|
|
OEC Leads online procurement market
June 22, 2006
MUSCAT - Established early in 2005, Omania E- Commerce L.L.C (OEC) is committed to its ambition to become an active partner in the government's drive towards an electronic society.
The Managing Director, Mohammed a1 Harthy, says: "OEC's goal is to change the routine traditional procurement and purchasing processes to a more efficient and advanced automated online processes, which in return will help in energizing businesses within the Sultanate. He adds: "OEC prides itself in promoting e-Commerce within businesses, government and citizens of Oman. As a leading e-solutions provider in Oman, we wil1 actively participate in making Oman's vision of an e-society a reality".
OEC has partnered with the Dubai- based Tejari FZ LLC to introduce its services in Oman, and to share the strong regional experience of Tejari in making B2B and e-procurement a success.
Operational since June 2000, Tejari has created, and maintains, the highest standard of B2B customer service and trading facilities in the Middle East region. Tejari's volume of trade exceeded $2.5 billion by the end of 2005, and in the first quarter of 2006 it stood at $200 million.
In the future OEC will be fostering into other areas of e-Commerce and related industries. The company is considering various new opportunities and these will be announced in the near future. Tejari has recently launched the TejariLink services in Oman, which allows members to interact with Tejari's global online trading community, based on products or services on which they are interested in promoting or locating. TejariLink provides businesses with a single point of service for all their relationship building and the service is accessible through the web-based and mobile platform.
Tejari Tender is another new offering from Tejari, which enables both tenderers and suppliers to take advantage of a much faster, convenient and cost-effective tendering process, online. Using this online system, tenderers are able to manage tenders more efficiently, save on tender printing costs, send e-versions of the tender document to bidders, and receive bids in a secure environment.
Oman Aviation Services (OAS), Omantel, Oman Mobile and BankMuscat have signed up with Tejari to conduct their procurement online. OAS is already using Tejari Transact for its procurement, while Omantel, Oman Mobile and BankMuscat are likely to start soon. A large number of renowned Omani suppliers are also members of Tejari and this number is on the increase. "Our objective is to create an online community of buyers and sellers in Oman who will realize the many benefits of e-Procurement".
Al Harthy is upbeat about Oman's move towards e-society. "Oman is a rapidly progressing towards digitizing its community. The government has launched the eOman campaign and a lot of projects have been planned within different areas. The country's e-strategy has been designed keeping in mind the improvements in efficiency and transparency within government and private organizations".
The overarching objective of the strategy is to empower individuals with knowledge and skills, to meet the country's needs and expectations in becoming a knowledge-based economy. Citizens are also getting more computer savvy and they are realizing the convenience of using eservices. Numerous initiatives have been planned for greater computer/Internet penetration and imparting basic computer skills.
Some of the government's projects have already been successfully implemented and these are leading the way towards the e-society vision. One such example is the Smart ID Card for residents, which has been the first smart card-based citizen ID solution ever to be deployed in the Middle East. "OEC is looking at all these changes very positively and is sure that all these initiatives will go a long way in successfully implementing e-solutions within the country", says Al Harthy.
|
|