JOINT VENTURE TO SAVE POST OFFICE MILLIONS

E-procurement and e-sourcing provider Commerce One has formed a joint venture with the South African Post Office (SAPO) which will see SAPO implementing the company’s Commerce One 5.0 software.

The venture is expected to save SAPO about R100 million a year through improved sourcing and procurement strategies.

Michael Bosman, CEO of Commerce One, says the joint venture, of which SAPO is the majority stakeholder, is “a prelude to a broader offering. The joint venture is to use the technology to prove the benefits to government as a whole.”

Bosman says the initial implementation focus will be on SAPO’s e-sourcing and e-procurement needs. The software will be deployed to about 4 000 employees across the country and be integrated into SAPO’s existing SAP enterprise resource planning system.

The implementation will serve as a reference site for future projects with state organisations, he adds. While the initial focus will be on SAPO’s internal processes and procurement, the “benefits to consumers will become evident through improvements in service delivery”.

SAPO is also looking at developing services based on the Commerce One software and is investigating services such as electronic bill presentation and payment using SAPO’s payment switch, as well as courier services and digital certificates.

Maanda Manyatshe, CEO of the SA Post Office

“SAPO expects to save millions of rands by bringing new efficiency and speed to the source-to-pay process as we gain visibility and control over our supply networks,” says Maanda Manyatshe, SAPO CEO.

“Because of the savings we expect to achieve on e-procurement solutions, we will also offer Commerce One 5.0 to other public, parastatal and private companies through an established centre of excellence. This will help other organisations and government departments to become more competitive through the adoption of an outsourced e-procurement solution, while maintaining focus on their primary business.”

Bosman says SAPO is positioning to take advantage of the changes in business which are being driven by technology. “It is very likely that SAPO will soon be one of the strongest services and e-commerce providers in the country.”

He explains that as paper-based transactions decline and electronic ones increase, SAPO is readying to provide these services, much as it has in the paper-based world.

The software solution will be deployed in full within the next 12 months and the planning stages are already well advanced.