Big Businesses Continue Move To Online Procurement
Merck & Co. is the latest large corporation to move suppliesprocurement to the Internet. In January, the $23 billion
pharmaceuticals maker will begin deploying the Operating
Resource Management System application from Ariba
Technologies Inc. for online procurement of nonproduction or
indirect supplies, on which it spends about $2 billion
annually.
Merck will be the fifth company among the 50 largest firms
in the U.S. to adopt the Internet for procurement, joining
Ford, General Electric, United Technologies, and another
Ariba customer, Chevron. Merck declines to comment, but
Ariba says Merck will begin with a two-month pilot with key
suppliers prior to a rollout at all U.S. locations that
integrates ORMS with its financial and accounting
applications. Next month, Cypress Semiconductor Corp. will
also begin using Ariba ORMS to automate part of its $75
million a year activity in indirect materials procurement.
Meanwhile, Ariba competitor Commerce One Inc. this week will
unveil new versions of its BuySite online purchasing
application and MarketSite online-catalog and order-
processing module. MarketSite 2.0 includes a new pricing
server for better compliance with supplier contract terms.
BuySite 4.0 includes new search and filtering functions
using Microsoft Index Server technology, and can now be
accessed by Windows 3.11 and Windows 98 clients as well as
Windows 95 and NT Workstation.
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