But he reckons that the fees weren't wholly to blame for the lukewarm response. To do so, Ericsson emphasized two major advantages to participating in the p-card program. First, by joining, companies would be guaranteed a slot on Ericsson's preferred-supplier list. Despite the program's growing popularity, Ericsson is under pressure to keep volume growing, given that the fees charged are linked to the volume of usage. That means Ericsson has been searching for new ways to expand its program to include higher-value goods and services.
Employment agencies are one possibility.
That's not all. Authorized staff at Ericsson can then log on to a specially designed area on Dell's Web site, which will have a catalog of the various computer parts that they are authorized to purchase. Miller concedes that getting this system up and running has required close work with Dell to address several technical issues, such as enabling order tracking, which traditional p-card services don't do. Not many companies with p-card programs have been as bold as Ericsson. That explains why few companies have even considered using p-cards to purchase computers and other large office equipment.