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To: scouser who wrote (177)	4/9/2000 11:37:00 PM
From: CIMA	Respond to of 226

More on WIZZF and IBM: Last Updated: Saturday 8 April 2000 LOCAL BUSINESS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IBM boss preaching gospel of e-business Gillian Shaw, Sun Business Columnist Vancouver Sun There's a new evangelistic movement sweeping Canada. It's e-evangelism and its proponents preach -- not from Bibles and pulpits -- but from PowerPoint presentations and laptop computers. Their congregations are business people across the country. The evangelists -- some of Canada's top business and technology leaders -- are on a mission to convert Canada to the electronic business economy. John Wetmore, president and CEO of IBM Canada, leads the group as chair of the e-business acceleration team, which grew out of the Canadian e-business opportunities roundtable. "My advice is to change your business by getting into the e-business space," said Wetmore who was in Vancouver on Friday to announce an Internet incubation partnership with a local company, WSi Interactive. "If we are more aggressive, if we take more risks, the returns will be higher. The downside for Canadian businesses is if they don't, they won't be competitive and we'll continue to see an erosion in our quality of life." The acceleration team, a panel of leaders from groups such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Council of Canada and from industries such as IBM, Nortel and Chapters, is delivering its message in speeches and panels across the country. Wetmore said such initiatives as the incubation partnership by IBM play a role in encouraging the development of Canada's e-business economy. The partnership with WSi Interactive, an Internet business development and marketing firm, is an Internet business incubation initiative, in which the two companies will work together in reviewing potential e-commerce starts, arrange financing and provide management, technology, sales assistance and other support. If successful in converting to e-business, Canada's Internet-based economy could climb to $156 billion in revenue with 180,000 high-value, knowledge-based jobs created by 2003. If Canadian businesses don't start to narrow the gap which has seen the U.S. pull far ahead in the e-commerce arena, Canadians could feel their standard of living fall more than it has. While Wetmore pointed out Canada can still regain the competitive ground it has lost in e-commerce, so far, it is lagging behind. Canada's share of global electronic commerce was about seven per cent at the beginning of last year, but that is projected to drop to four per cent in 2003 unless Canadian business move quickly to implement e-business models. E-business isn't necessarily e-commerce. Transforming business processes to an electronic model could mean everything from delivering sales information via an intranet to sales staff, to online recruiting and electronic filing of expenses. E-commerce covers a broad range from business-to-consumer, of the Chapters.ca type of selling; to business-to-business in which companies deal in their transactions online. The latest arena and one that is far ahead in the U.S., is the digital marketplace, in which buyers and sellers come together in an electronic marketplace -- such as one for steel, or paper, or in the most recent -- auto parts. Wetmore said Canada is lagging behind in e-business despite being one of the most Internet-connected countries in the world. "While we are one of the most connected nations in the world, the issue is we don't use it as much. We have a lot going for us, but we're not using what we have." Wetmore said governments, provincially and federally, must be more aggressive in fostering development of the Internet economy. The reluctance of Canadian companies to move into electronic business is directly affecting their bottom line. Wetmore said IBM, which itself is transforming into an e-business, saved more than $200 million last year on $14 billion worth of purchasing.

To: scouser who wrote (177)	4/10/2000 5:06:00 PM
From: CIMA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 226

IBM announces two Canadian partnership deals FRIDAY, APRIL 07, 2000 4:56:00 PM EST SAINT JOHN, Apr 07, 2000 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- Global computer giant IBM announced deals on opposite sides of the country Friday, with a $200 million oil refinery partnership in New Brunswick and an Internet incubator strategy in Vancouver. Under an 11-year deal, IBM will provide Irving Oil with most of the information technology needed for its marketing division. This includes help desk services as well as management of the energy company's computer system from IBM's data centre in Toronto. As part of the deal, Irving has agreed to buy additional information technology services from IBM and will transfer 25 current Irving employees to the computer company. ``This strategic partnership with industry leader IBM is about how we will meet our customers' needs even better in the future,' Irving Oil spokesman Michael Crosby said in a release. In Vancouver, IBM Canada announced a partnership with WSi Interactive to create a ``dynamic Internet business incubation partnership.' WSi is an Internet business development and marketing firm that capitalizes on direct marketing opportunities on the Internet. WSi and IBM will work together to review potential e-commerce startups, arrange financing and provide management and technology assistance and sales and other support. ``The goal is to allow Internet companies to concentrate on building their businesses, with the strong support of WSi and IBM,' the companies said in a press release. Expected costs of the WSi deal were not disclosed. On Thursday, IBM announced another significant Canadian deal with high-tech company Newbridge Networks. The fast-growing Ottawa-area company will outsource much of its customer service operations to IBM so that it can meet expanding product demand around the world. That deal will not involve any job transfers or losses. Copyright (c) 2000 The Canadian Press (CP), All rights reserved.