Private Exchanges Find Foothold

The ability to offer customized features and accelerate ROI makes private e-commerce exchanges ideal for enterprises seeking richer collaboration. Supplier enablement has been the intent of many public exchanges, but the goal of collaborative functions and applications on a mass-market scale remains elusive. That public exchanges have yet to deliver on this and other desired functionality leaves a natural opening, says Louis Columbus, senior analyst at AMR Research Inc.

For one large consumer packaged goods maker, balancing between public and private exchanges is relatively easy. “We like public exchanges but sometimes they take longer to get the functions we want,” says Paul Edmondson, e-business leader for the food services unit at Procter & Gamble. “The benefit of a private exchange is we get very specific information for P&G. We can customize and control more.”

Moderator Comment: What is the future of public exchanges?

It is no secret that public exchanges have had a much
tougher go of it than was predicted by the early bandwagoneers. Is private the
way to go or is there a real need for public exchanges? [George Anderson – Moderator]