E-business strategy toolkit takes off

Several of the UK's top engineering and consulting companies have announced that they are adopting a unique e-business strategy toolkit, e-BAT, as a mechanism for developing e-Business strategies

Several of the UK's top engineering and consulting companies have announced that they are adopting a unique e-business strategy toolkit, e-BAT, as a mechanism for developing e-Business strategies both internally and on behalf of their clients.

The e-business assessment tool, which was two years in development and has been endorsed by both the DTI and UK industry, enables companies and projects to move quickly from business related drivers to e-business enablers.

Industrialists and politicians at a recent e-Business summit in London confirmed that UK industry must adopt e-Business throughout the supply chain if it is to retain its position and share in the global marketplace.

Confusion over where to start is the consistently quoted reason as the biggest barrier to progress.

The UK Council for e-Business, which promotes e-business excellence in the UK engineering and manufacturing supply chains, together with the DTI, which funded its early development, aimed to provide a solution to the confusion by creating a robust toolkit to be placed in the public domain.

Working with its training partner SIGMA, which manages the UK aerospace industry's supply chain relationship programme (SCRIA), the UKCeB is providing the UK with immediate access to this robust, yet affordable business diagnostic.

The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) has recently used e-BAT for a nationwide study into the impact of e-Business on UK Aerospace and as part of the Information Society Initiative (ISI), the tool is also being considered for use throughout the UK Supply Chain Network.

e-BAT has now been demonstrated extensively across the UK, Europe and the Far East.

Reaction has been very positive with specific admiration for the method of combining both breadth and depth within a single tool.

Companies of all sizes from a variety of sectors are now planning e-BAT assessments and by the end of 2000, it is likely to have become the UK's most accepted means of establishing e-Business strategies.

Assessment using e-BAT must be undertaken by a trained and accredited e-BAT facilitator.

Large organisations may want their own facilitator for assessment and professional training can be arranged for them.

Small organisations will wish to take advantage of a pool of approved facilitators.

The UKCeB's training partner, SIGMA, brings a wealth of Supply Chain Relationship experience to the programme of facilitator training.

Software support to the process is being provided by Engage, a GKN engineering services company.

Companies such as Rolls Royce, BAE SYSTEMS and PA Consulting have all contributed to the core development of the tool and a working group regularly updates the libraries of best practice.

What's more there is an embedded library of over 3000 words of supporting best practice models.

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