Manufacturers aware of XML but don’t know how to use it

There’s a serious web ‘content gap’ limiting the value of collaborative supply chain and other e-business initiatives among manufacturers in Europe. This is chief among findings of a survey from XML (the web language) software provider Arbortext with researcher Harte-Hanks. It revelas that 88% of manufacturers believe their website information could be improved in terms of detail, accuracy and interactivity, and 63% accept XML could help – yet 71% rate their knowledge of XML as poor or very poor. The research set out to investigate industries’ use of XML technologies to manage content, and took views from IT managers in 279 manufacturing firms across France, Germany and the UK – most in the automotive, aerospace, telecoms and general industry sectors. More than half said their problems were in the disparity between the information available internally and that visible to partners, suppliers and customers via the web. Despite poor understanding, 56% believed XML could improve this by streamlining and speeding the processes. Arbortext says the common problem is finding ways of transferring internal information to external parties in a personalised format that’s fast, easy and relatively low cost – a role precisely matched by XML technologies. “The findings highlight that the content gap is creating some very real problems for business,” says Nathan Birtle, vice president of Arbortext in Europe. “For example, the administration cycle increases with customers not being able to find what they want on-line and orders being placed for out of date items. Ultimately these customers will be lost to competitors. “XML-based single source publishing provides an effective solution. Our findings suggest that whilst an increasing number of manufacturers recognise the benefits of XML, education in this sector is still needed before the problems associated with the content gap can be resolved.” l One of the most popular e-business initiatives reported for the year ahead is to get product catalogues on-line. Of those interviewed, 56% already have product catalogues on-line, 37% have engineering information and 34% have other product and technical information.