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This workbook has been developed to assist purchasing
organisations work with their suppliers with whom they wish to trade
electronically.
Typically, a purchasing organisation who is implementing
an e-Procurement programme will have developed a business case,
achieving which will depend on suppliers providing and maintaining
electronic catalogues and possibly responding to electronic tenders
and online auctions.
Implicit therefore is the requirement that suppliers
are willing, ready and able to respond appropriately - but the reality
is that all e-Procurement programmes which require suppliers to
change the way they deliver content and communicate with the purchaser
are having difficulty persuading them to adopt e-business processes
and technologies.
The materials in this workbook were developed
in order to test the proposition that suppliers need more than persuasion
- they need to understand what e-business is and how it applies
to them before they can respond. Some Sections (such as Content
and Catalogue Management) are also covered in greater detail in
other Workbooks or Guidelines.
The implications for a supplier who responds to
his customer's demands to trade electronically without this understanding
can be disastrous: he may win business but will find himself with
incremental costs (a new channel to market, the need to bring in
new skills and processes) and increased pressure on response expectations
and margins.
The workbook is organised into six sections:
Input to the Workbook - the BuyIT B2B Supplier
Workshops
Four workshops were held to pilot the materials,
involving four 'host' companies (London Borough of Newham, Rolls-Royce,
Shell, Taylor Woodrow, GuinnessUDV and Prudential) and 130 of their
suppliers.
The feedback was encouraging:
The day was considered a very worthwhile exercise
by all concerned, delegates and hosts. In particular the self-assessment
tools in Section 4-6 were highly valued and generated important
learning and dialogue.
As a result of the event, all the delegates said
they had a better understanding of what e-business could offer them,
and the event had changed their mindset.
Armed with more confidence, and largely as a result
of finding from the workshop that they are on a par with their customers
and/or competitors, many companies are planning and pressing ahead
with e-business activities, and if anything are frustrated that
they cannot go faster because of IT issues.
Although concerns remain among suppliers that
"e" systems are simply there to drive down prices - and
their profits - most recognise that they cannot avoid getting involved
in e-business.
The series established that interactive workshops
hosted by major purchasers for their suppliers not only helped the
suppliers move towards take-up of e-business - it helped the purchasers
towards a partnership trading relationship with their suppliers.
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