MCI Consultants today announced its procurement system, eBuy, which it has evolved from its businesscard.co.za business.
This business was originally established to develop the synergistic opportunities between e-commerce and conventional printing needs.
Businesscard.co.za was an e-commerce pioneer that supplied corporate stationery and business cards to major South African corporations and many small to medium-sized companies.
eBuy is a capability that is hosted by MCI, thus creating a 'software as a service' opportunity that can be exploited by clients as and when required.
"We wanted to exploit the success that we have had with our businesscard.co.za initiative," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "Feedback from our client base, particularly in respect of the improvements in business process efficiency that they are seeking, coupled with the predictions by Gartner that 25% of new business software will be delivered as 'software as a service' by 2011, prompted us to develop eBuy as a natural evolutionary output from our businesscard.co.za initiative."
"Briefly the system works as follows," continued Droussiotis:
* Negotiated contracts with preferred suppliers are captured onto the system.
* Purchasers are able to log into the online system by simply clicking on an icon on their desktops.
* Purchasers can then create requisitions, with the relevant approval parties being notified via e-mail of a new item to be authorised.
* Once through the approval process, a purchase order (PO) is automatically created and the supplier is automatically notified via e-mail that a new PO has been created.
* Once the supplier accepts the order, the PO's status is updated to 'delivery pending'.
* On delivery of the goods, the purchaser changes the status of the PO to 'goods received'.
* The final step comes when the supplier submits an invoice which is captured onto the system and after being matched to the goods received and PO, can be integrated into the company's financial system.
"The benefits of exploiting eBuy are many," concluded Droussiotis. "For instance, by implementing the eBuy system a company can track its affirmative procurement and better control the company's total procurement spend, since eBuy provides a strategic supplier sourcing and powerful e-procurement platform that can revolutionise purchasing within a company."
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI: telephone 011 454-3420, fax 011 454-3417, e-mail aliki@mci.co.za.
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MCI Consultants is a South African-based business information systems consulting firm specialising in providing software solutions to the business community, specifically to the financial services and personnel recruitment industries.
It offers a complete solution, which can include project management, consulting services, installation, training and support, packaged software implementations, product development including e-commerce solutions, hardware supply, installation and design services.
The company's approach is to continuously provide solutions to meet clients' changing requirements. It takes pride in delivering excellent customer service and building lasting partnerships with clients.
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