BearingPoint Builds a Digital Exchange in Latin America

The Client

Proveedora Inbursa, a subsidiary of Grupo Carso in Mexico that has been in operation since 1989, establishes relationships with vendors to help integrate them into the supply chains of Grupo Carso and other firms. But the speed and efficiency of the Internet has made operators of traditional supply chains seek ways to improve based on this new technology.

The Challenge

Proveedora Inbursa's strategy was to evolve into a next generation organization that could leverage the power of the Internet to expand its services. One way was to build a horizontal digital marketplace oriented toward e-procurement. Called Eficentrum, this digital marketplace promised its trading partners significant savings over traditional systems by reducing costs and cycle times.

To build Eficentrum (www.eficentrum.com), Proveedora Inbursa selected BearingPoint, one of the world's largest systems integrators. BearingPoint developed Eficentrum's business strategy and designed a strategic plan that would allow the digital marketplace to integrate its technology with market needs in order to provide a business-oriented solution for its participants.

The Solution

In the first phase of the project, BearingPoint developed a business plan that analyzed the main components for a successful implementation and offered a broad range of strategic analysis: Financial Foundation, Business Model, Services and Solutions, Partners and Alliances, Value Proposition, Operating Alternatives, Organization and Technology Requirements. In addition to the business plan, BearingPoint used the first phase of the project to develop an implementation plan. This plan described in detail all activities needed to deploy the solution.

In the second phase and third phases of the project, BearingPoint helped configure Oracle's Oracle Exchange (OEX) system for Eficentrum's needs. Oracle Exchange, produced by Oracle Corp. (www.oracle.com), which provides software that helps power the Internet, is an Internet enterprise community development solution composed of four different modules: Oracle Market Place Exchange, Oracle Supply Chain Exchange, Oracle Transportation Exchange, and Oracle Product Develop Exchange. BearingPoint uploaded catalogs and price lists on the exchange. In addition, BearingPoint trained Eficentrum's operators and trading partners on how to use the new system and helped design and develop the digital marketplace's Web site.

Eficentrum is based on an open platform, using world-class standards to minimize integration costs and it is accessible through any Internet browser. This enables participants to quickly and simply make use of the market.

Services offered by Eficentrum include:

• Auctions and quotes
• Catalog purchasing
• Catalog management and hosting
• Item search
• Purchase orders
• Purchase agreements

The organization continues working on new added-value product development for participants of the digital market, such as electronic payments, automatic integration with administrative systems (ERPs) among others; which will soon be available.

The Benefits

Eficentrum has helped Proveedora Inbursa evolve from a traditional integrator of supply chain services to an e-business integrator. Proveedora Inbursa's objective is to integrate purchasing volumes from all the companies of Grupo Carso, TELMEX, and Grupo Financiero Inbursa, contacting different goods and service suppliers in order to integrate them to the productive chain of each company. Eficentrum aims at offering these services to the enterprise market, using Internet technologies, combined with the knowledge and expertise it already has in this area, thus seeking the operational efficiencies for its participants.