Fortescue places strong emphasis on leveraging technology and innovation to enhance operational efficiency. So, when the company identified opportunities to streamline and digitise its tendering and customer management processes, it engaged GLX Digital and now leverages GLX CONNECT to streamline its spot sales of iron ore, enhance compliance, and deliver an exceptional user experience.

THE NEED

To address challenges in its tendering and customer management processes, Fortescue needed a dedicated digital tender platform that could improve speed of execution, increase efficiency and improve compliance. Specifically it needed to:

·      Provide a centralised platform for managing tenders.

·      Facilitate customer information management.

·      Store tender results efficiently for compliance and future reference.

As a Fortescue spokesperson explains: “We wanted a solution that could streamline our processes while maintaining the highest standards of compliance and governance. Having everything in one place was a critical need for us.”

THE SOLUTION

Fortescue adopted GLX CONNECT. The digital solution is completely private and secure – absolute must-haves for the company. It is also easy-to-use, offers robust functionality and the ability to manage all customers and bids in one central location.

Among this key functionality is:

Customer management: GLX CONNECT enables Fortescue to keep customer information updated, allows for the addition, deletion, and editing of counterparty user details, and allows the company to store and compare all tender results. “We can easily update customer details in real time, which has improved the efficiency,” says Fortescue.

Role settings: GLX CONNECT offers Fortescue the ability to manage user permissions, and assign and define user roles, such as Reviewer, Trader, Admin, and Viewer, each with customisable access levels to align with diverse operational requirements. As Fortescue explains, this functionality is critical to improving governance: “The role-setting functionality ensures that everyone has the right access, which simplifies compliance.”

User-friendly interface: Users within the business find GLX CONNECT intuitive and straightforward to use, which has made adoption across teams seamless. “The interface is so simple and convenient to use; it’s been widely appreciated by our team.”

THE RESULTS

GLX CONNECT has successfully transformed Fortescue’s tender process by:

Streamlining operations: GLX CONNECT’S intuitive user interface combined with the system’s robust customer management features enhances Fortescue’s ability to easily store and access all data related to tenders. “It’s not just efficient; it’s also highly reliable, which builds confidence among our stakeholders,” says Fortescue. “Our customers have also given us positive feedback about how easy it is to work with us through this platform.”

Improving compliance: The platform’s ability to restrict bid access until deadlines has significantly improved governance and compliance. “This feature aligns perfectly with our compliance needs,” says Fortescue.

ABOUT GLX CONNECT

Developed by GLX Digital, GLX CONNECT is a completely private and secure solution that digitises the tender and auction process for commodity companies. It connects sellers directly with their customers in real time and consolidates the user’s trade activity and data on a single platform including all key communications and key documents.

Users can customise term sheets, evaluate and compare deal terms in real time, receive and respond to counterparty enquiries through the platform, and digitally transact in any way they see fit. This gives commodity companies a working environment with greater organisational visibility and efficiency.

Key features of GLX CONNECT include:

·       Private and secure – you own and control all your data.

·       Connect with multiple counterparties at the push of a button.

·       Consolidate trade activity and data on one platform.

·       Capture all key communications.

·       Customise term sheets.

·       Evaluate and compare deal terms in real time.

·       Digitise ordinarily manual workflows.

·       Receive and respond to counterparty messages during trades in real time.