ICT and e-Business Impact in the Retail Industry - empirica

e-Business in the Retail Sectormet these criteria. Globus has now successfully been co-operating with thistechnology partner for the last seven years.Involving stakeholders and close co-operation with the technology providerhelps to ensure user acceptance. Managers at Globus are convinced that the e-procurement-system only works, if it is fully accepted by the users and fulfils theirspecific needs. Therefore, Globus organised several workshops, at which users ofthe system and technology partners worked jointly on the specification of thetechnical system.E-procurement is a long-term project and always work in progress. Globus hascome to realise that an e-procurement system is never fully developed,requirements change continuously and adjustments have to take place at all times.Moreover, the firm is convinced that the acceptance of a new system increases, ifsuggestions for improvements from users are taken into consideration. Therefore,the procurement managers at Globus are continuously exchanging ideas aboutfurther system development with both users and technology provider.5.2.3 ImpactSince the implementation of the new electronic system, procurement processes havechanged completely. The new system provides a basis to procure indirect goods in amuch more organised way. Regarding procurement at Globus, Mr. Ortner refers to thefollowing key benefits:Streamlined procurement processes. Compared to the former situation, theprocurement of MRO goods at Globus is much more streamlined. Departments justhave to indicate their needs on customised catalogues that can be imported to thee-procurement system by a single mouse click. Contact persons at the stores canpool demands and set up orders electronically without any additional paper work.Suppliers receive orders immediately and can process them directly within theirsales systems. And finally, invoices can be checked automatically by comparingdata on the invoices with the data stored in the system. Thus, less people, lesstime, and less manual work are needed to set up an order or to check an invoice.Focus on core business activities. By means of the new e-procurement system,single departments within the stores can focus on core business activities. ‘Todaythe butcher is focused on running his butchery and the baker is focused on runninghis bakery, rather than dealing with suppliers of MRO goods by fax or telephone’.(Mr. Ortner)Basis for strategic procurement activities and consolidation of buying power.Since information about procurement activities is easily available, arising expensescan be traced back and analysed by various statistic tools. In turn, the findingsprovide a proper basis for consolidating the supplier base and negotiatingfavourable framework contracts. Due to the pooling of MRO needs, larger orderquantities could be realised and prices were negotiated anew. ‘As a result ofstrategic procurement activities, prices came down by about 20% on average’. (Mr.Ortner)Advantages for MRO suppliers. Suppliers that are connected to the e-procurement system benefit as well: electronic orders are directly assigned to thesales systems of the suppliers. As a consequence of this improved coordination of134