Cable & Wireless Optus today launched Australia's first internationally recognised business to business e-commerce platform CWO MarketSite and the Enterprise BuySite.
Optus is the first company to implement the Enterprise BuySite e-procurement solution with more than 500 users expected on-line by mid April.
"Today Cable & Wireless Optus and Commerce One are delivering on a promise made in October 1999 to establish a business-to-business electronic marketplace in Australia and New Zealand. Our new e-commerce offering leads the way in the creation of integrated trading solutions for large enterprises," said Chris Anderson, Chief Executive, Cable & Wireless Optus.
CWO MarketSite is an electronic marketplace allowing businesses to trade online in real time. The portal links multiple buyers to suppliers, contains supplier catalogues and processes transactions.
Enterprise BuySite is an e-procurement solution providing large businesses with electronic purchasing capabilities direct to the desktops of employees. It automates the procurement process including requisitions, approvals, purchase order creation and ordering.
Cable & Wireless Optus is implementing the Enterprise BuySite solution internally to increase purchasing efficiency - by automating the process and using preferred suppliers.
"By implementing the Enterprise BuySite internally, we estimate the time to requisition and order goods will be decreased by up to 75 per cent, or 10,000 hours a year," said David Stokes-McKeon, Director of E-Solutions, Cable & Wireless Optus.
By mid April, Optus employees can order goods directly from their desktop from the following suppliers:
- Compaq (computer hardware)
- Cisco (networking hardware including routers and switches)
- Colorcorp (promotional items)
- ES Wigg (envelopes, brochures, forms)
- Framac Commercial Furniture (office furniture)
- AMS Nickaz (office furniture)
- Advanced Visuals (AV equipment)
- Corporate Express (office supplies)
- Southmark (computer hardware and software)
- EMC Corporation (enterprise data storage systems)
Both Enterprise BuySite and CWO MarketSite have been developed as part of Cable & Wireless Optus' strategic alliance with US-based e-commerce specialist, Commerce One. In the future CWO MarketSite will connect to the Commerce One Global Trading Web allowing Australian businesses to trade in the global e-commerce marketplace.
World clients in the Commerce One marketplace include General Motors, Royal Dutch/Shell, Citigroup, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Omnicell, Guess, NTT Communications, Eastman Chemical, UCLA, Cisco, Lucent and Nokia.
To deliver a comprehensive range of solutions and services Cable & Wireless Optus' strategy is to partner with key players.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Andersen Consulting will provide integration services, consulting and business process re-engineering to support companies in their migration to on-line trading.
Their experience in implementing and integrating solutions in large corporate environments will enable customers of CWO MarketSite to start trading on line efficiently and effectively.
"Partnering with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Andersen Consulting will also increase our speed to market and enable our business customers to implement these solutions quickly," said Mr Stokes-McKeon.
"We have partnered with software company FrontStep, the e-business subsidiary of Symix, to create a marketplace for the manufacturing and distribution industry. And with solution provider Mincom we will create a marketplace for the mining, government and utility industries.
"In addition, we have partnered with BEA Systems and Neon who will provide software and development capabilities to allow our e-business solutions set to communicate with organisations" legacy IT systems.
"We have not only launched CWO MarketSite, we have also implemented the procurement solution and we are already generating cost savings. The next step is to help our customers to reap the same rewards," said Mr Stokes-McKeon.
Cable & Wireless Optus will generate revenue from several different sources including transaction fees, license fees, market site access fees and catalog fees. It is expected that CWO MarketSite will generate more than 150 million transactions over the next five years.
For more information:
Stephen Woodhill
Cable & Wireless Optus
Phone: 02 9342 7850