EIPP (e-invoicing) and StartUp World

I missed Jason Busch’s presentation due to computer problems and thought of catching up on the live conversation taking place. Here is a transcript:

• Jason Busch: Hey guys … curious to hear what you thought I should have covered in my presentation, but did not
• Mark Perera: Jason great presentation, thank you very much for your support
• Mark Perera: Jason, do you think a Bloomberg terminal for procurement is on the horizon?
• Jason Busch: Not sure a Bloomberg per-se (procurement is too cheap to pay for one on everyone’s desktop, anyway), but the concept is what fascinates me given its usefulness in the financial markets. Procurement and operations professionals needs this type information ? the question is how will they gain access to it in the future in one place.
• Mark Perera: Jason, do you see Salesforce.com as possible wildcard or simple a platform for future on-demand providers?
• Jason Busch: It would be easy for them to buy an existing provider to get in the sector, but I don?t see the going in the that direction at this point (even though their President is ex-Ariba). The procurement App Exchange strategy is far more innovative than simply doing a footprint/financial expansion deal: http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/category_list.jsp?NavCode__c=a0130000006P6IoAAK-38&
• Mark Perera: Jason, what the risks in taking a ‘best of breed’ approach to procurement technology? Is integration into these different systems a major problem?
• Jason Busch: Integration is becoming less of an issue in large part due to the acceptance of SaaS or On Demand solutions and the fact that there is very little that actually needs to be integrated in a real-time fashion into transactional systems (at least a this point in time). It is not a non-issue, but it?s one that organizations that care about improving their procurement performance should easily be able to get beyond.
• David Lee: Beyond cost savings and cost avoidance, are there any examples of innovation in the marketplace that come to mind.
• Mark Perera: Jason, We have seen a lot of consolidation in the procurement technology space, do you expect to see more of this activity in the next 6 months?
• Jason Busch: Absolutely there’s life beyond cost! Risk management is growing (SAS and D&B are some of the more interesting plays here).
• Jason Busch: There are far too many vendors out there who pretty much do the same thing that need to get rolled-up (both because their investors will get impatient and because the market does not need dozens of providers who do the same thing). So yes, we?ll see acquisitions and roll-ups. But from an innovation perspective, they won?t be terribly interesting (just like the recent deals we?ve seen).
• Sebastien Slek: As Procurement will become more and more strategic for companies, in terms of margin contributor, do you still foresee a future for platforms of exchange between similar competitors looking for best supplier source?

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I plan to attend Ariba’s “Spend Management Day” on 27 November 2007 in London. The event has been designed for Executives and Practitioners with providing practical and actionable information on to improve spend management initiatives including sharing best practices. You can find out more about here. 

According to Kate Roe of Ariba (UK):

“Although Ariba in the US have run Spend Management Days in the past, this is the first time for Ariba EMEA. We have run Solution Briefings before which are half-day sessions targeting a specific solution area such as Spend Visibility. Because of the success and demand of these, EMEA has decided to broaden the scope to cover several areas and run the session over 1 day. We are very excited to be hosting this first EMEA Spend Management Day.”

Two impressive speakers:

1. Duncan Jones, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research - It would be a pleasure to finally meet Forrester’s representative in the UK. Duncan also specialises in EIPP.
2. Stephen Wills FCIPS, MBA, Head of Procurement, AXA

I cannot ask for any better opportunity to get to know Ariba. I will also be meeting Serge Labouyrie, their EIPP Champion early next month. Are you attending this event? If not, what is stopping you from participating? Do share your thoughts. Do you know any other similar events taking place?

I expect to get away by around 5:30pm. Most likely, I will be driving and if anyone would like to meet me afterwards, do let me know. My route M25 -> M40 -> M5 ->M6 -> M56 -> M60. Awful lot of motorways, don’t you think?

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Folks, let me introduce my friend, Will Donovan, Communications and Marketing Director of Paystream Advisors, who has accepted my request of becoming a guest blogger. Will and I continue to have extensive discussions on many subjects from Middle East to Mobile EIPP since we came to know each other in July 07. Will has driven Paystream Advisors’ On-line Communications and Marketing Strategy through PaystreamVoices, which has now become an integral part of their corporate web site. Will has achieved remarkable success bringing not only me to blog on PaystreamVoices as a guest blogger, but also Shan Haq and Mitch Baxter from Transcepta. Will can be reached through here.

A graduate of the George Washington University, Will has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and constantly looks to expand his skills in language and networking. He is also a poet and here is the proof:

Overtime, I expect the URL of this blog to change to www.eippworld.com, as the current URL has served its purpose. The design and layouts also require further improvements. I am also looking for other guest bloggers to join us, extending the conversation on e-procurement, sourcing and e-payments, in addition to EIPP.

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If you are interested in the future of sourcing and procurement technologies, tune in to Michael Lamoureux’s Sourcing Innovation on 6th September 2007 for the second annual Sourcing Innovation Series, which will run for 2 weeks. 

According to Michael:

One year ago today, the first post of the first annual Sourcing Innovation Series, which focused on the future of sourcing, hit the blog-sphere.  With cross posts from leading bloggers in the sourcing and procurement space like Jason Busch, Tim Minahan, David Bush, Dave Stephens, and Charles Dominick and from forward thinking professionals, which included Kevin Brooks, John Martin, and Doug Hudgeon (a former leading blogger in the space), the series was the first of a number of cross-blog series that turned out to be, in least in my view, a great success.

In the past, I have promised Michael of participation, but failed to deliver at the end. Rather than give false promises again, the best I can do is to let my readers know about the series, Which I have done here.

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Andrew K. Reese and Sarah Murray recently published a comprehensive article on Supply Demand Chain Executive honoring the Supply Chain leaders of 2007. If you are interested in the Supply Chain, I recommend you to read the full article here.

As you very well know, Supply Chain continues to have a significant presence within the Board Room environment. CEOs, CFOs and CPOs around the world now have better tools and Knowledge Workers to help them steer towards Supply Chain Excellence, delivering both bottom and top line results, as well as helping those companies who understand the subject well to achieve a competitive advantage from Supply Chain Excellence.

2007 Pro of the Year - Milton Young, Subsea Global Sourcing Director, FMC Technologies

Practitioner Pros to Know

1. Jean Baderschneider - Vice President, Procurement, ExxonMobil Global Services Company
2. Tim Beauchamp - Senior Vice President, Distribution Operations, Corporate Express
3. Karl Braitberg - Senior Director of Global Demand Management and Planning, Cisco Systems
4. Scott Brown - Manager Supply Chain Analysis & Design, Plexus
5. Steven J. Cassady - Director ? Global Procurement, Kohler Co.
6. Richard Garza - CIO, The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM)
7. Myron Gramelspacher - Vice President, Global Logistics & Indirects, Greif Inc.
8. Steven Lee - General Manager, Global Indirect Purchasing, The Timken Company
9. Chris Martin - Senior Director, Purchasing, Universal Orlando
10. Dana Mathes - Global Supply Chain Director of Logistics Operations, The Dow Chemical Company
11. Eugene McCabe - Executive Vice President for Worldwide Operations, Sun Microsystems
12. Mary McDaniel - Vice President, Materiel & Corporate Sourcing, FedEx Corporation
13. Robert Moon - Senior Vice President, CIO, LeapFrog Enterprises
14. John Paterson - Chief Procurement Officer, IBM
15. Mitch Plaat - Chief Procurement Officer, Con-way Inc.
16. Peter Russano - Vice President of Operations, Inviro Medical
17. Larry Rydzewski - Chief Operating Officer, Berlin Packaging, LLC
18. Heather L. Sheehan - Corporate Director of Strategic Sourcing and Logistics, Danaher Corporation
19. Harold Upton - Vice President, Strategic Business Processes, Sunsweet Growers Inc.
20. Roger Weingarth - Senior Vice President, Product and Manufacturing Operations, Calix

Provider Pros to Know

1. Demand Management/Forecasting & Planning
   • Robert F. Byrne, president and CEO of real-time forecasting solutions specialist Terra Technology
   • Michael Gilliland, product marketing manager ? forecasting at business intelligence solution provider SAS Institute
   • John Sicard, executive vice president, development and service operations at Kinaxis
   • Charles N. Smart, president and CEO of demand and inventory management solution provider Smart Software
2. Sourcing & Procurement/Spend Management
   • Jay Baitler, executive vice president of office supply giant Staples
   • William Blair, CEO of sourcing and supply chain solution provider Co-exprise.
   • Kevin Costello, chief commercial officer at spend management solutions provider Ariba
   • Philippe Courregelongue, director of consulting services for EMEA at supply and contract management specialist Emptoris
   • William (Bill) DeMartino, director, spend analysis at supply and contract management specialist Emptoris (www.emptoris.com)
   • Charles Dominick, SPSM, president of procurement training provider Next Level Purchasing (www.nextlevelpurchasing.com)
   • Michele Flynn, CEO of business advisory services provider Expense Management Solutions (www.expensemanagement.com)
   • Burton M. Goldfield, CEO of on-demand spend management solutions provider Ketera Technologies (www.ketera.com)
   • Dr. Robert Handfield, Bank of America Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, founded and directs the Supply Chain Resource Consortium at NCSU (scrc.ncsu.edu)
   • Albert Jacobs III, vice president of procurement solutions stalwart Puridiom (www.puridiom.com)
   • Tim McEneny, president and CEO of PurchasingNet (www.purchasingnet.com)
   • Milap Shah, senior director with supply chain technology and consulting firm Global eProcure (www.globaleprocure.com)
   • Jai Shekhawat, CEO and co-founder of contingent workforce management and services procurement software company Fieldglass (www.fieldglass.com)
   • Steve Simko, vice president of operations at procurement services provider ICG Commerce (www.icgcommerce.com)
   • Bilal Soylu, chief technology officer at Verian Technologies (www.verian.com)
   • Ronald D. Southard, president and CEO of Intesource (www.intesource.com)
   • Jim Wetekamp, vice president of consulting and solution strategy at supply management solution provider Verticalnet (www.verticalnet.com)
3. Fulfillment/Logistics
   • George Abernathy, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at lead logistics provider Transplace (www.transplace.com
   • Subhash Chowdary, CEO of Aankhen Inc. (www.aankhen.com)
   • Gary Girotti, vice president with the Transportation Practice at supply chain consultancy Chainalytics (www.chainalytics.com)
   • Rene’ Jones, founder of Total Logistics Solutions (www.logisticsociety.com)
   • Gerald McNerney, senior director, transportation, distribution and logistics solutions at Motorola ? through its acquisition of Symbol Technologies (www.symbol.com)
   • Mark Millar wears two hats as honorary chairman of the China Supply Chain Council (www.supplychain.cn ) and also as director of strategic business development at UPS Supply Chain Solutions (www.ups-scs.com)
   • Dr. Nissim Ozer, chief technology officer at RF Code (www.rfcode.com)
   • Jim Parker, chief technology officer at warehouse management and fulfillment systems provider Supplier Systems Corporation (www.suppliersystems.com), cited as one of the founders of the electronic data interchange (EDI) industry in North America, promotes the vision of a rational, seamless and visible supply chain, from supplier through to end customer, with the supply chain strategically poised to manage the smooth flow of the goods ? and information about the goods ? that ensure the success of the broader enterprise.
   • Ann S. Price, president and CEO of supply chain execution software provider Motek (www.motek.com)
   • Jim Smith, president of Avnet Logistics (logistics.avnet.com)
   • Rick Tucker, vice president of product development with LeanLogistics (www.leanlogistics.com)
   • Mark Wick, co-founder and senior vice president of engineering at Blue Agave Software (www.blueagavesoft.com)
4. Consulting/Analysis/Education
   • Andrew Bartolini, Vance Checketts and Vishal Patel constitute the Global Supply Management Team at industry analyst firm Aberdeen Group
   • Pat Bower, Supply Chain Planning Practice manager with supply chain management consulting services firm Plan4Demand
   • Shoshanah Cohen, Rick Hoole, Hiroyuki Irie and Joseph Roussel, of the Supply Chain Innovation Practice at PRTM Management Consultants
   • Sergio Retamal, president and CEO of supply chain consulting and services provider Global-4PL
   • Tracy B. Stephens, CEO of the Global Supply Chain Management Practice at services firm Resources Global Professionals
5. Enterprise Systems/ERP
   • Joey Benadretti, president of SYSPRO USA (www.syspro.com).
   • Edward (Ned) Blinick, vice-president of sales and marketing at Blinco Systems (www.blinco.com.
   • Donald A. Hicks, president and CEO of supply chain optimization and simulation specialist LLamasoft (www.llamasoft.com).
   • Narayan Laksham, founder and president of lean manufacturing software provider Ultriva (www.ultriva.com).
   • Bob Moyer, president of enterprise product information management (PIM) solution provider FullTilt Solutions (www.fulltilt.com
   • Jeff Nigriny, chief security officer at aerospace and defense industry collaborative business network Exostar (www.exostar.com) and president of data security not-for-profit CertiPath (www.certipath.com)
   • Dr. David F. Ross, senior learning consultant with enterprise application provider Lawson Software (www.lawson.com)
   • Sunil K. Singh, president and CEO of Informance International (www.informance.com)
   • Jeffrey Smith, vice president of marketing at Instill Corporation (www.instill.com)
   • John Zepecki, senior vice president of supplier relationship management at enterprise solution provider SAP (www.sap.com)
6. The Bloggers
   • Jason Busch, founder and managing director of Azul Partners, a marketing consultancy that advises software and services companies, focuses his popular and astute Spend Matters blog (www.spendmatters.com) on all matters related to spend management.
   • David Bush, vice president of business development at on-demand e-sourcing specialist Iasta, offers his daily insights on e-sourcing and procurement best practices at eSourcing Forum (www.esourcingforum.com).
   • John F. Martin, senior vice president of strategy and technology at enterprise services procurement IQNavigator, has spread the word about software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies on his Building SaaS blog (buildingsaas.typepad.com).
   • Tim Minahan, the widely recognized expert (and former Aberdeen analyst) on spend management and currently senior vice president of marketing at on-demand supply management solutions provider Procuri, now champions the strategic role of the Purchasing function at Supply Excellence (www.supplyexcellence.com).
   • Annrai O’Toole, CEO of technology company Cape Clear Software (www.capeclear.com), has authored a blog called “Clear Thinking” that is regarded as an industry resource that cuts through the clutter running rampant in the service-oriented architecture (SOA) space. More at www.capeclear.com/annrai/.
   • John Radko, chief technology strategist with B2B connectivity and integration specialist GXS, promotes the advancement of B2B integration and supply chain automation on his On-Demand B2B blog (blogs.gxs.com).
   • Dave Stephens, CEO of open source e-procurement solution developer Coupa (and former head of Oracle’s Procurement Applications division), promotes “the power of effective procurement” at Procurement Central (procurement.wordpress.com).
7. Former Practitioners
   • Dave Gleditsch, chief technology officer for Pelion Systems (www.pelionsystems.com)
   • Mary Beth Green, director of account management with advanced sourcing technology provider CombineNet (www.combinenet.com)
   • Richard McCluney, vice president of account operations at E2open (www.e2open.com
   • Robert A. Rudzki, president and CEO of supply management consultancy Greybeard Advisors (www.greybeardadvisors.com)
   • Jim Schoessling, VP of supply chain services with on-demand supply chain management solutions provider Click Commerce (www.clickcommerce.com)
   • Jeffrey Wincel, principal partner with lean supply chain management specialist LSC Consulting Group (www.lscconsultinggroup.com) got firsthand experience managing supply operations for Donnelly Corporation and TRW-Vehicle Safety Systems, among other companies, before moving on to the consulting side. His book Lean Supply Chain Management: A Handbook for Strategic Procurement is considered a groundbreaking work in bringing together lean manufacturing methodologies and supply chain management.
8. Supply Chain Greens
   • Dr. Jack Mason, president and co-founder of EnergyWindow (www.energywindow.com)
   • Dan Sanker, president and CEO of logistics outsourcing services provider CaseStack (www.casestack.com)
   • Mark Wysong, CEO of Dolphin Software (www.dolphinmsds.com)
9. Indirect Spend Gurus
   • Mike Boult, president and CEO of StarCite (www.starcite.com)
   • David Clevenger, vice president with group purchasing organization Corporate United (www.corporateunited.com)
   • Joe D’Andria, senior vice president of operations with NewlineNoosh (www.newlinenoosh.com)
   • Priyan Fernando, executive vice president and chief operating officer at American Express Business Travel (corp.americanexpress.com/gcs/travel/us/default.htm), has helped evangelize the need for Procurement organizations to achieve greater control over, and savings from, all aspects of their travel and entertainment (T&E) spend, including the so-called “long tail” of employee business services. Last year Fernando spearheaded the launch of the American Express Intelligent Online Marketplace (AXIOM), an online corporate travel booking platform.
   • Patrick Grady, founder, chairman and CEO of employee business services procurement platform provider Rearden Commerce (www.reardencommerce.com)
   • Gary Hare, president and CEO of supplier enablement specialist Vinimaya (www.vinimaya.com
   • John Matthews, executive director of indirect procurement services provider DSSI LLC (www.directsourcing.com)
   • Jason Treida, vice president of operations, founder and senior partner with e-sourcing software and services provider Iasta (www.iasta.com)
   • Janet A. Whitcomb, executive vice president at services procurement specialist ProcureStaff (www.procurestaff.com)
10. Public Sector Supply Management Evangelists
    • Tom Jones, senior vice president and general manager of supply chain solutions at Ryder System (www.ryder.com)
    • James Kelly, CEO and managing principal with sourcing and procurement services firm JVKellyGroup (www.jvkg.com)
    • Gary Lambert, vice president of consulting with IT services provider CGI Group (www.cgi.com)
    • Raj Sharma, president of supply management consultancy Censeo Consulting Group (www.censeoconsulting.com)
    • Ben Walker, vice president for strategy and client solutions at ProcureStaff (www.procurestaff.com)
11. Service Supply Chain Gurus
    • Greg Baxter, president and CEO of service parts planning and logistics provider Baxter Planning Systems (www.bybaxter.com)
    • Zack Bergreen, CEO and chairman of Astea International (www.astea.com)
    • Dr. Morris Cohen, founder and chairman of the board at service supply chain specialist MCA Solutions (www.mcasolutions.com)
    • Keith Forshew, General Manager of the Supply Chain Solutions Group at on-demand supply chain management solutions provider Click Commerce (www.clickcommerce.com)
    • William Huyler, president of Servigistics Pricing Services at service parts management solutions provider Servigistics (www.servigistics.com)
    • John Reece, president and CEO of ClearOrbit (www.clearorbit.com)
12. Extended Enterprise Gurus
    • Mike Anguiano, president data solutions for vendor management solution provider CVM Solutions (www.cvmsolutions.com
    • Jim Frome, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for EDI outsourcing specialists SPS Commerce (www.spscommerce.com)
    • Mary Gallagher, VP of global professional services with supplier management and procurement automation company SciQuest (www.sciquest.com)
    • Raj Khoshoo, vice president of strategic initiatives at product lifecycle management solutions provider UGS (www.ugs.com)
    • Michael Lyle, president and CEO of InfinityQS (www.infinityqs.com)
    • Rajan (Raj) Penkar, vice president for global solutions and implementation management at UPS Supply Chain Solutions (www.ups-scs.com
    • John R. Sharman, Jr. , president and CEO of Perfect Commerce (www.perfect.com)
    • John Zepecki, senior vice president of supplier relationship management at enterprise solution provider SAP (www.sap.com)
13. Financial Supply Chain Evangelists
    • Joe Juliano, CEO of PrimeRevenue (www.primerevenue.com), has been a thought-leader in the emerging field of supply chain finance, and he has worked to promote the role of Supply Chain in contributing to the enterprise’s bottom line by helping to remove inefficiencies in financial flows that drive the physical and goods supply chain.
    • John Brockwell, global supply chain practice lead for JPMorgan Chase Vastera (www.vastera.com), believes that companies must work to increase efficiency not only across the physical supply chain but across the financial supply chain as well, integrating the two and ensuring that critical information about the value chain is visible across the enterprise to ensure better decision-making.
    • Tom Glassanos, president and CEO of Xign Corporation (www.xign.com), a provider of electronic invoice and payment solutions for accounts payable and accounts receivable, has worked to educate supply chain executives on how enterprises can turn accounts payable into a profit center for the enterprise, emphasizing that, with the right tools, payables can pay significant dividends and increase working capital.
    • Graham R.F. Napier, president and CEO of global trade management solution provider TradeBeam (www.tradebeam.com), evangelizes the importance of the supply chain in executive management during his regular speaking engagements before industry audiences, and he has pushed executives to focus on the value in concurrent management of the physical and financial supply chains, pointing to the opportunities to integrate these chains to take maximum advantage of global trade.

Wow! Importance of bloggers has also been recognised. Andrew and Sarah has certainly done a marvellous job of putting this list together. What a treasure!

Technorati Tags: Honoring Supply Chain Leaders 2007, supply chain management, procurement, spend management, financial supply chain

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Hilton Metropole Hotel, London, UK on 24-25 September 2007

According to Gartner, this summit is for staying ahead of the game whilst been in touch with your clients! Easily said than done! The Summit is split into three areas, these being:

• Business Strategy 
• Operational Excellence
• Technology & Application

Among sponsors are Microgen and TietoEnator from e-invoicing/e-billing/e-Procurement space. Others include:

• BizAgi Ltd (Vision Software)
• BT
• Cordys
• Exstream Software UK Limited
• Infosys
• Omnext
• Tata Consultancy Services
• Thunderhead Ltd
• Zafin Lab

Speakers include:

• Ashley,Gerald - Managing Director, St. Mawgan & Co. Limited
• Buckley,Neil - CTO Retail, Wholesale Banking, Insurance and Facility Management ING
• Carr,John - Chief Operating Officer, HSBC IT
• Clav�,Mag� - Director IT Projects/Senior Manager, European Central Bank
• de Jong,Berend 
• Earley ,Annemarie - VP Research Director, Gartner
• Furlonger,David - VP Research Director, Gartner
• Gilmour,Stuart - Head of UK Wealth Application Deliver, Chief Information Office, Barclays Bank
• Harris,Kimberly - VP Research Director, Gartner
• Janssens,Ken - Executive Director, Investment Banking Technology, JP Morgan
• Kyte,Andy - VP & Gartner Fellow, Gartner
• McKibben ,Douglas - Research Director, Gartner
• Newton,Alistair - Principal Analyst Research, Gartner
• Redshaw,Peter - Principal Analyst Research, Gartner
• Schlier,Frank - VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner
• Sutter,Steffan - Head of Sales & Advisory IT, Deutsche Bank
• Taylor,Martin - LCH Clearnet
• Uzureau,Christophe - Analyst Research, Gartner
• Van Koppen,Thijs - EVP Finance & Operations, Robeco Direct

Let me know whether any of you plan to attend this event.

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Definitely worth reading. Is it time we start a similar for e-invoicing?

Tags: e-Sourcing forum, e-SourcingWiki, e-invoicing, iasta, Dave Stephens, Michael Lamoureux, Jason Busch

Popularity: 43% [?]

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According to computing magazine, Accenture has beaten BT Global Services, IBM and LogicaCMG to win the lucrative contract to run the back-office systems of the The London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog).

Accenture will integrate Locog’s systems and services to create a platform which will drive the planning of the games. The integrated system will provide a single repository for all new and recorded data used in the planning process of the London Games across functions including finance, accounting, facilities, ticket allocation, scheduling, personnel and procurement. The deal will not cover the Games’ time operating systems or the core Games management systems that relay results, events and athlete information to spectators and media around the world during the event, which will be provided by Atos Origin, the IT systems integrator responsible for the design, build and operation of the Games IT infrastructure.

That’s all fine, but what about streamlining the document exchange among stakeholders?

In September 2006, Phil Brown, CEO of Causeway Technologies who runs Tradex met with Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, Jack Lemely during EMAP Contractor 100 Breakfast Club event sponsored by Causeway. Here is an extract from the news release:

In his opening address Phil set out both the opportunities and challenges that the London 2012 Olympic Games represent not only to the UK construction industry, but to the overall UK economy. With approximately 5 years and 11 months to deliver up to £6.5bn of investment which is set to include world class sporting venues, significant regeneration of our capital and the enhancement of much of the capitals infrastructure, London 2012 represents an unrivalled opportunity to showcase the efficiency of the UK construction industry in front of a worldwide audience.

In his speech Jack Lemely spoke passionately regarding the role of the Olympic Delivery Authority and his vision that the ODA will become recognised as an intelligent client. Jack also stated that the ODA will not be responsible for building any venues that do not have an ongoing use once the games are finished; therefore underlining that London 2012 will leave a lasting legacy on our capital.

Given the current success of Tradex within the construction industry, Causeway perhaps has the best chance of ensuring that ODA remains an intelligent and efficiently run organisation by streamlining how it exchange structured documents with its suppliers as well as how various supply chains remain efficient. In this regard, Tradex (or whoever win the contract) would need to work alongside Accenture and perhaps Atos Origin.

It will also be interesting to hear which ERP system Accenture will choose as the back-end system. Please do share any information you might have on systems selected.

Tags: Causeway Technologies, Tradex, IBM, BT Global Services, LogicaCMG, Accenture, Atos Origin, Olympic Delivery Authority,  EMAP Contractor 100 Breakfast Club

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I spent most of this morning trying to ascertain whether BT Transact can be resurrected, as I saw an opportunity. Alas to my dismay, the decision was taken at least 7 months ago when BT wrote to their customers giving them 12 months notice. BT has made alternative arrangements for these companies including helping them to migrate to solutions offered by other companies. Now less than 10 customers are on the platform, and BT will continue to help them move to different solutions. It seems that BT has made enquiries to off-load the platform, but no viable option was found. They have pursued two avenues, one through a customer and the other through a competitor.

Key reasons for closure are:

1. Struggling to make decent revenues and profits in a challenging market over the last five years - this shows that when you are a large corporate, it is not always possible to make changes rapidly to respond to market changes.
2. Obsolete technology no longer supported by Oracle - this goes against the Oracle promise of life-time support.

At its peak, BT Transact offered connectivity through Open Network for Commercial Exchange (ONCE), and dealt with transactions worth over £ billions. It also had internal clients. In terms of A/P, BT uses OB10 with tight integration to Oracle back-end provided by 170 Systems. And the A/P function is managed by outsourced partner Xansa.

It is a sad day to see the demise of such a dominant player in the market.

Tags: BT Transact, BT, Oracle, eProcurement, ONCE, Open Network for Commercial Exchange

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I attended the webinar organised by 170 systems over webex yesterday. The speakers were Andrew Bartels, VP and Research Analyst from Forrester and Larry Concannon, Director of Product Marketing from 170 Systems. I was disappointed with the webinar as both speakers rushed to complete without interacting with the audience. However, webex allowed audience to send queries which 170 Systems promised to respond within days. The slide pack can be down loaded from 170 Systems website, which I recommend as it has some good information.

170 Systems provide EIPP solutions (invoice only) through OB10 network. As expected, their expertise lies in integrating with SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft enterprise solutions only. For example, I know from been at BT, that Xansa runs the A/P Department of BT using 170 Systems and OB10.

I hope I did not misunderstand (at the time I was also chatting to CEO of another company through Skype), but Andrew was saying that it is better to have specific solutions such as e-invoicing for one of the eight parts of e-purchasing process his slide showed. The 8 parts being:

1. Spend analysis
2. Supplier assessment
3. Supplier identification
4. Sourcing
5. Contract management
6. Procurement
7. Order fulfillment
8. e-Invoicing (invoicing reconcilliation and payment)

I disagree. If you can have a solution that provides all of the above cost effectively, surely it would be better than dealing with number of different systems and providers. So, what you in fact need is a spend management solution, perhaps similar to those offered by Ariba and Procuri, and not OB10. Now I am going to contradict my own argument by saying, it is better to have a solution that deals with e-Invoicing than not having one at all. But what you need is solutions that could grow as the requirements as well as the client company grows. Therefore I question OB10’s strategy of simply handling invoices and not any other documents. Niche is fine, but what happens when you deliver the ROI promised and your client is now asking you to extend the benefits to exchange of other document. Surely, your answer is not.."Sorry Sir, but we have no capability, would you like contact details of our competitor?"

I like Andrew’s slide on timing and sponsorship. Few points:

1. Implement first e-invoices and then automate invoice validation
2. Implement EIPP after eProcurement maximises gains
3. Then go for creative funding and payment options

The validation has two meaning to me:

1. Validation of incoming messages against business rules. This has to be done within the exchange/network - part of value addition. A business rule could well be checking against legislation or simply verifying that there is a purchase order number.
2. Validation against purchase order and/or delivery note (2 or 3 way matching) - this could be done either within the exchange/network or within the enterprise solution.

The key themes:

1. Market penetration is still low. Reference was 2001, which is a shame.
2. Hybrid solutions are still needed, i.e. electronic plus scanning. I question this?

The problem is 170 systems and OB10 are purchaser-centric solutions and not true end-to-end solutions. I am not trying to mislead you here. They do connect both ends, but it is too costly to provide the same level of service to suppliers, unless they happen to be a large supplier. Their cost model does not allow this. So you need a player who can challenge this with the better revenue and cost structure.

I also like Andrew’s recommendations:

1. Focus first on process efficiencies and then on cash flow and financing opportunities
2. Find the sponsor for each stage - difficult one!!

Overall, it was a good presentation and if allowed, I would be happy to attend the next webinar.

Tags: 170 Systems, Forrester, Andrew Bertels, EIPP, e-invoicing, OB10, e-Procurement, process improvement, Procuri, Ariba, Xansa, BT, A/P

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So if EIPP is not worth mentioning why is Accenture playing with EIPP? Sorry, they call it Electronic Invoicing and Settlement (EI&S). Nothing wrong with that except that its another definition, actually this time to mean a business unit/group/division, rather than a solution/product. Perhaps EI&S is a better term than EIPP. PP stands for "presentment and payment", which is same as "settlement", more or less.

I believe Accenture has capability to deliver EIPP solutions using existing products and solutions, such as the network provided by Xign. Yet, I have not found any references, other than their involvement with Exostar, which is not a straight forward EIPP solution, but a market place for aerospace and defence industry created by Lokheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Boeing and Raytheon.

Tags: Accenture, EIPP, EI&S, Accenture EI&S, Accenture Electronic Invoicing & Settlement, Exostar

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Dave Stephens just launched their opensource eProcurement Platform. It was accompanied by a new face lift to his website. Lots of hard work gone in to this project. Congratulations Dave! Video is great! I was not planning to add a Wiki. It is a great idea. I need to work on it (among many others)!

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Have a look at Coupa and then read Dave Stephens blog on e-procurement. He has a well experienced team - all ex-Oracle guys!  I am jealous Dave! I am doing the hard way and we will eventually get there - I meant building a superb team! Dave and I are speaking of linking both technologies sometime in the near future. We both have huge tasks of getting our first releases out! We both have missed deadlines to deal with. We also share some competitors. Here is what Dave recently said about Ariba:

In other news Ariba came in light on revenues… Again… But they say things are going really “well” transitioning the business to subscriptions. Of course, that was what they’ve been saying for the last 5 quarters also. I guess it depends on what the definition of “well” is. Sometimes it means on course, good, nicely, etc. But “well” can also mean ‘a deep pit you keep digging in the hope of finding water’… The stock is getting pounded after-hours, down 5.8%. On a more positive note, I really liked Ariba’s recent decision to ship a NetWeaver adapter for their supplier network service to tie into SAP.

We are yet to develop any interfaces with SAP. Our development programme ensures continuous development of interface drivers. It seems such a decision at Ariba is a big deal. In our case, this will become routine part of the business. The more interface drivers we have, the more systems we can exchange documents with. Simple logic - makes sense, don’t you think so!

Tags: Coupa, eProcurement

Popularity: 15% [?]

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