Lack of third party integration restrains UK business. (Internet News).

Shops and banks are missing Out when it comes to the opportunities offered by collaborative commerce, according to new research. Conchango, commissioned ICM Research to look at business attitudes towards customer, supplier and partner relationships. It also examined the extent to which technology integration, including Web services, was being used to streamline supply management on a one-to-many basis, between organisations and third parties.

ICM questioned 130 senior IT professionals across the retail and finance sectors about their knowledge of Web services and the challenges their companies are facing throughout 2002. The research was commissioned by Conchango and co-funded by Microsoft.

The findings revealed that over one third of financial institutions feel they have poor technology integration with suppliers, brokers and intermediaries. Half of retailers questioned believe they are not sufficiently aligned with their suppliers. Additionally, 39% of IT directors from both the retail and finance sectors admitted that their business was not well connected to customers through technology. One in five IT directors and managers cited a lack of in-house Skills or resources as the main hindrance to improving communications between partners and third parties. Lack of budget and software compatibility followed closely behind. However, those questioned were taking steps to improve customer and supplier relationships. When asked which projects they were looking to run within the next 12 months more than half of those surveyed (56%) planned to implement Web services. They feel it will provide an easier, standardised way to integrate their applications and platforms and communicate with partners and sup pliers. This highlights the move towards opening up systems to improve communications, instead of relying on single applications to streamline contact with customers and employees.

Comment: The finance and retail sectors can benefit more than most from streamlined communications since they operate in a fast-moving supply-demand environment. Businesses are recognising, however, that profitability doesn't just come down to the applications you use it's actually about how to use them to run your organisation. A lot of clients are talking about opening up systems and processes to customers and suppliers, through Web services projects, Extranets and portals. This reflects the role that an open strategy is playing today in achieving cost efficiencies and improved revenues.Microsoft .NET technologies and the use of XML provide organisations with the ability to seamlessly connect to suppliers, as well as employees, in real time, saving time and money. UK customers who have adopted Web services, such as Marks & Spencer and Nationwide, can testify that integrating with suppliers can provide massive business benefits. The combination of the simplicity, universal agreement and Internet-based access ibility of Web services holds much promise for organisations looking to improve relationships with customers, suppliers and partners.

Delivering on that promise will depend on sophisticated development, operational and commercial infrastructure, much of which is lacking today, together with systems integration expertise. Over the next two years we will see enterprises piloting the use of Web services to enable existing relationships, with more widespread commercial use following as these critical infrastructure services become available. Their use to enable dynamic and transient business, however, remains a longer term vision, www.conchango.com