TradeWorld, the e-trading hub, has signed an agreement with international marketplace Quadrem, which will see them merging to form one of the biggest local e-marketplaces.
The marketing agreement allows the companies to merge their respective technology strengths.
Under this agreement, TradeWorld, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tactical Software Systems (TSS), and Quadrem will deliver e-business solutions for South African clients, streamlining the procurement process from tendering or request for quotations, to purchase order and settlement notices.
In SA, Quadrem and TradeWorld process on average 43 000 requests for quotations and 29 000 purchase orders valued at R950 million every month. This volume is expected to grow at an average annual rate of over 100%.
"With the recent acquisition of TradeWorld by TSS, Quadrem and TradeWorld are now in a better position to grow their respective businesses by sharing resources and unlocking synergies," says Brandon Spear, regional VP for Quadrem Africa.
He says the partnership supports the various charters for preferential procurement in SA and makes e-business accessible to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
"If the 75 000 SMEs in this country are expected to perform in the mainstream economy, they must be able to benefit from the competitive advantages which e-business brings," adds Spear.
The agreement between Quadrem and TradeWorld includes the "procure to pay" solution SupplyCentre, an Internet-based portal that enables suppliers to receive and respond to orders and send electronic invoices.
The agreement also covers the complementary e-sourcing solution Quest, a software application for the receipt of and response to electronic tenders via the Internet, which when integrated with TradeWorld`s black economic empowerment (BEE) supplier database is especially helpful where the sourcing of BEE suppliers is an ongoing challenge, say the companies.
TradeWorld is able to interact with its large base of South African suppliers through their preferred channels - e-mail, Internet, fax messaging or tender advice centres - informing them of requests for quotations and tenders from those buyers using either Quadrem or TradeWorld.
Suppliers can then submit their quotations to TradeWorld, which in turn converts and maps the data according to the buyer`s original specifications, allowing for evaluation of quotations by the buyer.
"By combining the platform technologies, we have the ability to offer the widest spectrum of sourcing, content and transaction solutions available in SA under one roof, which is of enormous benefit to our collective client bases," says TradeWorld CEO Francois Naud'e.
"With the client bases of Quadrem and TradeWorld being geographically complementary, the alliance also gives both companies a broader national footprint."
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