This
is the second part of our
series on trading partner
portals. If you missed part
I read
that before continuing.
Trading
partner portals are not
inherently a bad idea.
Like many technologies
they have just been over
extended in ways that don't
necessarily make sense
for end users. In our conversations
with vendors and our review
of various trading partner
portals we have found they
do have some good uses.
First they are very good
for communicating vendor
compliance information.
In the retail world compliance
information changes daily.
Trading partner portals
provide a very effective
path to communicate shipping
requirements, labeling
requirements, vendor score
cards, and other related
information. Portals are
also very effective for
communicating store information
and standard document formats
like EDI document guides.
Unfortunately, many of
these portals have been
turned into an analysis
tool and for the reasons
we outlined in part I of
our series this is not
a good application. If
POS data is going to be
provided through the portal
it should be provide as
a simple tab delimited
text file so vendors can
simply download the data
into their analysis tool.
Vendor
portals are also very effective
for establishing vendor support
communities. Many vendors
that support retailers are
fairly small organizations.
They benefit greatly from
the ability to connect with
other non-competitive vendors
to share ideas and tips.
When the vendors improve
their capabilities the retailer
benefits too. Some of the
best portals we have reviewed
provide user groups by geographic
region and product category.
Some even go so far as to
provide user group meeting
information, agendas, and
contacts. This is a very
good use of the portal.
One technology
we would like to see more
retailers incorporate into
their trading partner portals
is RSS. Really simply syndication
(RSS) is a push oriented
technology that notifies
a vendor when news or other
information has been updated.
This greatly increases the
efficiency of communication
because a user does not need
to constantly visit the portal
and check for updates.
Come back
for part III in our series
- Achieving a single sign-on
for all your trading partner
portals.
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