TradeCard’s solutions were ideal for businesses seeking to reduce costs and add efficiency to their procurement and fulfilment processes. TradeCard offered a new view of the supply chain by focusing on the financial data and documents that businesses needed in order to make informed payment decisions. TradeCard provided a good opportunity for businesses seeking significant improvements in the following areas:
- More efficient procurement/payable processes and/or fulfillment/ receivables processes
- Reduction in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and increased cash-flow predictability
- Payment cycle standardisation
- Reduction in credit facilities
- Improved document management and data quality
- Lower infrastructure costs over time
TradeCard had a very flexible approach to implementation. There was no major upfront investment or software to purchase and no expensive hardware to install; the TradeCard platform was accessible through a Web-browser. The majority of TradeCard customers integrated their ERP/SCM Order Generation system with the TradeCard platform and were able to select out-of-the-box fast-start or customised integration solutions.
Implementation of TradeCard with buyers occurred within an average of four to eight weeks, including implementation, training and process changes. With sellers, the implementation was quicker – half a day or four hours – which meant that customers could start benefiting as soon as they joined TradeCard.
According to Cavano the overall transactions market was huge, but in an economic downturn, there were sizeable potential savings in settlement fees and costs for a corporation. The TradeCard system offered value to both the buyers and sellers and they shared the costs: buyers had to buy into the subscription model to use the software, while sellers paid transaction fees.
Industry experts acknowledged TradeCard for its continued efforts to improve its technology and service, particularly in safeguarding customer confidential information. In January 2002, TradeCard became the first US company to receive the WebTrust Confidentiality Seal. TradeCard also earned the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or AICPA’s SysTrust certification for system reliability, covering the SysTrust principles of security, availability, integrity and maintainability of a system, following a separate Ernst & Young evaluation (Anonymous, 2002).