Making Essex a better place to live and work ABC Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities E-procurement and SME Inclusion The Essex Perspective East of England Regional Workshop 3 rd November 2003

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Pete Perkin ECC e-Services Programme Manager

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Presentation Agenda The partnership Why is it important to us Our aims and targets Our approach to e-procurement What are we doing to help SMEs Progress and feedback how SMEs are processing in their e-commerce maturity

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Essex Partners

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Other Key Partners Business Link for Essex East of England Development Agency “Business-in-Essex” Essex e-Business Club Harlow Centre for Business Support Other Key Partners

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 What are our stimulates Drive costs out of the procurement process We want a strong local economy capable of meeting the challenges of the 21 st Century PSA target to be achieved by 2005 if extra government grant is to be obtained

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Why we think e-procurement should be important to SME’s May enable the reduction of costs Able to keep customers who migrate to e-procurement solutions Potential to market to a much wider customer base Customers expectations and ease of use All public sector organisations will be looking to making it a requirement of doing business with them by 2005

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 AIMS & TARGETS Aim 1 - Improve the efficiency and effectiveness in obtaining value for money from local authority procurements Target - By April 2005 Local Authorities will be engaging with all suppliers using e-procurement Aim 2 - Promote economic well-being across the county Target – By April % Essex SME’s have a significant e-commerce capability as measured against the ladder of e-enablement Aims and Targets

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Level 4: e-payment (4pts per element) can accept electronic payment; issues invoices electronically; adequate security; responds to enquiry within 24hrs; has broadband access etc… Level 3: e-ordering (3pts per element) receives orders electronically; method of customer authentication is in place; information is exchanged electronically; have broadband etc… Level 2:e-marketing (2pts per element) has own web site; has a web services catalogue; information and services are up to date; basic competence in IT is demonstrated etc… Access to Internet: SME is able to access the Internet via dial-up or cable modem; or Broadband (5 pts) Access to SME has an capability with any Internet Service Provider (ISP) - (5 pts) Indicator 1 threshold (100% of SME’s we deal with to achieve this threshold) LEVEL 1: (basic) Indicator 2 threshold (40% of SME’s to achieve this e- commerce threshold) Level 5: e-order progressing (5pts per element) personalised web services; e- commerce fully integrated into business; on-line tracking of orders; Broadband access etc… Ladder of e-enablement (UK on-line for business

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 How? – Common solution - Essex LA Marketplace Implementation of I&DeA MarketPlace a) ECC implementation commenced Jan 2003 b) Rollout to whole Authority by April 2004 c) 5 Districts started implementing in August 2004 d) 3 other Districts committed to implementing over next 6 months Essex Procurement Agency Joint contracts and procurement expertise support

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 How? - Essex LA Marketplace What is I&DeA MarketPlace Internet hosted E-procurement system for local authorities Currently processes catalogue and free text orders Planned to enhance to support e-invoicing, tendering and auctions

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 But It Will Not Work Without Enabled Suppliers Many purchasers – different models/solutions E-commerce perceived as expensive and difficult to implement Lack of IT capability and resource Where is evidence of additional business/growth?

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 What are we doing to Help Raising awareness of our suppliers of our plans Working with I&DeA to investigate the potential for a portal to breakdown the barriers to do business locally Working PLC to provide a low cost entry to e-commerce Working with ThisisEssex web site and local papers to raise awareness of e-Commerce issues and opportunities

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 What are we doing to Help Working with Business Link for Essex and UK Online for Business to provide advice and expertise to SMEs wishing to introduce or develop further e-commerce capability County events for SMEs to raise awareness (penetration!) Focused workshops by Online Business Advisors to 10 SMEs at a time, identified by councils as firms currently supplying to them on manual basis.

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 East England Development Agency Wired Communities Competition ECC acting as coordinator for successful submissions in Essex The Rodings Broadband Action Group The Chesterfords Demand Broadband Project Hatfield Heath Broadband Essex Countywide Broadband Networking Project What are we doing to Help Broadband as a Facilitator Tendring Wireless Broadband Pilot

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 What are we doing to help Supporting the Essex e-Business Club

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 What are we doing to help Planning a series of workshops for SME across county to Raise awareness of the electronic marketplace Develop e-business capacity Getting the best out of web sites Harlow Centre for Business Support acting as Pioneer in Harlow area

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 How have we progressed towards our targets so far

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Feedback on SME progress since commencement of project Most now have internet and 50% increase in number with always on connection over last 15months Good progress in infrastructure security and best practice Good progress in accepting and responding quickly to orders Slow progress on moving from their current major run on the ladder of e-enablement to the next ( basic – e- marketing – e-ordering – e-payment – e-order processing)

Essex County Council working in partnership with Association of Essex Authorities Making Essex a better place to live and work 3 rd November 2003 Local Authorities will be undertaking e- procurement for economic and political reasons We can have the best e-procurement system in the world but it will not work unless our suppliers have the appropriate e-procurement capacity as well. Probably will not be achieved by dictate alone. We need to work with and support suppliers to achieve mutual benefits Conclusions