Collabor8

2005 Consensus Software Awards

Product Description

The Mercury Advisory Group is behind this internet-based, collaborative “order-to-door” global supply chain management system. It was created so that enterprises, no matter how large or small, could manage their supply chains electronically and eliminate the mundane parts of supply chain management, by allowing Collabor8 to takeover and manage the entire process.

Collabor8 has been designed to be independent of any participant within the supply chain, and thus, does not rely on the utilisation of the services of any particular participant within the supply chain, including transport and/or freight forwarding organisation.

Other advantages of Collabor8 are:

(1)   It allows SME organisations to be able to send, receive and manipulate EDI messages, thus enabling various legacy systems to be able to communicate electronically without the need to spend huge amounts on interfacing systems.

(2)   Single point of access for all information.

(3)   Real time access to order and shipment information.

(4)   No upfront capital expenditure is required, as Collabor8 works on a usage fee per transaction.

(5)   Enables users to create documents within Collabor8 or Collabor8 can receive electronic documents in many formats, and these electronic documents can then be “re-configured” to suit the requirements of the recipient. These formats include UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12 and XML messages.

(6)   Collabor8 is a seamless and transparent system.

(7)   Collabor8 captures all information and documentation required by the supply chain.

(8)   Collabor8 can be utilised for the electronic management of both international and domestic supply chains.

(9)   Electronic messaging and prompting ensures that you or staff do not have to worry about follow-ups, as all the information can be received and stored in the Collabor8 database.

(10)  Automatic and immediate reconciliation of orders to packing lists to commercial invoices.

Auto checking of all freight and service provider fees and charges.

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Innovation

There are many products that will move data packets from one site to another, and there are many logistics organisations that will “track and trace” shipments (with Purchase Orders attached) for a client, as long as they are handling the cargo. But no organisation actually supplies software that enables the purchaser, or supplier, of the goods to manage their own supply chains.

Collabor8 allows any organisation, from the “one-man band” to the multi-national organisation to manage their supply chains without having to be subjected to service providers whom they do not wish to use, but do so because they offer some kind of supply chain management services.

Collabor8 is an ASP, and as a result, all data is held and disseminated from a central data warehouse, and it also comprises an algorithm that manages the purchase orders from when they are first placed right through to fulfilment of the purchase order, non matter how many shipments it takes to fulfil, and no matter how far or close the supplier is. The algorithm sends out pertinent emails to various participants within the supply chain and waits for responses so that it can update its database and then send out status emails to the relevant participants of the supply chain.

Don’t be fooled by the so called supply chain management systems suppliers, such as SAP and J D Edwards, because they also need Collabor8 to manage their users’ “outside” world suppliers. What generally happens with these very expensive systems is that they manage the internal workings of the supply chain very well; however, they wait for an operator to enter information such as when a particular product or part will arrive, in order to successfully manage the supply chain. If the operator is away or having a bad day, the information is not entered and the system can not complete its task. Collabor8 eliminates all of this, and puts the onus, via email, on the pertinent participant, to respond to that email, once responded Collabor8 then can, itself, update the likes of the SAP systems. Thus eliminating mundane tasks from operators, as well as ensuring more timely information flow.

Performance

With approximately 150 users, ranging from small to medium sized companies to multi-national organisation, Collabor8 is a very useful application. Our intention is to keep on developing and enhancing Collabor8’s abilities to the extent that they satisfy all types of organisations – small and large. Obviously, being an ASP, one of its major attractions is its user pay principle, whereby the user only pays for usage. We can achieve this because we have made it so simple to use that it takes approximately 1 to 2 hours to have any sized organisation up and running.

Potential

With more and more organisations looking at to become more efficient and how to better utilise resources, especially human resources, Collabor8 has a huge world-wide appeal.

Other information the judges should know

Overseas Assistance

There are already international users of Collabor8, but this has eventuated more from the fact that local (Australian) companies are using Collabor8 to manage their international supply chains, and as a result, their suppliers have seen the advantages of utilising an application, such as Collabor8 and have commenced using it.

We have done no international marketing, because we believe that we need more time to test and enhance Collabor8 in Australia; however, our aim is to market it in the international arena.

content copyright © Mercury Advisory Group Pty Limited
format copyright © Consensus Pty Ltd
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