The ECN Group opens Trans-Tasman B2B portal

Faxed purchase orders, invoices and complex EDI with multiple supplier systems can be a thing of the past with The ECN Group’s Supplier Portal - already in use by Coles Myer, Toyota and Konica Minolta...

The purchase order lies unattended on the fax machine’s in-tray, until Sharon notices it when she tries to send another order out. She passes it on to the procurement team not noticing the handwritten note across one of the product lines. John in Accounts puts it in the buyer’s in-tray. When he gets back from lunch he tries to make out the handwritten note across the order. No luck. Two phone calls and several hours of wasted time later, the ‘out of stock’ message is communicated. Sound familiar?

The paper trail of managing various suppliers can be the bane of medium-to-large retailers. ECN’s Supplier Portal has come to the rescue for retailers and corporate procurement departments. It’s not a new concept.

ECN (formerly TEDIS), has had experience in providing the portal to large Australian companies such as Coles Myer, Toyota and Konica Minolta for some time. ECN is extending the rollout of the service to clients on both sides of the Tasman – particularly those who operate in both Australia and NZ. Whitcoulls, for example, is one trans-Tasman business taking advantage of ECN Group’s regional messaging expertise.

Parent company A&R Whitcoulls Group uses ECN’s B2B document exchange to handle 50,000 purchase orders and invoices each month, replacing the work of 18 full-time equivalent positions - a big saving in a tight labour market.

A&R Whitcoulls Group previously had a centralised system which worked with larger suppliers. But smaller suppliers – often just as important as some larger ones – didn’t have the infrastructure to be able to trade electronically.

While most purchase orders on both sides of the Tasman are placed with a core group of 20 suppliers, the full supplier list runs to around 1000. This was no small problem – and nor is it unique to Whitcoulls. It is specifically this problem that ECN is addressing as a generic service with the web-based portal.

In simple terms the Supplier Portal provides a common language for buyers and suppliers, without suppliers having to change their finance systems or invest in new hardware or software. The Portal provides a secure, web-based channel for the buyer-supplier relationship. Instead of trying to integrate with an array of different systems for different suppliers, the Portal allows buyers to send purchase orders electronically. The supplier receives an email, and then logs on to the Portal to see a summary of all purchase orders.

In return the supplier sends a purchase order acknowledgement back to the buyer, and, if the buyer specifies, an advanced shipping notice. The Portal also handles invoicing, issuing of credit notes, and remittance advices.

 The advantage for both buyers and larger suppliers is that they can aggregate information on customers and/or suppliers. This also enables them to see key trends as they occur.

“Sometimes the suppliers are larger than the retailers,” says Tim Woodham, business development manager for The ECN Group, “so they will use us to aggregate orders from a number of different retailers into one portal. They’ve got a single interface for all of their orders rather than going to multiple websites.” As well as providing a birds-eye-view of purchasing activity, all documents such as invoices and purchase orders are downloadable as CSV or PDF files.

In the past, EDI integration and B2B messaging between the buyer’s and the supplier’s system was the only way to ensure a smooth, fast flow of transaction information, and then only for the individual buyers and sellers involved. ECN Group’s Supplier Portal makes it easy for retailers to run the same system for multiple suppliers, without a large impact on the suppliers’ businesses.

“We facilitate electronic trading between the buyer and the supplier by making it simple,” says Woodham. He says traditionally ECN has built integration directly on a customer-by-customer basis. “System to system integration like that is sometimes too complex for smaller suppliers. Some suppliers don’t necessarily have the capability to do that, so this provides them with an electronic interface that doesn’t have any impact on their own systems.”

For more information
The ECN Group
www.ecngroup.com.au
Tim Woodham
Phone +61 2 8905 4800

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