Still, De Koker and others in the automotive industry consider Covisint a success, though many have scaled back their original high hopes following the collapse of so many dot coms. There are definitely savings to be had if we can streamline and standardize the way we do business. The way we support the automotive supply chain, the way we communicate, handle transactions. Ford of Europe President David Thursfield said Covisint will have little impact this year on business, but could add significant savings in the future. It will help us enormously to open up wider markets - shop the world.
Engineers can talk to each other online and get issues resolved faster.
These things right now take a lot of time. Over the past year, Covisint has added Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and France's Renault SA, and a core group of more than 40 major automotive suppliers have agreed to participate in exchange for receiving a portion of the profits their activity in the exchange generates. Suppliers and automakers have posted more than 250 catalogs representing more than 2.5 million items for purchase over Covisint. Suppliers, nonetheless, worry that the exchange will give automakers more power to dictate the price they pay for supplies, analysts said. A chief executive officer could clear up some of those fears, they added.