eProcurement and the Future of Internet Trading Communities/Online Exchanges

Wednesday, May 10, 2000
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

$10.00 fee (Pay at day of event, cash or check. No fee to Sponsors.)
Limit: 60 participants

Moderator

• George Sidman, Founder & President, Monterey Network Center

Panel of Experts

• Mr. Kenneth Campbell, CEO, Centegy Corporation
• Mr. Bob Jewell, President, PFN, Inc. (Formerly Thundercloud Networks)
• Mr. Mark E. Palmer, Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs,NextSet Software, Inc
• Dr. Cosimo Spera, CEO, Saltare.com

Description

Competitors and technology are moving quickly and business rules are being thrown out. The winners will be companies that understand and take advantage of the rapid shifts in market conditions. Online exchanges, also known as trading communities, are a B2B approach that is being adopted at an astounding rate. These trading communities aim to deliver on needs of both buyers and sellers. Ultimately, they provide a platform to collapse the entire supply chain from a linear model that is slow and rigid to a collaborative model that can handle realtime information sharing.

By joining trading communities, buyers can expect to streamline theprocurement process, gain access to new market opportunities, and reduce transaction costs. Suppliers can expect to increase revenues by expanding outside of their traditional channels and offloading excess and obsolete inventories. The realtime information exchange lets buyers and sellers reduce time and country or regional barriers. In many instances, trading communities also enable a more level playing field for smaller buyers and suppliers. However, online exchanges are more relevant to some industries than others.

Joining a trading exchange can be as simple as accessing membership through a Portal service. Yet, these very thin exchanges do not provide all the benefits of a fully developed dynamic trading community that encompasses every element of the supply chain process, from buying and selling and transaction clearance to inventory visibility and logistics. Basically, trading exchanges fall into two business models. The first is the private trading community. The private trading community is centered around a specific manufacturer and enables customers, suppliers, logistics companies and the manufacturer to share critical information about demand and inventory in a defined supply chain. The second model is known as a hosted or public exchange. There are many different types of hosted exchanges depending on the complexity of the buying and selling relationships as well as the depth of technology supporting them..

Our panel of experts will discuss these and many other challenges and opportunities in the area of online exchanges/trading communities:

• What is the future of these online exchanges/trading communities?



• To take advantage of these trading communities, what challenges do companies face?



• How do companies evaluate private versus private online exchanges and their benefits?



• How do companies maximize the value of their information flow within an organization?



• What technologies/solutions are available and how do companies choose an internal eInfrastructure to maximise the benefits of joining a trading community?



• What are the costs?



• What process does a company need to go through to join a dynamic trading community?