20 years in the making cloudBuy now starting to challenge the industry big boys by Jon Hansen

“This is an incredible win for a British company and is a massive challenge to the corporate players such as IBM who recently launched their B2B ecommerce solution. In winning the backing of the CII cloudBuy have taken a potentially non traditional approach to the market and one that might win them significant market share.” – from December 8th, 2014 business-cloud.com article Has cloudBuy forged a new channel for ecommerce? by Steve Brooks

As I read the words “incredible win for a British company” and the assertion that it is a “massive challenge to the corporate players such as IBM,” I could not help but think back to some of the comments I read  earlier this year from industry bloggers.  Not all mind you – okay maybe just one, but it is not important.

What is important is that 2015 appears to be a year of momentous breakthroughs for some long-time innovators who, after diligently pursuing their visions through the booms and the busts, and the inevitable years in the desert, are ready to finally make some noise.

When I did my research on cloudBuy late last year, and identified them as a New Wave 2014 company to watch, there was definitely something there.

Now I am not suggesting that there were not areas that gave one pause for thought.  Specifically, the supplier-side focus of their eCommerce platform, around which had been built multiple service offerings or streams.

Of course any questions relating to their approach and multiple service stream structure, were soundly answered by Lyn Duncan.  Check out her recent 4-part In The Cloud blog series that just concluded with her December 5th post What does a streamlined P2P process really mean?

The fact is that cloudBuy’s unique supplier-side approach to addressing buyer needs was a key factor in why the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) chose to use their platform for their core membership.  After all, and in referencing the single, monolithic EDI-based entities from the past, Brooks suggested that it is cloudBuy’s ability “to spread their ecommerce platform to a far wider audience quickly without the (traditional) coercive tactics” that will ultimately open the door to increased supplier buy-in and utilization.  Especially in the manufacturing sector, where CII sees the greatest potential benefit in the short-term.

Sujith Haridas, Deputy Director General of CII expressed similar sentiments when he said, “This is a very exciting initiative for us and our members. India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and manufacturing is a key component of this. The new platform will accelerate this growth.”

Manufacturing and its supply chain according to cloudBuy chairman Ronald Duncan, “is a major part of the rapidly growing $ 2 trillion Indian economy.” Duncan then added “based on our agreements to date we expect India to make a significant contribution to our future revenues as we support the Make In India campaign.”

Given that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which was founded in 1895, has “over 7200 direct members and through other national and regional bodies has an extended membership of over 100,000,” it would be reasonable to conclude that this partnership is well positioned for success both now and for many years to come.

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