The Customer:

Leading multinational bank in Poland. In order to extend its embedded vision and entrench itself in the local economy, the bank wanted to pursue a two-pronged strategy. One was to offer Internet banking to its customers, and the other was to create a business 'beyond banking' that would help it build a market leadership position in Central Europe. The latter was to be achieved through a consortium B2B e-Marketplace - with leading Polish corporate organizations as partners - which could then be expanded to cover the Czech and Hungarian markets. The objective was also to have a captive client base through this new business and cross- and up-sell banking products to them.

The Challenge:

	to develop the business concept, roadmap and business plan for the B2B e-marketplace for MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) goods and services, i.e., indirect expenditure of a corporate
	to provide the consortium members with tools to aid the implementation process
	to accomplish the above in the face of:     lack of information about the size of the market for MRO goods and services     lack of knowledge about the buying behavior of the segments targeted     low penetration of the Internet in the economy and need to educate      prospective partners about the benefits of the initiative

Methodology

	develop the business concept and obtain top-management approval for 'incubating' the proposed MRO e-marketplace
	carry out market research to understand the market size and buyer behavior with a view to selecting and prioritizing the product and service categories that would be offered on the exchange
	determine the ideal and reserve lists of prospective partners
	develop value propositions for partners, solicit their participation and obtain their commitment to work jointly on the initiative
	develop business process flows in the marketplace to support the products and services selected
	determine the architecture, evaluation criteria and an RFP for vendors of technology platforms that would support the above business process flows
	determine the business requirements for a model buyer on the e-marketplace for each category of goods and services offered
	develop the revenue and expenses projections for the initiative as part of the overall business plan

Solutions Offered

	a master project plan to carry out the activities involved in setting up the e-marketplace
	a market research questionnaire to understand the market size (MRO spend), and the buying process and behavior of the target segment
	a comprehensive framework to evaluate the e-business platform that would power the proposed e-marketplace, along with a request for proposal to competing vendors of such platforms
	a business requirements document for e-procurement for a model customer (buyer) on the e-marketplace based on a study of the existing purchase and payment process flows
	assistance in developing value propositions for prospective customers, based on an understanding of their business environment and the opportunities they could pursue
	a projection of the revenues and expenses for the medium term for the MRO e-marketplace

Customer Benefits

	speedy development of business plans and tools to provide the consortium members with a 'head start' in implementing the objectives of the initiative
	significantly reduce costs and time through leveraging the work of i-flex consultants in other regions to shorten learning curves and eliminate re-work
	capability to quickly put together a cross-functional team to address the challenges of the assignment