[ 21 January 2000 ] Teaming up to foster e-commerce growth

BEHIND the inaugural eAwards are two consortia with a common purpose, but two different modes of operation. One, with five members, wants to be a think-tank, doing research on the Singapore e-economy. The other, with over 44 corporate members, wants to create a “buzz” over e-commerce in Singapore with a host of member activities.

The two were brought together when, unknown to each other, they independently approached the National Computer Board with the idea of giving awards to deserving e-commerce players. But beyond this common project, the groups maintain that they play complementary, not competitive, roles in fostering the growth of e-commerce in Singapore.

“We want to have five members who can naturally collaborate together,” says Willie Cheng, managing partner at Andersen Consulting and chairman of ec.Think. The consortium’s other four members are Cisco Systems, Fuji Xerox, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. “It’s a sort of national service. In that sense, there’s a place for both in Singapore.”

“We’re very complementary, there’s no duplication,” says Toh See Kiat, chairman of the other group, CommerceNet Singapore, which is the Singapore chapter of the global CommerceNet consortium. “ec.Think’s focus is research, which is not our primary focus. We want to concentrate on getting people excited about the idea of e-commerce.”

Incidentally, Andersen, Cisco and Microsoft are members of CommerceNet Singapore, while Fuji Xerox and HP are members of the global CommerceNet consortium. ec.Think was launched in August, while CommerceNet was formed in February 1998. The results of ec.Think’s first research project, on the Singapore e-economy, were presented yesterday at an ec.Think symposium. Some of the research is done by the members themselves, with some outsourced to research organisations. The group also sees a limited life span. The initial agreement was for the group to work together for a year. “We’ll probably continue for another year at least,” says Mr Cheng. “But once e-commerce is well-embedded in the economy, we may move on.”

CommerceNet Singapore’s activities include research, seminars, training sessions, and a monthly social for companies and angel investors. It also studies legal and other problems related to the e-commerce area. “We strive to be an industry association that acts as a communication channel between the industry and the government, to raise problems and feed back views,” Dr Toh adds.

For the eAwards, a working committee and a steering committee, each with five ec.Think members and two CommerceNet members, were formed. The steering committee were the final arbiters.