Chase and Deloitte join to provide eprocurement services

Chase Manhattan Bank has formed a joint venture with Deloitte & Touche to provide customers with end to end 'purchase to payment' eprocurement services.

The two will be equal partners in the as yet unnamed company, which is due to be formally launched next quarter and will supply Internet technology and services to large organisations that buy and sell office supplies over the Internet. A chief executive will be announced in the next month.

The firm will also provide integrated payables management by linking together different firms' purchase and payment processes. The aim is to manage $150 billion in transactions by 2001.

Denis O'Leary, Chase's executive vice president and head of Chase.com, claimed that eprocurement technology and the need to redesign business processes would streamline organisations' purchasing procedures, and the service would lower the cost of purchased goods by up to 30 per cent.

This would provide companies with savings of between $200 and $350 million per year, he attested.

The offering will be targeted at 1000 companies and will handle 'indirect" procurement or items not related to the company's core business. The venture has already signed Intelisys Electronic Commerce, Chase's eprocurement provider, to supply it with Web based procurement applications and to help it establish online purchasing communities.

Doug McCracken, chairman of Deloitte & Touche US, claimed that although many firms were entering this space every day, "this sets a whole new standard, online or otherwise".

First, he attested, "this is a complete solution which will set us apart from competitors today. And second, we have made a commitment to maintain open technology standards with all procurement and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications."