News
News Items Archive: 2007 | 2006
November 2007: MIAA Conference '07
In mid-October Pacific Commerce was the bronze sponsor of the MIAA conference, Medical Technology and Innovation 2007, Building Better Healthcare in Australia.
Attendees were able to attend a series of presentations and seminars on a wide range of health related issues. Of particular interest to us were those by Phil Ruthven of IBISWorld and Bernard Salt from KPMG, whose talks covered the impacts of changing population factors on the Australian healthcare landscape.
The MIAA have already received positive feedback from the delegates and promise to build on those positives and make next year's conference even better.
November 2007: Distributor now integrated with Boulevard
Distributor, the GS1net-compliant data validation and upload tool from Pacific Commerce, is now available as a fully integrated module to our product data management system Boulevard. This will increase the functionality of Boulevard in such a way that users will be able to centralise and manage all of their product data in one location and have Distributor validate and upload that data to GS1net.
If you are interested in seeing how the integrated combination of Boulevard and Distributor could enhance your data management, call us for a demonstration.
November 2007: Changes on Exchanges
Trading Exchanges operated by Pacific Commerce continue to grow and gain momentum. Companies already trading on the exchanges have facilitated the connection of their close trading partners and new companies are also realising the cost benefits of trading online.
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) recently moved their trading activity from their existing VAN to the Pacific Commerce's Exchange (PCX). The move involved migrating approximately 60 suppliers from their previous network to the PCX in just two months. As well as having moved all their suppliers over so quickly, API is also enjoying substantially reduced monthly costs by trading with the PCX.
The Timber & Hardware Exchange (T&HE) continues to grow with two new additions. Queensland home garden producer Searles and iconic Australian workwear manufacturer Yakka both recently went live on the T&HE.
If there are any of your suppliers who you believe should be trading with you online, or if you would like to be connected to an existing Pacific Commerce customer, contact our sales team on (02) 9468 3333 or email here.
November 2007: More Exchange News
The Pacific Health Exchange (PHE) has also seen an increase in activity with Queensland Health Pharmacy and the Auckland District Health Board (in NZ) now both trading live with Baxter Healthcare. ACT Health is currently undergoing implementation to join them shortly.
A number of existing PHE clients are also now connected and trading through the PHE with the private hospital group Healthscope. Among those are CH2, Baxter and BBraun.
Hospitals using the Pharmos software will be trading on the PHE shortly, with the rollout now in progress.
November 2007: Web Development
There has been plenty of activity on the Pacific Commerce's web development front recently, with the Peter Trends Bridal website going live and the revamp of the 6 Glenvale Publications websites now underway.
Peter Trends Bridal is a family-owned Australian bridal wear and gown company with a 25 year history. The website has now had its first major makeover and looks as elegant as the bridle wear it displays.
Glenvale Publications is a successful Melbourne-based publishing house. Pacific Commerce has been given the task of refreshing the group's 6 websites, each of which supports one of Glenvale's outstanding magazines. These magazines include Australian Hardware Journal, Auto Parts and Accessories, Golf and Sports Turf Australia, Greenworld and Power Equipment Australia.
November 2007: Online Marketing
Our web development team has also experienced considerable success recently in online marketing for Autodesk. With help from Pacific Commerce, Autodesk was able to exceed their expected customer survey response, reaching their 4 month target in just 2 days!
Electronic Direct Mail (eDM) created by Pacific Commerce consisted of building a new website devoted to the 25th anniversary of Autodesk's AutoCAD computer-aided design software. The micro site consists of an interactive timeline, trivia game, user case studies and a customer survey.
Pacific Commerce also designed an eDM to be emailed to Autodesk customers in the ASEAN region to encourage them to visit the new micro site and take the customer survey. Response to the survey exceeded expectation when 850 responses were received in the first two days, much quicker than the expected 100 to 1000 responses over four months Autodesk had hoped for.
November 2007: New Blood
Three new recruits have recently joined the growing Pacific Commerce team - Daniel Gatto, Owen Yang and Russell Jones.
Daniel comes to us with a solid background in EDI and client support with companies such as Cisco Systems and Telstra eCommerce. He has provided eCommerce support and account management for industry sectors including Automotive, Customs and Quarantine. Daniel joins us as Project Assistant and will be contributing to client training and assisting with new project implementations.
Owen Yang has joined our Technical Support team. Owen has a business degree in eCommerce, a degree in IT and experience in support and customer service. His duties with Pacific Commerce will include handling system and customer support issues, and providing technical assistance in project implementations.
Our new Marketing Assistant is Russell Jones. Recently graduating with a business degree majoring in marketing, Russell's main duties will be in coordinating promotion of the company, producing corporate communications, carrying out our upcoming customer satisfaction surveys and conducting other relevant market research.
We hope you'll all have the chance to speak to and meet Daniel, Owen and Russell in the not too distant future.
November 2007: Have Your Say
Pacific Commerce we be conducting an online customer satisfaction survey in the coming weeks. The survey will provide us with feedback on all aspects of our products and services so that we can improve our processes in order to better serve our customers.
The survey will be launched in late November /early December so that results can be published and actioned upon in the New Year.
If you do not receive an invitation for our survey and would like to participate please contact Russell on (02) 9468 3333 or by email .
November 2007: Pacific Commerce Website Gets a Facelift
Pacific Commerce has a brand new website! Our web designers have designed the site to be more user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing for our users. The new look better represents the company, is cleaner and easier to navigate.
Information on all Pacific Commerce products and services are now easier to find; see for yourself at www.pacificcommerce.com.au. Keep an eye out for future updates including a gallery of our Online Marketing work.
August 2007: Healthcare Suppliers Select Distributor
Coloplast, Bunzl Australasia, Terumo Corporation and Medtronic Australasia are the latest healthcare providers to sign up to use the Pacific Commerce hosted Distributor service.
Distributor is a GS1 certified product which is designed to help suppliers simplify the process of validating, uploading and maintaining their product and pricing data onto both EANnet and the National Product Catalogue.
Other healthcare providers working with Pacific Commerce & Distributor are Kimberly-Clark, Cardinal Health, Baxter Healthcare, Becton Dickinson, Clifford Hallam Healthcare and Bard Australia.
August 2007: Paccom supports Autodesk Solution Day events
Pacific Commerce has provided Web marketing support to Autodesk for their Solution Day events. These annual events are held in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. In support of the events and others like them, Pacific Commerce provides registration forms and reporting, the production and tracking of electronic direct mail invitations and confirmations, and publishing services for the Autodesk Web site.
August 2007: T&HE site relaunched
We've given the Timber & Hardware Exchange Web site a facelift. The site is a portal for over 130 timber & hardware suppliers, offering catalogue services, a timber & hardware suppliers' directory, and a document tracking system.
The site allows trading partners to monitor the progress of their trading business documents as they travel through the Timber & Hardware Exchange (hosted by Pacific Commerce).
The site can be found at; http://www.timberhardware.com.au If you would like to advertise on the site, just give us a call on 02 9468 3333.
August 2007: New Melbourne-based BDM joins Pacific Commerce
Matt Wilcox, previously employed by the Timber & Hardware Exchange to expand it's reach, has joined Pacific Commerce. Based in Melbourne, Matt will still be involved in expanding the membership of the T&HE, but he will also be looking to expand the use of Pacific Commerce products and services throughout Victoria. Welcome aboard, Matt!
August 2007: Paccom's crushing win
Our neighbours in St Leonards are Leighton Holdings - a nice group of people, but terribly smug because of their rising share price. The team at Paccom recently challenged Leightons to a volleyball match. It was a hard-fought contest, but the "really nice people who make things that work" came out on top. Needless to say, the Leighton's share price took a dive on the news of Paccom's crushing win!
August2007: BD goes live with Boulevard
Global medical technology supplier Becton Dickinson has completed the implementation and testing of Boulevard - the product data management system from Pacific Commerce. The system has been installed in BD's North Ryde facility and will provide the company's Australian staff with access to BD's most up-to-date product and pricing data.
Boulevard has been integrated with BD's SAP enterprise resource planning system so that all critical data can be downloaded, amended if required and presented to sales, marketing and customer service staff using powerful search and presentation features.
Boulevard also has an integrated data validation module (called Distributor) which enables BD staff to validate all data bound for the National Product Catalogue (NPC), using all the NPC validation rules. Validated data can then be automatically uploaded to the NPC at the push of a button.
Boulevard will also help the Sales team respond quicker to tender requests using its search and export facilities. Future enhancements may see Boulevard directly interfacing to the product pages of BD's website, ensuring that all products shown on the site are current and accurately represented.
Becton Dickinson expects the use of both Boulevard and Distributor to provide them with significant time and cost savings.
August 2007: Autodesk Marketing Activities now tracked
Pacific Commerce has built and is currently hosting a Web-based system that allows Autodesk's resellers and distributors throughout the ASEAN region to keep track of their marketing activities. The system allows the resellers to apply for funding from Autodesk for specific activities and enables Autodesk staff to agree to or decline each activity. The system also enables Autodesk staff to report on quarterly marketing spend.
August 2007: CH2 chooses Boulevard
Clifford Hallam Healthcare, Australia's largest distributor of healthcare products and services to healthcare institutions and professionals, has selected Boulevard from Pacific Commerce to manage its vast catalogue of product and pricing data. The system, to be installed in CH2's Dandenong head office, also includes the upstream and downstream Distributor modules for uploading and downloading data to & from the National Product Catalogue.
With over 900 suppliers, CH2 has a massive array of product data to manage. The use of Boulevard is intended to greatly simplify this task and should enable more accurate inclusion of suppler data into CH2. Boulevard may also be integrated with the CH2 Web site, ensuring that a complete, accurate and up-to-date catalogue of products is always available through the website.
The project, which is to be carried out in a number of phases, should see Boulevard go live within CH2 before the end of the year.
August 2007: CSL online ordering system goes live
An online ordering system developed by Pacific Commerce for global biopharmaceutical company CSL Limited has now gone live. The system was developed for the Bioplasma division to enables CSL's customers to order bioplasma products directly through a secure component of the CSL Web site.
The online ordering system simplifies the ordering process for customers; it ensures that the right products are ordered by approved customers, and that the products are delivered to the correct address. The system interfaces directly to CSL's enterprise resource planning system so that orders taken can be efficiently logged, serviced, tracked and reported on.
August 2007: Visit us at Medical Technology & Innovation 2007
The Medical Industry Association of Australia (MIAA) is hosting the'Medical Technology and Innovation 2007' conference on 17th & 18th October at Sydney's Convention & Exhibition Centre. The conference aims to address the key issues facing the medical technology industry.
International and Australian experts will examine the healthcare landscape, trends, and future opportunities in the light of an ageing population, government regulation, international markets, innovation, the economy and the healthcare system.
Pacific Commerce is a proud sponsor of the conference. We'll be exhibiting in the Bayside Gallery on both days. Come and say hello!
May 2007: Kimberly Clark now 'EANnet ready'
Health & Hygiene products supplier Kimberly-Clark has received the tick of approval from GS1 Australia and is now'EANnet ready’ with its retail products.
Kimberly-Clark Australia (KCA) is a household name with consumer brands including Kleenex®, Cottonelle®, Huggies®, Wondersoft®, Viva®, Poise®, Depend® and Thick & Thirsty®. Having a large number of products lines and a customer base that stretches the length and breadth of Australia and New Zealand, Kimberly-Clark is an innovator when it comes to supply chain technology and efficiency.
Utilising the EANnet validation & upload tool Distributor from Pacific Commerce, KCA’s retail product & pricing data has finally been fully loaded onto EANnet. This will enable its trading partners Coles & Metcash to download accurate data directly into their computer systems and place electronic orders on KCA through the Pacific Commerce Exchange.
KCA E-Business Supply Chain Manager Mario Carniato said, "We’re strong advocates of EANnet and the benefits of data synchronisation. We’re delighted that we’re now EANnet ready and expect to see significant benefits across the supply chain process using EANnet."
KCA intends to send regular updates to EANnet via Pacific Commerce & Distributor later this month.
May 2007: Baxter gets to NPC using Distributor
Baxter Healthcare has selected EANnet validation & upload tool Distributor from Pacific Commerce to help load its product & pricing data onto the National Product Catalogue.
Baxter Healthcare assists healthcare professionals and their patients with the treatment of complex medical conditions, including hemophilia, immune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma and other conditions. The company applies its expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to make a meaningful difference in patients' lives.
After spending some time cleansing its data, the Baxter team decided that the convenience of the automated Distributor process was the easiest and most effective option for getting that data onto the National Product Catalogue (NPC).
Regular data uploads will be sent from Baxter to the NPC via Distributor once 'NPC ready' status has been achieved. For more information on Distributor: http://www.pacificcommerce.com.au/ean.asp
April 2007: Autodesk relaunches worldwide web sites
Autodesk has recently refreshed and relaunched every one of its 30+ worldwide web sites. The company is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real.
Pacific Commerce works closely with Autodesk and was responsible for redeveloping 9 of those sites throughout the South Asia Pacific and India regions. The work was intense and coordinated with military-like precision from Autodesk's San Francisco headquarters, with the launch taking place on March 20th. Take a look at any one of the Autodesk sites (www.autodesk.com) and see just how impressive they look!
April 2007: Just what is the National Product Catalogue?
We are often asked by healthcare suppliers to explain the National Product Catalogue and how it relates to them. Courtesy of the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), we have included a brief description of the NPC which can also be found on NEHTA's own website.
"The health sector is under considerable cost pressure to meet current and future demands for services. An electronically interconnected health environment provides an opportunity for the public health sector to make significant efficiency gains and cost savings, particularly in the area of procurement. To this end, NEHTA has established a National Product Catalogue (NPC) to provide a central source of data for the purchase of healthcare products within health departments in each State and Territory. The CEOs of all health departments have committed to the use of the NPC.
The NPC will deliver significant benefits to governments and suppliers alike. The NPC uniquely identifies each healthcare product (e.g. medicines and medical devices) and records information such as active ingredients and pack size - reducing significantly the number of products incorrectly ordered because of identification errors, which potentially delays patient treatment.
Other benefits of the NPC include:
- Removing the need for each purchasing office and supplier to use inefficient paper-based purchasing forms and product specification sheets - information can be automatically updated for all current and potential customers, with a simple upload;
- Suppliers can reduce costs associated with processing invoice reconciliations, credit claims, returns and refused deliveries, because of the reduced rate of ordering errors;
- Swift product recalls and precise product tracking;
- Decreasing the risk of a hospital running out of stock, while reducing the amount of hospitals' working capital tied up in'safety' stocks;
- Significantly reducing the time and costs associated with introducing new products onto the market, while improving product visibility across Australia's largest healthcare buyers;
- Ensuring pricing information is secure and only available to nominated trading partners; and
- Providing clean, accurate product data to use e-health systems e.g. medicines prescribing and dispensing systems.
The data stored in the NPC is hosted by EANnet, developed by GS1 Australia. NEHTA will build on the NPC to develop a national approach to public health electronic procurement and business intelligence tools.
E-Procurement will standardise the electronic exchange of data, information, documents and processes in public health procurement, increasing the speed and reliability of purchasing processes."
April 2007: NPC Update
GS1 Australia has delayed the launch of its new GDSN-compliant data pool GS1net. Extra requirements in the development of the price synchronisation identified in the course of the pilot are the reasons for the delay. The new launch date of GS1net is now August 31st 2007.
April 2007: Disprax Celebrates 25 Years in Business
Congratulations Disprax! Pacific Commerce business partner Disprax celebrates 25 years in business this year. Founder Paul Gallo established Disprax in 1982 and since then Disprax has grown to become Australia's leading supplier of inventory and accounting software to the timber industry. Paul Gallo states "It's a fantastic milestone to reach - our customers are incredibly loyal and some have been with us from the very beginning".
March 2007: Is your website working for you?
Are you getting the results you expect from your web site? Are you tracking what your web site visitors are doing on your site? Does your site form part of your overall marketing plan? Are you utilising web technology to the fullest in getting your message out to your customers & prospects? If not, give us a call 0n 02 9468 3333. We're experienced at developing web strategies and fully functional web sites. We also provide high quality online marketing services which are completely measurable. Make the most of your web presence today!
March 2007: Another new recruit for PacCom
Venesa Lalic is the latest recruit to join Pacific Commerce. Venesa comes with strong project management experience having spent several years managing a host of development and implementation projects at Unisys.
Venesa’s main role will be to manage all implementations onto the various Pacific Commerce trading exchanges. Venesa will also coordinate the increasing number of Boulevard and development projects underway. We hope you’ll all have the chance to speak to and meet Venesa in the not too distant future.
December 2006: New blood joins Pacific Commerce
Two new staff members have recently joined the Pacific Commerce development team; Danna Li and Susie Clapton.
Danna has a Master's degree in Commerce and has a background in online marketing, while Susie is an experienced Web designer, having run her own web design business for a number of years. Together they'll add strength and depth to Pac Com's online marketing and Web development capabilities. We hope you have an opportunity to meet them both in the coming months.
December 2006: Kimberly-Clark implements Distributor
Health & Hygiene products supplier Kimberly-Clark Australia is just about to go live with the Distributor EANnet upload module from Pacific Commerce.
Kimberly-Clark is a household name with consumer brands including Kleenex, Cottonelle, Huggies, Wondersoft, Viva, Poise, Depend and Thick & Thirsty. Having a large number of products lines and a customer base that stretches the length and breadth of Australia and New Zealand, Kimberly-Clark is an innovator when it comes to supply chain technology and efficiency.
E-Business Supply Chain Manager Mario Carniato is a familiar figure around the Australian eCommerce supply chain market and is well aware of the foundational importance, and challenges, of data synchronisation and electronic trading. He said, "We already trade electronically with all of our retail customers. We are very pleased that the health market at last seems to be moving in the same direction. In particular, we are very pleased and supportive of the advent of the NPC and its drive for data synchronization, which is foundational for the health of business processes. We've been working on improving our internal processes for data quality, and for external synchronization since 2001, so we believe that we could be ahead of the game in that area".
About Pacific Commerce, Mario said, "We have the capability in-house to upload our data directly to EANnet. However, with many larger and more onerous projects to tackle, it was easier for us to leave that to Pacific Commerce. We know they have the products and the capabilities to do a good job for us".
Regular uploads to EANnet of KCA data will begin Distributor validation later this month.
December 2006: Christmas is just around the corner
Christmas is a few weeks away so it's time to knuckle down and get started on the Christmas shopping. The summer holidays are also a great time for everyone who has those smaller projects sitting on their "to do" lists to get them done before the phone starts ringing again around mid-January.
Small projects can include a refresh to your Web site, creating templates for your marketing emails, developing "landing pages" on your Web site for upcoming marketing campaigns, adding smarts to your site such as calculators and shopping carts, or simply cleansing your product data in readiness for electronic trading.
Pacific Commerce can help you with any and all of these projects - just give us a call on 02 9468 3333, or send an email to sales_enquiries@pacificcommerce.com.au.
September 2006: Are you ready to trade electronically?
Companies looking to realise the costs savings and benefits of electronic trading with their trading partners need to be prepared! To do this they have to ensure that their systems and internal processes are in readiness for implementing e-trading. Pacific Commerce provides industry-based trading exchanges and services aimed at facilitating electronic trading between trading partners.
Trading electronically with your trading partners will not alter the way you do business, but it will provide the opportunity to streamline some of your existing processes. Clean, consistent data is one major pre-requisite to electronic trading.
There are a number of simple, logical steps to prepare for trading electronically. If you're not sure how to get there, call Pacific Commerce. We've helped many companies realise the benefits (and substantial cost savings) of e-trading and we'll make sure you get up and trading as quickly and efficiently as possible.
September 2006: Justine has moved to the UK
After 6 years at Pacific Commerce, Justine Coombe decided it was time to broaden her horizons. Justine and her husband Mike have moved across to the UK to see how they live on the other side of the world. They felt that they should see a little more of the world before they get settled and start a family.
Justine was Pacific Commerce's longest serving staff member and has taken on a number of different roles, the most recent one being business development. She will still be doing some work for Pacific Commerce in the short-term (thanks to the wonders of the Internet) but that of course will ease off as she settles into the English lifestyle.
Justine will be missed by us all and we fully expect her to keep on that great Aussie tradition of rubbing the Poms' noses in it when we win back the Ashes!
September 2006: Elizabeth Bay Cellars goes online
Boutique wine store Elizabeth Bay Cellars, based in Sydney's eastern suburbs want to take their unique wine collection online. Store Manager Tony Griffin has commissioned Pacific Commerce to create a web site that reflects the store's quality and uniqueness. The site will enable customers from all over the world to view and purchase his excellent wines.
Focusing on the upper end of the wine-drinking market, the Elizabeth Bay Cellars store has an impressive collection of wines and includes a temperature and humidity controlled room for those bottles we all dream of owning. "We want the site to reflect the quality of our wines" said Tony Griffin. "Pacific Commerce understand what we want and we're confident that they'll deliver".
The site which is now under construction will enable customers to browse through a selection of Elizabeth Bay Cellars' wines and match them with the food the customer plans to eat with the wine. Bottles can be purchased, packaged and delivered using Elizabeth Bay Cellars' selection of gift boxes. Check it out at www.ebaycellars.com.au soon.
September 2006: Online Purchase Order Acknowledgement system now available
Pacific Commerce has just released a web-based Purchase Order Acknowledgment (POA) system. This system allows clients who receive Purchase Orders from their customers to view these Orders online and create a POA document that will be sent back to the customer via the Pacific Commerce Exchange (PCX).
Using this system, Orders that are "accepted in full" are then sent electronically to the supplier for integration directly into their ERP system. No POA is created in this instance. Orders that are "amended" or "rejected in full" result in a POA being generated and sent back to the customer via the PCX. These Orders are not sent to the client's system.
Once the POA is received by the customer the Order can be updated and an Order Change sent to the PCX and uploaded to the POA system. Clients are notified by email each time Orders or Order Changes are received by the POA system. The PCX document tracking system provides clients with full visibility of all documents processed using the POA system.
The system is currently available for suppliers trading with Coles Myer but can also be utilised for other trading partners where requested. Contact Pacific Commerce for more information.
