New e-procurement hub for Scottish SMEs

“Until now, electronic trading has been seen as the sole preserve of the ‘big boys’ in the corporate sector due to the prohibitive pricing of the electronic trading systems,” says John Wood, md of Scottish start-up firm Istem. “With the help of IBM and EBS we’ve developed a system which delivers the same levels of functionality as the large corporate users have come to enjoy, but at a fraction of the cost.” He’s talking about the firm’s recently launched e-commerce procurement hub for small to medium-sized cereal suppliers to Scottish farmers. And while it’s not mainstream manufacturing companies and their suppliers we’re talking about here, the challenges that cereal farmers face are similar supply chain challenges that any business faces. The aim of the new e-procurement exchange is to eliminate some of the traditional trading costs associated with farmers and their suppliers. And by collaborating directly over the web, farmers will benefit from aggregated purchasing of other commodities such as fuel, fertiliser and equipment. The Istem solution will also allow the farmers, their suppliers and their customers full supply chain visibility, traceability and accountability. Peter Logue, director IBM Global Services Scotland explains: “E-business is one key enabler to prosperity and we in Scotland have the opportunity to progress rapidly. IBM's approach is to work with companies, small and large, to understand their business opportunities and to build an e-business solution that delivers success to the bottom line.” For as little as £50 per month, users of the site can trade online and access a range of activities including identification of suppliers, order progress checks, receipt of invoices, make payments online and even logistics and transport costing.