JBA Integrates ERP and e-Commerce

JBA, the leading worldwide supplier of enterprise management software to the highly competitive mid-market sector, today unveiled its ERP e-commerce strategy. The strategy rollout is signified by the launch of three separate, but complementary, ERP e-commerce modules.

JBA SA`s Managing Director, Bruckner de Villiers, explained the strategy as follows.

"The way organisations interact has changed. A customer that wishes to purchase from a supplier had traditionally a passive, slow and relatively one-way flow of information by letter, phone, fax, e-mail or even basic EDI. Via the Internet, you are now able to provide your trading partners with an efficient, accurate, easy to use interface to information held in your core ERP System.

"But beyond just the trading partner benefits, look at an organisation in the supply chain. Its customers are now able to place orders directly into its ERP system, with the system automatically catering for those orders. Its suppliers are also able to view the organisation`s ERP system and replenish stock used to satisfy consumed inventory.

"The organisation is extended at both ends, with its traditional boundaries blurred through its close integration with both customer and suppliers. Instead of separate entities that don`t fit together, ERP e-commerce creates a single extended enterprise to the benefit of all parties."

JBA is overcoming the isolation of the ERP system through Internet technology in three separate, but complementary, modules: JBA e.purchase - designed primarily for purchasing indirect goods such as consumables JBA e.supply - to enable customers to interrogate the supplier`s ERP system JBA e.shopper - an electronic catalogue to sell goods and services

JBA e.purchase

A business-to-business ERP e-commerce application to streamline the purchasing process and eliminate 'maverick` purchasing. Approved suppliers are invited to place their electronic catalogue on the company`s server; from where employees are able to order the required stock. As only approved suppliers are able to place their information, maverick purchasing is eliminated.

Update of the electronic catalogue is managed by the supplier who has access to their information on the customer`s server. For the purchasing organization, specification and price are easily compared and the internal approval procedure streamlined through automated messaging and electronic approval sign off.

JBA e.supply

A business-to-business ERP e-commerce application that sits on top of a supplier`s ERP system. It enables known purchasers to access directly into the suppliers ERP system in a controlled way to determine specification, price, availability and delivery time of goods and then place the order. As orders are processed through the ERP system, automated messages are generated to keep the customer updated. Orders already placed can also be tracked by the customer.

JBA e.shopper

A set of integrated software components that provide a solution for businesses that want to sell goods and services through an electronic catalogue on the Internet. This out-of-the box electronic catalogue solution gives companies the ability to start simple and grow fast. It comes complete with catalogue templates, setup wizards and advanced catalogue tools to easily build effective and attractive electronic commerce sites.