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BIW WITHDRAWS ASITE'S RESELLER STATUS 9 November 2001
With effect from 1 December 2001, BIW Technologies (BIW) is withdrawing the status that allowed construction e-marketplace Asite to resell the project collaboration system, BIW Information Channel, as part of a larger package of services. BIW will offer direct implementation and support to all new users of the Information Channel, including those that also wish to subscribe to Asite's own services. "Construction marketplace portals push up the cost of collaboration by bundling it with additional services such as online procurement," says BIW chief executive Colin Smith. "In practice, we've found that this limits customer choice, and creates an additional layer between the client and BIW's support services. We applaud Asite's objectives, and would like to see as many firms as possible using the services provided by both of our companies. However, we believe that the client should have the ability to choose the right services, at the right time, while paying the right price." Smith's opinion is that collaboration specialists such as BIW gain little from bundling their services with those provided by construction portals, despite their powerful industry backing: "Having once focused on building an e-marketplace, BuildOnline eventually realised that project collaboration was the most successful e-business sector. The Mercadium e-marketplace failed to deliver substantial benefits to us before it folded earlier this year. Experienced industry analysts such as Forrester Research have already questioned the construction e-marketplace business model. "BIW is focused purely on collaboration systems. By providing these services direct, or by working with knowledgeable professional businesses that we have appointed as solution partners, we provide clients with an efficient, tailored service - they can buy just what they need. "We have borne the cost of integrating our solution into Asite's service, and clients wishing to use both can continue to do so. Existing Asite projects will be unaffected, and we welcome direct relationships with any new Asite customers who wish to use our services alongside those that they have selected from Asite. In this way, the client receives efficient support, and is able to have a direct input into BIW's future product functionality." In April 2001, Asite announced it had adopted the BIW system as its first project collaboration technology. Under the deal, client subscribers to Asite paid extra and gained access to the BIW technology that improved communication and efficiency on their projects. Application service provider BIW expected Asite to rapidly broaden the reach of its Information Channel service, but in six months Asite delivered just five new projects. By contrast, BIW's existing clients and solution partners (who include Sainsbury's, British Telecom, Capital One Bank, Asda, Interior Services Group, Gleeds, Citex and Kajima), plus its own direct sales team, strengthened BIW's position as UK market leader. In the six months from 1 April 2001, 102 new projects were added, from 39 different ultimate clients. At 3 November 2001, BIW Information Channel was being used by 9786 users from 1443 companies, working on over 440 UK projects worth a total of some £3.7bn. After the April 2001 deal was announced, Asite began negotiating a deeper involvement with BIW. "BIW is not seeking any further investment, and the discussions were not in connection with Asite providing any funds to BIW," says Smith. "The dialogue was about further combining the services offered by both companies, and ultimately we didn't believe this was in the best interests of BIW or its clients. BIW has already secured all the funding that it requires, is ahead of its business plan, and is on course for profitability in 2002." BIW Information Channel is a sophisticated web-based supply chain integration technology, originally designed specifically for construction projects. Each client is provided with a unique, project-specific website created around a knowledge database. Using this, all data can be made available to every project team member - from the earliest concepts and specifications, through detailed design, buildability studies, pre-fabrication, construction, maintenance, operation and improvement, to the eventual demolition or dismantling of the facility. More information from: - Paul Wilkinson, BIW Technologies - 0845 1300 800 (mobile 07788 445920)
Editor's Note - Collaboration systems from BIW (www.biwtech.com) were first employed in 1998 on UK schemes including construction projects for Sainsbury's. The customer list now includes Capital One Bank, Crest Nicholson, Marks & Spencer, the Wellcome Trust, Manchester Airport, Ikea, the Welsh Development Agency, Asda and developer Garbe. As the technology is adopted by each client's supply chain, growth of the BIW Information Channel user base has accelerated, with 6206 users being added in the 12 months up to 30 September 2001, compared with 2018 added in the previous 12 months.
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