AT&T drives down B2B costs

Telecommunications company AT&T Wireless has successfully trialled QAD's latest business-to-business applications, driving transaction costs down and regaining control over product distribution.

US-based AT&T was involved in beta testing eQ from QAD - an enterprise resources planning vendor (ERP) in manufacturing and distribution vertical markets. According to David Myers, senior director of eQ at QAD, the telecomms giant was able to use the solution to make its distribution channel transparent and keep tabs on inventory.

"The company previously had no control over its product from the time it left AT&T's manufacturing plant through transportation, warehousing, installation and finally to the customer. And yet the telco owned that product until it was installed at the customer's site," Myers said.

According to Myers, eQ gave AT&T visibility of its inventory at each of these stages, working with each company's back-end system regardless of vendor or platform.

And this has further implications for companies wishing to leverage relationship technology to drive growth via private or public trading exchanges, according to Paul Henderson, QAD Australia's managing director.

"[The solution] is independent of any ERP or back-end system, letting a company leverage its existing investment in enterprise applications by integrating them into a global e-business solution," Henderson said.

The solution is built on an adaptable model of customer/supplier relationships using Java and XML.

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