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Online travel site lastminute.com and Nortel have launched what they believe to be the first voice recognition service to manage hotel supply inventories and room bookings. Those responsible for purchasing at hotels can directly update their inventory by dialling an automated phone service.

E-commerce research_2

The Department of Trade and Industry has launched research projects at Paisley, York, UMIST and Manchester universities to develop electronic solutions to boost confidence in e-commerce and tackle fraud. The initiatives include Fair Integrated Data Exchange Services, a project to design and implement secure e-procurement information exchange systems over the Internet.

Research instituted_2

A northern aerospace research institute is to be created by three universities and the North West Aerospace Alliance, a supplier group. The Northern Technology and Knowledge Exploitation Centre will use equipment at the University of Manchester, University of Sheffield and the Materials Science Centre at UMIST in Manchester.

Prestige Purchasing_2

Money for something_2

Paying consultants on a success-fee basis for e-procurement projects benefits them and the buyer, argues Gordon Parker

Best value reviewed_2

The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions has begun a three-month review of best practice in local government. The aim is to reduce bureaucracy and ensure that “best value is neutral as to whether services are best provided by the public, private or voluntary sectors”, according to Stephen Byers, secretary of state.

Secure e-publishing_2

Glovia International, the business-to-business e-commerce subsidiary of Fujitsu, has teamed up with software company FormScape, to offer ePublish. The new package enables firms to publish securely shared data such as purchase orders. www.glovia.com

Streamlining stores_2

Q: I am stores and purchasing manager for a major UK city council’s building works department and have been tasked with streamlining our stores service. We operate three stores across the city, yet each area is served well by various merchants - I am sur

Sapient Corporation_2

B2B tops e-commerce_2

Business-to-business transactions accounted for more than four-fifths of the £57 billion spent last year on e-commerce, according to the first official UK survey. National Statistics surveyed more than 9,000 private-sector firms and found that e-commerce accounted for just 2 per cent of total sales. It had the strongest presence in insurance, air travel, computing and office machinery.