There was some suggestion that the principal objective for supermarket suppliers should be to integrate their systems with their customers? systems and demands.

However, those present generally felt that they were complying with their supermarket customer needs and that one of the weaker points of their ITcapability was in fact downstream, with their own suppliers.

Supplier issues

?Our main issue is with our suppliers, not with our customers,? said one. ?With our customer, the system works and we know where we are going. That is not to say there can?t be improvements but our suppliers are less IT-focused.?

There are reasons for this. ?Cost is a big issue, but if we are to move forward, we need to establish a coherent two-way relationship with our suppliers. Additionally, communication with third- party partners such as hauliers is key. In many instances this is an area where there is no direct electronic communication in place.?

Many growers are not connected to the internet and therefore cannot communicate electronically, explained in part by the necessity for volume of use before any telephone exchange will offer a meaningful service to prospective users in its locality.

?Communication between us and our growers is still limited electronically and we want them to have access to information on pricing structures. It would help everybody if they could watch the day-to-day price situation rather than having to wait three or four weeks to find out that their produce was sold on promotion and they shouldn?t expect the same level of returns.?

Mobile access

The ability to access broadband through the mobile phone network is almost upon us, and Jonathan Evans of Muddy Boots said: ?Some of the key data you need to manage the business is not necessarily put into the system at a fixed point.

?It is done in the field or the orchard and rarely electronically. Access to broadband on the mobile phone will increase considerably the potential to push bigger volumes of information down the wire.?

Predictive

However, there is a need to continually upgrade and enhance IT systems in a predictive manner. ?If we were able to have the flexibility to cope with the next flavour of project our customers are likely to come up with before they do, I think we would feel more comfortable,? said another participant.

?If along the way we are given the opportunity to have some way of influencing the decisions of our IT providers, and in turn use that knowledge to influence our customers, that would assist us greatly.?

This would also help to lessen the problems encountered at all stages of the supply chain ? that five customers means five differing sets of demands. ?If there is a set of standards, all five major retailers will interpret them differently,? said user number three. ?While we are capable of coping with that, it would be good to have a system that would deal with all five in a common manner.?

The Journal will feature Global Xchange Services in a future issue, and its US marketing manager spoke at the forum about products that ?enhance supply chain orchestration? by translating the differing formats of electronic data being transferred between suppliers and customers into a common, customised format.

No standards

?There is no real standard of electronic communication,? was another comment from the round-table discussion, but others felt that there is no need for such harmonisation as long as each supplier is sufficiently IT-wise to handle its customer network.

However, Evans said:?Systems need to be able to work independently of whichever platform is available and information must be available in a universally understandable format. From the ERP end, providers need to simplify the usage and flow of information ? and that could involve a standardised way of delivering information up and down stream.

?There is potential to collaborate on base data. Standards and systems can be developed, but there are ways they can all work in concert ? infrastructurally the ERP has a big role to play in that.? l