Business-to-Business platforms such as those adopted by A*Star’s Research Support Centre (RSC) are closed systems. This is because they serve an ecosystem that has been defined by RSC, which is the research community in Singapore. Anyone who wishes to participate in the ecosystem will have to be approved by RSC before being updated into the system. For such closed systems, how then does collaboration take place?
Closed Systems versus Open Systems
Closed systems are typically adopted by Business-to-Business platforms for security reasons. Interactions only occur in a safe environment among the elements in the platform.
In open systems such as e-marketplaces, companies can obtain new suppliers or buyers for products, and the processes are streamlined so that negotiating, settlement, and delivery becomes more efficient. Currently e-marketplaces exist in many different industries, including eBay, Amazon and Alibaba.
E-marketplaces can be structured in several different ways. One way to structure a marketplace is similar to eBay, where the market maker is neither a buyer or seller, but a neutral third party. Other e-marketplaces are set up as a consortium of sellers that leverage their combined power to efficiently sell their products to buyers. Buyers can also set up a marketplace to reduce their costs and obtain better purchasing terms.
Integration versus Collaboration
Because integration requires connection of two systems for exchange of data, system security, compliance and access to proprietary information are issues that are very difficult to resolve. Therefore “Collaboration” is preferred over integration. Collaboration is a situation in which multiple parties converge toward a common goal.
In collaboration, team members only access the part of the data required to meet a goal. The goal can be to share inventory status so that auto-replenishment orders can be triggered when replenishment levels are reached. Another common goal is to provide delivery status visibility as most logistics are outsourced to third party logistics providers.
Maturity
As time progresses, members of the platform want to increase productivity and therefore would reach out to the broader ecosystem to collaborate. For example, collaboration can be with Government Agencies where trade documents need to be submitted.
Companies who wish to start their Digital Transformation journey or discuss the implementation of Digital Transformation can contact us at sales@zooloo.asia. We would be happy to hear from you.
Explore more
- Read about The Digital Transformation Journey
- Learn more about our “Digital Backbones”
- Learn more from our eBook series on Digital Transformation for Wholesale Trade
