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Buyers and Sellers Evolving into
Collaborators
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By Larry Lapide, VP of Research Operations, Business Applications, AMR Research Most of the discussion and early implementations
of inter-enterprise electronic trading partnerships have focused on
business-to-business e-commerce through the automation of transactions
using EDI. This is not the same as collaboration, a higher form of e-commerce
involving joint planning and scheduling. Trading partnerships evolve
in three stages, often starting with a transactional stage and moving
toward information sharing. Collaboration, the third stage, will usually
follow, building upon transactional and information-sharing infrastructures.
All three forms of electronic commerce—transactional,
information sharing, and collaborative—can improve supply chain
performance, such as reducing costs, improving asset utilization, and
increasing customer service and revenues.
Transactional
Relationships EDI-based transactional relationships
have grown dramatically over the last decade because users can get almost
immediate benefits from automating their execution activities. The use
of EDI facilitates business transactions, improves accuracy, eliminates
paperwork, and reduces costs. It improves performance in execution,
but has negligible impact on supply chain planning and scheduling. Information Sharing
The major difference in information-sharing
relationships in contrast to collaboration is that information is sent
on an FYI (for-your-information) basis, since the recipient uses the
data on an “as-is” basis. The information might include order
status and forecasts, shipment track and trace, product designs, and
inventory information. This information is immensely useful in improving
supply chain performance, helping to ensure that trading partner supply/demand
plans are synchronized. Collaboration:
Joint Planning and Action |
