NMBS and Freeway

NMBS, in conjunction with e-Commerce specialist, Freeway Commerce, is launching an electronic trading portal for use by its Members and their suppliers. The Portal will allow Members to send purchase orders from their bsystems and to receive suppliers' invoices back in return. Subscription to the portal is available from just £300 per year.

The Members (typically independent builders or plumbers merchants) will benefit greatly if these messages can be integrated with their back-office systems. Users can benefit from seamless integration using XML interfaces, and can have incoming invoice messages automatically matched with orders and GRNs (goods received notes). This will introduce potentially a huge labour saving for users who will no longer need to re-key messages and will help end the paper chase in the purchase ledger department.

Suppliers will have the option of receiving orders by email, EDI or in XML format, and can create return documents on-line or by sending batches directly from their own back-office systems. There are potential cost savings for suppliers who will also be able to reduce re-keying and save on postage and stationery costs. Both Members and Suppliers should benefit from a reduction in queries and the visibility of trading transactions the portal will provide.

Kerridge Commercial Systems has announced that it will be supporting this initiative.

Ian Bendelow, Business Development Director, Kerridge Commercial Systems, commented "Kerridge Commercial Systems continues to work hard to make e-Commerce a reality for merchants and their suppliers; Kerridge Commercial Systems fully supports this initiative by NMBS and Freeway. The XML e-Trading options, in K8, allow merchants and suppliers using the Kerridge Commercial Systems' solution to take further advantage of the integration with the NMBS Portal, maximising efficiency and increasing cost savings."

Chris Hayward, Managing Director of NMBS, added "it has long been our ambition to enable our Members to engage in full electronic trading. Kerridge Commercial Systems is a major player in this market and their software is used by many of our Members and Suppliers. The fact that Kerridge Commercial Systems' users will be able to seamlessly integrate with the portal makes it an instantly attractive proposition and will help drive volume through the system right from the start."

Paul Kaye, Sales Director of Freeway Commerce, said "this is hot on the heels of the announcement by the CBA (Combined Buying Association), who are adopting an identical system using the same infrastructure and message formats. The fact that both CBA and NMBS are following this route gives a level of momentum not seen before, the costs are now affordable in anybody's terms. The support of Kerridge Commercial Systems is invaluable and can only enhance the success of the project."

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