I spent most of this morning trying to ascertain whether BT Transact can be resurrected, as I saw an opportunity. Alas to my dismay, the decision was taken at least 7 months ago when BT wrote to their customers giving them 12 months notice. BT has made alternative arrangements for these companies including helping them to migrate to solutions offered by other companies. Now less than 10 customers are on the platform, and BT will continue to help them move to different solutions. It seems that BT has made enquiries to off-load the platform, but no viable option was found. They have pursued two avenues, one through a customer and the other through a competitor.
Key reasons for closure are:
- Struggling to make decent revenues and profits in a challenging market over the last five years – this shows that when you are a large corporate, it is not always possible to make changes rapidly to respond to market changes.
- Obsolete technology no longer supported by Oracle – this goes against the Oracle promise of life-time support.
At its peak, BT Transact offered connectivity through Open Network for Commercial Exchange (ONCE), and dealt with transactions worth over £ billions. It also had internal clients. In terms of A/P, BT uses OB10 with tight integration to Oracle back-end provided by 170 Systems. And the A/P function is managed by outsourced partner Xansa.
It is a sad day to see the demise of such a dominant player in the market.
Tags: BT Transact, BT, Oracle, eProcurement, ONCE, Open Network for Commercial Exchange