MGX has signed a memorandum of understanding and has been appointed an approved integration partner of Standard Bank of South Africa's electronic marketplace initiative, thetradestandard.
In terms of the agreement, MGX's Get2Connect business has developed a proof of concept with thetradestandard that connects orders flowing from thetradestandard through the Get2Connect hub.
Once the orders are received, they are directly integrated into the back office system of the supplier. Similarly, the response documents automatically flow from the supplier's back-office or ERP system back to thetradestandard. The hub has specifically been developed for many different trading communities to automatically exchange documents electronically on an application to application basis in order to facilitate trading efficiency.
The concept is simple, yet effective. For example, an individual will sit behind a Web browser on thetradestandard marketplace, select the goods he or she wishes to buy, and place them in a shopping basket. This transaction then follows a workflow approval process affording the shopper the approval to buy the goods. Thetradestandard then issues an order in XML format to the supplier.
"The supplier then has two alternatives," says Andrew Procter, Managing Director, Get2Connect at MGX. "He can either view the order on his Web browser and recapture it into his back office system, or by using our services, the order is automatically integrated directly into his back office system, resulting in no unnecessary recapturing and re-entering of data," says Procter.
"The business benefit here is very large in terms of avoiding the cost of recapture and, more specifically, avoiding making errors during the recapture," says Procter.
The role of an integration partner is to facilitate the flow of electronic documents in support of business-to-business transactions between the buyers in the marketplace and the suppliers to that marketplace.
"We have proven our ability to thetradestandard to be able to manage supplier integration on an effective basis and hence our appointment," says Procter.
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MGX's Get2Connect initiative is designed to be the underpinning infrastructure that makes e-commerce a reality among communities of trading partners by facilitating the electronic business-to-business flow of documents and processes.
Get2Connect is not a procurement application nor is it an electronic marketplace or a supply chain application. It is, however, a platform for Business to Business Integration (B2Bi) which underpins all forms of B2B transactions.
MGX
MGX listed in the IT sector of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1995 and has, during its five-year history as a listed company, delivered consistent growth to shareholders. MGX was ranked 8th in the Sunday Times top 100 companies for 2000. MGX has operations in SA, Botswana, Australia, the UK and US and is grouped into five focused strategic business units, which have strong operational and strategic synergies.
The underlying theme to what MGX provides is the existence of business information and the need to manage and deliver that information through all the applications available to business users. The rapid growth of the "information age" has resulted in an enormous amount of information in constant circulation, and the challenge is to help businesses make decisions and act swiftly on that information, in order to be successful in their chosen markets.
This is what MGX means by Information Rich Business Solutions. To deliver Information Rich Business Solutions, MGX has created a group of companies that can create and implement effective solutions to business users in any sector or industry, anywhere in the world.
MGX's ability to deliver centres around its core competencies, its dedication to innovation, its commitment to attract and retain the best talent in the industry who are passionate about what they do and its fierce focus on customer needs.
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