Problem:
According to Boll Paulk, IBM's vice president of e-marketplaces. "IBM has saved about $1.7 billion since 1993 by being able to divulge sensitive price and inventory information over a private exchange built for 25,000 suppliers and customers." As the host of the exchange, the company helped defray the cost of connecting suppliers. The payoff: On-time delivery to customers soared from about 50 percent to close to 90 percent. "which helped justify the cost," Paulk says. In 1999, IBM invested in E3open, a consortia-based e-marketplace for the electronics industry. Why do you think IBM needs both a private exchange and a consortia based e-marketplace?