid administrators to streamline administration functions by September. By the end of 1999, links between the medical service providers and their suppliers will go live. As the scope of the infrastructure expands, healthcare community services will be supported through the creation of an industry portal.

Partnerships are being forged with leading vendors of medical practice management applications. Says Mike Bricker, MD of radiology practice management software house, Promed: "We chose HealthBridge as our e-commerce partner because it is by far the best infrastructure to leverage the advanced e-commerce features of our new Windows application."

IS joint-MD, David Frankel, says the current focus is bringing in the necessary top-level skills and deploying these according to a well-defined business plan. IS Tradebridge MD Gerrie van Zyl has been a key appointment in this regard. Van Zyl joined IS at the beginning of 1999, having returned to South Africa after spending 5 years in Boston, USA. He holds masters` degrees in mechanical engineering and management from MIT.

Says Frankel: "E-commerce has the potential to create significant value in just about any industry. This value can be created through a combination of improvements in efficiency, often through the elimination of intermediaries, and the ability to increase both the quality and magnitude of revenues. The goal of this company will be to develop e-commerce service provision businesses to capitalise on the industry-level opportunities and share directly in the value that is created by e-commerce in the businesses of our customers."

Van Zyl says the focus on the e-commerce interface between companies was driven by the disproportionate value that is locked up by companies relying on manual, often paper-based, processes. "The potential value that can be created by business-to-business e-commerce solutions is tremendous. A recent study conducted in the US estimated that as much as 15 percent of the total cost structure of a manufacturing industry can be attributed to activities that support interactions between customers and suppliers." He says that in information-intensive industries such as healthcare and media, this is sure to be even greater, and IS Tradebridge is putting solutions in place that will unlock that value for its customers and will allow it to share in that value."

@EditorNote = The Internet Solution

The Internet Solution is a member of Dimension Data Holdings, South Africa`s largest Information Technology integration company with turnover of R4,7-billion (1997/98). Based in Johannesburg and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Group is fast becoming a global organisation with offices in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom. Its subsidiary, Datacraft Asia, is listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Singapore. Dimension Data Holdings` key business focus is on network and systems integration and on the technologies associated with electronic commerce, voice/data convergence and customer management.