Barclays is trying out other net initiatives, including online procurement for small businesses.
According to Keith Krach of Ariba, a leading B2B-software vendor, online procurement reduces transaction costs and paperwork, provides economies of scale through consolidated purchasing and reduces the level of unapproved "maverick" purchasing.
Some of the newer platforms even allow online procurement and contracting between different parties linked to the network [3, 19, 20, 21, 22].
Most companies are still discovering how to do online procurement, and how to deal electronically with their customers.
We calculate that savings could reach £10bn if the UK matched international best practice, but these will not be realised unless officials fully grasp the potential of online procurement channels.
PurchasePro.com –Based in Las Vegas, PurchasePro is rolling the dice in the fast-growing field of online procurement.
Hoffman, 53, runs Commerce One cmrc, an online procurement company that staged one of the most successful initial public offerings of 1999.
As chief executive of Tejari, an online procurement service, Lubna regularly hobnobs with higher-ups at customers like HSBC, Emirates Airlines and officials of Dubai's government.
"The technology is two-thirds of the reason we can negotiate low prices," said Matthew Lekstutis, a senior vice president of EDS CoNext, an online procurement service.
