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Once registered for the service, would-be bidders can compete with other businesses, in real time, as a way to cuts costs when buying so called non-branded products or tenders from multiple suppliers. Parties interested in posting a product or tender on the site are required to sign an agreement with Esat defining the terms, length and cost of the auction.
Esat then gives the supplier the ability to post items to its auction and suppliers control the terms of bidding and perimeters of the event. Suppliers can put as many items up for action as they desire within a pre-established time frame with Esat.
Suppliers are also responsible for attracting and validating bidders, though Esat says it will provide suppliers with all the technical support they need to confidently and competently run their own auctions.
To participate in the auction services, buyers need an Internet connection and a standard Internet browser, such as Internet Explorer v4, v5.0 or v5.5 or Netscape Navigator 4.73. The application was created by Commerce One and is licensed to Esat through its parent company BT.
"Until now, the cost and complexities involved in implementing e-procurement prevented many companies from benefiting from on-line trading," claimed Richard Cooke, Esat's chief executive officer. "However the ASP model behind Auction Services from Esat Business will allow companies of all sizes to experience the many advantages of e-procurement."
The ASP (application service provider) model means that users do not need to maintain servers or hire technical staff to update and monitor the auctions since it is entirely Internet-based. The software that is required to run the application from the users' PC is available over the Net, and can be quickly downloaded.
According to Esat, the site is equipped with multiple language, currency and time-zone functionality.
It also will feature both traditional (forward) and reverse bidding. Reverse bidding is a system whereby buyers are able to invite suppliers to bid against tenders that may be very tightly defined on parameters beyond merely cost -- such as country of origin or delivery time.
Esat, which is a subsidiary of British Telecom, said in October of 2001 that it wanted to increase Esat Business revenues by IEP5 million a year and according to Lindsay Grant, product manager for Auction Services at Esat Business, the new auction service is part of the company's drive to ramp-up its business communications and application offerings. Grant told ElectricNews.Net that the company has additional plans to roll-out all of Commerce One's e-business and e-procurement portfolio in the coming months.
The same Commerce One-based application was rolled out in the UK in March 2001, through BT Ignite, and has since been launched in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. Although the Esat auction service will be branded as an Esat product, BT Ignite is the driving force behind the service, Grant said.
He said the service was available immediately and that Esat would begin a sales and marketing drive to attract new customers. "There are a few companies that we think will be interested right away and in long-term we expect take-up to be pretty good," Grant said.
The launch of the new service comes after Esat admitted earlier this year that BT had given the company around two years to reach profitability, although it did not say what the consequences would be if the goal was not met. But the company announced in mid February that it would cut 200 jobs in Ireland in order to help it reach that goal.
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