

Is this a good idea of a communication tool to replace the telephone, for sme’s? - startstat85

Think of, the Philippines. Where 90% of businesses are Small to Medium Enterprises and are slowly coming to terms with technology. The number of businesses with broadband connectivity are increasing making it more pervasive than ever.<p>About 50% of those SME's do trading/retail and wholesale of goods. Goods need to be reordered from suppliers. They most of the time do ordering via phone or email. Phone calls are forgotten, emails get lost. The two solutions offer very little ways to keep track of orders. While sales/Inventory systems are in place, they don't usually have supplier collaboration features.<p>Im asking this question in the perspective of the Philippines. Just try to imagine the situation. The startup I am thinking of involves a product that potentially addresses the issue. It's a web-based sales/purchasing system that organizes the way suppliers communicate with customers and vice versa. Think of it as a social network however built for Business to Business transactions. In essence, it allows the two entities to transact, to make orders to suppliers, and for suppliers to send invoices to customers. Through the system, both entities can track receivables/payables.<p>It's going to have a basic CRM module where customers can submit issues on their products. It'll also have a project-management module for project-based deals where customers and suppliers can track milestones and billing schedules.<p>At this point it's still a rough idea. What do you think?
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wynand
I think you really have to live in the Philippines to know (so my opinion is
obviously not worth that much), but it seems like a good basic business tool
(and those are obviously going to sell well if no-one else has jumped in yet).

Probably the best thing to do, is to put together the simplest thing that will
do the task and to try to sign up some alpha testers.

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yannis
I think it is a good idea, worth cultivating. However, one of the problems
might be that many of these shops buy from large suppliers which have
sophisticated systems and you will battle to bring them along.

However, they might already have web interfaces that you might be able to tap
into (think soft drink companies etc).

