Exchanges have emerged to further support supply chain collaboration and the sharing of trading partner data. These exchanges are used to share information between trading partners, such as forecasts, data on products such as actual sales history, point of sale (POS), inventory positions, metrics and scorecards, to the actual collaboration software. The trading partners are only given access to their own products.

The exchanges are in three primary forms:

• Private

  • Hosted by one of the trading partners on its server, behind its firewall

  • Access provided to trading partner through an intranet, extranet, or the Internet

  • Proprietary solution, often developed in-house

  • Preferred by some companies as a more secured environment for data protection

• Public

  • A private company that provides an exchange service for a fee

  • Considered to have the advantage of bringing multiple trading partners into the same exchange for easier critical mass application and collaboration consistency

  • Collaboration technology provided by one proven technology company

  • Provides for a fast and low cost of entry into collaboration without the significant investment typically found with a private exchange

  • Advertises data security and integrity are maintained

• Hosted

  • Technology companies that offer collaboration software will host the collaboration effort on their own server for a fee

  • Advantage is easier integration of collaborative decisions into execution systems such as replenishment and manufacturing; no interfaces are needed

  • Considered a quick start for trading partners to begin collaborative pilots at a relatively inexpensive cost