A Win-Win Project
Much like the consumer goods market, the retail industry experienced a swell in the number of outsourcing deals signed to support business and technology investments. One example, Hannaford Brothers, a grocery retailer operating in the Northeast United States, enlisted Infosys to develop a business-to-business (B2B) portal to improve relationships with suppliers and make the company easier and more profitable to work with.
Supplier Focus
Over the years, Infosys supported Hannaford's business transformation through a variety of ongoing projects. Considering its previous record of success, Hannaford leaned on Infosys once again to support a supplier outreach effort. A B2B portal, developed by Infosys but maintained by Hannaford, focuses on five main areas, which provide as much benefit to Hannaford's suppliers as it does to the retailer. Here's how it works:
1. Partner Payments - This solution provides suppliers and/or brokers an interface to directly obtain all payment related documents and information pertaining to them. The portal allows suppliers to track status of invoices/payments. Smaller suppliers with no EDI capability can electronically create and submit invoices.
2. Costs & Deals - The Costs & Deals system facilitates electronic communication of change in product costs and deals (allowances) between the suppliers (and/or brokers) and Hannaford. The product costs and deals submitted by suppliers are accepted as contractually binding, eliminating paper work and reducing lag time associated with communicating changes in product costs or deals.
3. New Item Workflow - The B2B portal also enables suppliers to electronically submit new products and their attributes to the New Item Workflow system, thus accelerating the course of new items being processed by Hannaford and introduction into its stores. This enables increased/faster sales of new products for the supplier as well as a faster time to market.
4. Nexgen Appointment Management System - The Next Generation Appointments system on the portal connects Hannaford with its suppliers and transportation partners to optimally schedule appointments to make the regular shipments to Hannaford warehouses. Wait times for the supplier/carrier in the yard are reduced (in peak times) by optimal scheduling. Preferred partners can receive standing appointments (advance recurring appointments).
5. Web User Maintenance - Suppliers/brokers are able to set up, without Hannaford's assistance, all the users that require access to various applications on the portal. This reduces the lead time required to gain access to the various applications on the Hannaford B2B portal and gives better controls on who has access to Hannaford's B2B portal.
Supplier Focus
Over the years, Infosys supported Hannaford's business transformation through a variety of ongoing projects. Considering its previous record of success, Hannaford leaned on Infosys once again to support a supplier outreach effort. A B2B portal, developed by Infosys but maintained by Hannaford, focuses on five main areas, which provide as much benefit to Hannaford's suppliers as it does to the retailer. Here's how it works:
1. Partner Payments - This solution provides suppliers and/or brokers an interface to directly obtain all payment related documents and information pertaining to them. The portal allows suppliers to track status of invoices/payments. Smaller suppliers with no EDI capability can electronically create and submit invoices.
2. Costs & Deals - The Costs & Deals system facilitates electronic communication of change in product costs and deals (allowances) between the suppliers (and/or brokers) and Hannaford. The product costs and deals submitted by suppliers are accepted as contractually binding, eliminating paper work and reducing lag time associated with communicating changes in product costs or deals.
3. New Item Workflow - The B2B portal also enables suppliers to electronically submit new products and their attributes to the New Item Workflow system, thus accelerating the course of new items being processed by Hannaford and introduction into its stores. This enables increased/faster sales of new products for the supplier as well as a faster time to market.
4. Nexgen Appointment Management System - The Next Generation Appointments system on the portal connects Hannaford with its suppliers and transportation partners to optimally schedule appointments to make the regular shipments to Hannaford warehouses. Wait times for the supplier/carrier in the yard are reduced (in peak times) by optimal scheduling. Preferred partners can receive standing appointments (advance recurring appointments).
5. Web User Maintenance - Suppliers/brokers are able to set up, without Hannaford's assistance, all the users that require access to various applications on the portal. This reduces the lead time required to gain access to the various applications on the Hannaford B2B portal and gives better controls on who has access to Hannaford's B2B portal.