Khon Kaen U leads e-auction
Shrimp price delivery on SMS

Khon Kaen U leads e-auction
Published on July 7, 2003

Khon Kaen University has successfully procured computers worth as much as 13 million baht through an e-auction with a saving of 1.5 million baht. This marked the first ever e-auction conducted by any Thai state university and is also the first time that such an auction is done in the province since the Cabinet approval in May. The university is excited about the savings as well as the prospect of e-auction and has a lot of praises for the auction service provider Biz Dimension.

Mr. Simon Chan, President of Biz Dimension Co., Ltd., said, "We have successfully completed online procurement auction earlier this week for Khon Kaen University, which was the first time for any Thai state university and the first time for any state agency in the province. The Khon Kaen University initiated an English Reverse auction to procure 485 sets of personal computers through the Internet. With an initial budget of 13,095,000 baht and four selected suppliers joined the bidding, the university managed to save as much as 1,500,000 baht (11.45%) with Supreme Distribution (Thailand) Co., Ltd. winning the auction."

Mrs. Sunad Buatuan, Financial Director and Chair of the e-Auction Committee at Khon Kaen University, was very impressed with the result of her organization's first-ever online auction, appreciating the benefits of online procurement with regards to the efficiency and transparency of the whole online bidding process as well as the significant savings it can achieve for the school out of real time price competition among suppliers.

"We are really satisfied with the result and the performance of the online auction tool provided by Biz Dimension. Although we are new to e-auction, the process was run smoothly with no glitches. Most importantly, we can allocate the savings from this e-auction for use in other affairs of the university," she said.

She attributed the university's decision in selecting Biz Dimension to organize its first ever e-auction to the firm's quick response to requests and queries despite the distance gap due to the university's location in the province. Moreover, the firm could patiently educate and guide the university's staff throughout the process. All the answers received were clear with no confusion. She thanked Biz Dimension for a professional job well done, which demonstrated the firm's solid online auction expertise and experiences.

"All state organizations should have the courage to learn how to run an e-auction by themselves. Otherwise, they would not know how it works and what benefits it can bring to them. They should not be too concerned about the outdated and bureaucratic procurement procedures, which they used to deal with, when the current government policies have already shown significant support for e-auctions. Moreover, in order to legitimize this new scheme, the Office of Comptroller General of the Ministry of Finance has already set up clear rules and guidelines for conducting an e-auction by any state offices and agencies," she added.

Biz Dimension Co., Ltd. enjoys a high success rate, as much as 90%, of their e-auctions. It is attributable to the firm's unique 6-step guidelines prescribed for each of its clients before conducting an e-auction. Prudence and attention to details by the buyer and the firm are the keys to success of any e-auction. It is generally agreed that all efforts by the service provider and the consequent savings from the auction simply outweigh the service fee charged for an auction.

The Thai cabinet approved state offices and agencies in the province to use e-auctions for procurement in May. It is believed that more provincial state agencies would procure their supplies through e-auctions after the new fiscal year starts in coming October. Biz Dimension is well prepared and ready for this new opportunity, thanks to its experience and expertise in conducting e-auctions for organizations in the province.

Oranush Taecha-apiruk or Siriporn Khampram
Advertising & Public Relations Department
Biz Dimension Co., Ltd.
Tel. 0-2298-0345 Ext. 530-531
E-mail: pr-team@bizdimension.com

Shrimp price delivery on SMS
Published on July 1, 2003

ThaiFarmZone.com is launching a new information service for entrepreneurs and interested parties in the Thai shrimp industry. The new service is to deliver the daily black tiger shrimp prices from Mahachai central market at Samutsakorn province to the subscriber’s mobile phone through short message service (SMS). The SMS shrimp price service is the latest feature provided by the website to serve the Thai agricultural and food sectors with an aim to make useful information accessible by users from anywhere at any time.

Mr. Simon Chan, President of Biz Dimension Co., Ltd., the operator of the websites ThaiFarmZone.com and FoodMarketExchange.com said that ThaiFarmZone.com would launch the service on July 1, 2003. The service would be particularly useful for interested parties, namely shrimp farmers, who live in more remote areas where Internet access might not be available. Shrimp prices would be delivered once a day on normal workdays. Currently, ThaiFarmZone.com is offering online shrimp price information from Bangkok’s Sapan Pla market.

“Mahachai market is currently the biggest black tiger shrimp central market in the world. Its shrimp prices are closely followed by local and overseas players. Many use them as benchmarks for global black tiger shrimp prices. We therefore believe that there is a need to gather all these critical price information and re-distribute them to related shrimp players on a daily basis, helping their decision-making. The need is particularly crucial in Thailand where reliable shrimp price information is not easily available. For example, shrimp farmers and processors might have to send their own representatives to the market or call up a bunch of brokers in order to obtain the price information. Don’t forget smaller players who might not even enjoy these privileges. Moreover, landline connection has not yet reached all areas in Thailand, making Internet a less-than-ideal choice of obtaining information for some players. In contrast, the mobile phone service is now accessible by almost all players in the local industry, thanks to its broader coverage. Therefore, we decide to launch this new service to complement our current website service to our users and interested parties from the shrimp industry,” Chan said.

The subscription rates of the SMS shrimp price service are as follows: 250 baht for 1 month, 600 baht for 3 months and 900 baht for 6 months. The subscribers will receive SMS reports Monday-Friday after 12.00 p.m. No service would be available on public holidays and specific holidays when the Mahachai market is close. The mobile phone networks, which would support this new service, are: GSM Advance, One-2-Call, GSM 1800, DTAC, D-Prompt and Orange.


Chan added that the reason why ThaiFarmZone.com would start the SMS service with the shrimp price first is that the current black tiger shrimp price information is not widely distributed and most players in the industry have access to mobile phone service. In fact, the website is also considering to offer a similar type of service, but on other agricultural products, in the near future.

Chan stressed that the primary objective of the new service would be to support Thai agricultural sectors with use of the latest information technologies. No target revenues and number of subscribers have been set yet. The justification for the subscription fee is that in order to serve the subscribers with a good coverage across the country, the firm needs to jointly provide this service with all major service partners, including 108 1900 Audiotext Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Future Biz Group, and mobile phone operators, namely AIS, DTAC and TA Orange.

ThaiFarmZone.com provides essential information for the Thai agricultural sectors, including daily news updates, the latest agricultural prices and articles on hot topics, such as farming techniques and commodity marketing, which can change the way you do business. In addition to useful trade and farming information, there are also web boards and trade leads service in which members of the Thai agricultural community can exchange their opinions and knowledge as well as searching for potential business deals.

Interested parties could subscribe this SMS service by registering online through the website www.ThaiFarmZone.com or call for additional information from Khun Wilaiwan at Tel. 0-2298-0345 Ext. 602.

Oranush Taecha-apiruk or Siriporn Khampram
Advertising & Public Relations Department
Biz Dimension Co., Ltd.
Tel. 0-2298-0345 Ext. 530-531
E-mail: pr-team@bizdimension.com