Additionally, Crossgate’s e-invoicing services offer an innovative and secure solution covering the entire process of inbound and outbound invoices, including signatures, compliance monitoring, integrated with customers’ backend systems and finance processes.

As a result of this acquisition, SAP will enable networking at the enterprise level, providing an easy way for trading partners to collaborate, share data and automate processes that link customers and suppliers for streamlined B2B e-commerce.

The acquisition of Crossgate follows SAP’s strategy to complement existing applications and solutions with smart purchases that offer innovative technologies and capabilities while maintaining its successful organic growth track record.

Source: SAP

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: SAP buys Crossgate, adding 40.000 e-connections to the list.

This post is based on the original blog post, that can be found on: http://klyritysblogit.flockler.com/blogit?blog=421&article=5021

E-billing has been on the agenda for a decade in Finland. B2B e-invoicing adoption is picking up at a decent pace, especially in medium-sized and large companies. However, the current adoption rate in B2C e-billing is estimated to be below ten percent. Reason for this low adoption rate lies in consumers’ reception practices.

In a recent study it was calculated that  (http://www.fkl.fi/materiaalipankki/julkaisut/Sivut/saastaminen_luotonkaytto.aspx) about 90% of the Finnish pay their bills via online banking.

So, the theoretical readiness to receive an electronic invoice directly in an online bankenvironment is high, but a recent study showed (http://www.fkl.fi/ajankohtaista/tiedotteet/Sivut/sepa_valmiudessa_parantamisen_varaa.aspx) that still only a fifth of the Finnish receive electronic bills.

The outcome of this study is bothersome, as Finland is considered as one of the leading countries when it comes to the adoption of new (online) innovations, like e-invoicing. Let’s hope that the new EU initiatives on e-invoicing help to achieve massive e-invoicing adoption.

More information can also be found in an earlier post on the EEI Platform.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Recent Finnish research shows: decreasing adoption rates of e-billing by consumers.

It is not every day that you read big news in the EDI world, but today is one of them. Here is the news.

Hubwoo , a leading global provider of Cloud Procurement services powered by SAP® software, and Crossgate, a global leader in business-to-business (B2B) integration and e-Invoicing compliance, today announced a strategic global alliance. Read more about it

Why is this big news? Here it is – Under the terms of the alliance, Hubwoo and Crossgate have combined their B2B networks so that enterprises can gain access to hundreds of thousands of active trading partners globally through a single connection. SAP’s co-CEO Jim Snabe has been preaching the gospel of business network transformation for several years, and this is a big step in that direction – dare we say tipping point?

It gets even better. SAP is a major investor in both of these cloud-based EDI/B2B companies. Both utilize SAP technologies. Both are resold by the SAP sales force. You can bet that SAP was a match maker in this union.

Ariba has the potential to be the big loser in this new alignment. It is very difficult and expensive to be an independent B2B HUB in a world dominated by large ERP vendors. Think about the expense of trying to be all things to all people, rather than all things to one SAP. This is a definite move by SAP to compete with Ariba and to make it difficult for Ariba to compete in the SAP ecosystem.

Source: B2B-BPO Blogspot

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Big news in the world of SAP EDI and B2B.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Liaison Technologies extend Enterprise Integration and Data Management.

http://www.delicious.com/longtailofb2b/?setcount=100

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 80 B2B Standards in use today, and still counting.

Unlike large enterprises, midsize businesses are being asked to accomplish these critical activities with limited IT budget or small IT staff – or a combination of both. If you are facing similar challenges and growth opportunities, join us on Wednesday, March 30th, at 4:00 pm CET (central European time) for a live webinar that will examine cost effective data integration approaches, methodologies, and technologies. This presentation will explore a range of available data integration and management solution offerings – from on-premise software you can run yourself to fully managed B2B integration and business process management where we do the work for you – including the business case, enabling technologies, and best practices.

Richard van der Hoek, European Manager IT with O’Neill, and Hans Mellenbergh, eSolutions Consultant with Liaison, will share their views on setting a course towards a more agile, efficient, and cost effective approach to data integration that will allow your business to scale on-demand, and at the same time significantly reduce costs.

Moderator:
- Christopher Hale, Vice President of Global Product Marketing at Liaison Technologies

More information an registration

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Webinar enterprise data integration for the mid-market.

By Steve Keifer

2010 is an exciting time in the world of B2B integration standards for the European banking sector.  In this case, I am not referring to the continued rollout of SEPA in the EuroZone, but rather the extended reach of EBICS.  EBICS is a highly secure file transfer protocol being used in the French and German banking communities for exchange of cash management related transactions.

The name EBICS stands for Electronic Banking Internet Communications Standard (EBICS).  EBICs is the successor to an earlier standard named BCS that was used in the German banking sector from the mid-1980s until the end of 2007.  BCS refers to the Banking Communication Standard which was developed by the German Credit Committee, which is known as Zentraler Kreditausschuss Association (ZKA) in German (longer, but no doubt easier to say than Eyjafjallajokull).

BCS was originally designed to offer a standardized approach for corporate-to-bank communication.  In the early days of electronic banking many of the technology vendors were developing their own proprietary protocols in lieu of a widely adopted standard.  BCS was based upon the ISO 8571 standard commonly known as FTAM (File Transfer Access and Management).  German banks were mandated to offer BCS as a communication adoption starting in the 1990s.  The mandate along with the publicly available distribution of the specifications led to widespread adoption of BCS across German industry.  Challenges began to emerge shortly after 2000 with the popularity of the Internet as a network for business transactions.  As with all transaction types, the industry began to seek alternative IP-based protocols for electronic banking.  The ZKA responded by evolving the BCS standard into a more fully-functional, Internet based standard called EBICS.

EBICS is a transport protocol that offers secure transmission of files independent of the payload.  As a result, EBICS can be utilized to exchange a variety of banking information such as account statements; securities holdings; debit and credit payment orders.  EBICS supports the traditional SWIFT FIN/MT message classes such as the MT 103 and MT 940.  Furthermore, EBICS can be easily extended to support the new ISO 20022 XML (SWIFT MX) messages.  The EBICS protocol is based upon HTTP, but with network encryption using TLS.  Due to the nature of the financial transactions EBICS supports, high levels of security are incorporated.  EBICS also offers checkpoint/restart capability which enables the file transmission process to gracefully resume in the event of interruption (rather than having to start over).

EBICS has been offered in Germany since January 2008.  Adoption has been much quicker than other B2B messaging standards.  The success is due in part to the fact that the traditional alternative, the legacy BCS standard, will no longer be supported at the end of this year.  All of the major German banks – Deutsche, Commerzbank, Dresdner (Allianz) and HypoVereinsbank support the protocol along with the smaller, regional institutions.

The big news in 2010, however, is not just the decommissioning of BCS, but rather the adoption of EBICS within the French market.   A new version of EBICS (2.4) has been developed to meet the needs of the local French payments and banking sector.    Much like in Germany, EBICS will be replacing a legacy communications protocol called ETEBAC (Echange TElematique BAnque Clients) in France.  ETEBAC is scheduled for end-of-life in 2011, which is driving a sense of urgency for French corporate and financial institutions to migrate to new connectivity options.  EBICS is not the only option for French corporate.  Treasurers can choose to connect to their financial institutions via SWIFTNet or alternatively via a web-based portal provided by the bank itself.

ETEBAC, the French communications protocol being replaced, has a rich history much like BCS.  The original versions of ETEBAC (v1 and v2) were unidirectional in nature.  ETEBAC1 enabled corporate clients to upload a file (e.g. payment instruction) to a bank using a secure transmission over the phone network.  Conversely, ETEBAC2 offered the ability to download a file (e.g. account statement) from a bank.   The most popular version of ETEBAC was version 3, which supported bidirectional exchange of files via the TRANSPAC network.  A fourth and fifth version of the ETEBAC standards were developed but never reached the popularity of ETEBAC3.

The rollout of EBICS in France and Germany offers an interesting case study in the evolution of B2B communications standards.  In my next post I will highlight what we can learn from the new EBICS protocol.

By Steve Keifer

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: EBICS – The Standard for Corporate-to-Bank Communication?.

Small companies are starting to have access to solutions geared specifically to their needs, which does add to the value proposition somewhat. A number of new vendors are focusing specifically on the SME space to help make it a little bit easier for small companies to migrate to e-invoicing. American Express, for example, offers AcceptPay—a dedicated SME e-invoicing solution.

Read the entire article: http://www.cfozone.com/index.php/Newsflash/E-invoicing-market-fragmentation-tough-on-SMEs.html

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing market fragmentation tough on SME’s everywhere.

Standards in B2B are a waste of time. They are a waste of energy, intellectual capacity and money. They have no place in the business world in 21st century.

For as long as I can remember, the great and good in the B2B world have espoused the use of standards as a fundamental component of business communication in the technology enabled world – yet they have simultaneously complained abut the number of standards that are out there. Surely its about time that we all realized and accepted that further attempts to evangelize and impose standards will not work. They’ve never worked in the past. If they had, there would not be so many standards today (not to mention the numerous standards bodies). We normally learn from our mistakes – once bitten, twice shy. In the B2B world – once bitten, twice bitten.

B2B Standards – How we got where we are?
In the 1980s the conversation went something like this:

Supplier: “Don’t send me a paper purchase order. Miss out the middleman. Send me the order from your computer to mine”

Buyer: “OK, but I have a mainframe DEC20 and you have a an IBM AS400.“

Both: “We need to identify the lowest common denominator in terms of a language they can both speak.”

It made sense. Computers, despite their sophistication, were pretty dumb. You had to speak to them in code and if you slipped even a punctuation mark in the wrong place, the computer wouldn’t understand a word of what you were saying.

Standards developed as an important tool to allow businesses to leverage their investment in technology in spite of the wide variation in IT platforms that existed.

But that was then – and this is now.

Imagine that conversation again but this time, the early computers have the power and sophistication that exists in 2010. The standards conversation, the lowest common denominator conversation – it would never have happened. Why would it? Computers today are sophisticated enough to recognize human speech. Combined with even a basic scanner they can extract data document – from a hand written receipt from a Chinese restaurant – written in Chinese if necessary. We no longer need to dumb down the message because the computer is dumb – because the computer is no longer dumb.

Am I serious? Am I really suggesting that standards are useless? Actually – yes. While everybody is concentrating on the new paradigm like the evolution of XML based standards or the opportunity to use social networking models in a B2B environment (as if!) – the basics are being overlooked.

“Give Up Your Vows”
The limitations in computing power that inspired our thinking about standards are no longer relevant. When it comes to looking at standards in 2010, don’t look for better standards or more standards – just stop looking, and abandon them.

Source: Purchasing Insight

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: B2B Standards, how we got where we are?.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Tieto and Edisoft co-operate in e-business document interchange.

Lufthansa is reducing costs and paper consumption with OB10 e-Invoicing in its accounting department.

Lufthansa has announced that it is implementing electronic invoicing with OB10, the world’s leading e-Invoicing network. The objective is to use the OB10 service to generate tax-compliant invoices, thereby reducing invoice management costs both in Germany and internationally.

“OB10 is an international operation – like Lufthansa – and fulfils our requirements for electronic invoice processing in the countries that are most important to us.  Thanks to our ANY-TO-ANY DATA FORMATTING we can handle any type of invoice format – without requiring our customers or their suppliers to install additional hardware or software.”

“We are proud that with Deutsche Lufthansa AG, we are working with another client who wants to encourage their suppliers to become part of our global network.”
Although the majority of invoices at Lufthansa in Germany are already received via EDI (with the accompanying summary invoice) thousands of paper invoices for goods and services still arrive at Lufthansa every year. The manual processes for managing incoming invoices are not only time-consuming and costly, but also prone to error. All of this will now come to an end. As part of the new e-Invoicing project, which will initially be implemented in Germany and eight other countries including the US, the UK and Canada, the majority of invoices will be processed completely in electronic form using OB10.

Lufthansa equips itself for the future
In addition to the cost savings e-Invoicing delivers, Lufthansa expects the cooperation with OB10 to lead to considerable process simplification. Over the medium term, the entire Financial Supply Chain is to be moved to an electronic process. Additional advantages of the e-Invoicing system include faster transmission of invoices and significantly improved data quality as invoice information is fed directly into the ERP system and its associated archive. Lufthansa will also benefit from higher productivity in its invoice processing due to the automated validation of invoice data. Furthermore, pure electronic invoicing will greatly reduce the number of invoices from suppliers that cannot be allocated, and therefore significantly reduce the accompanying queries and complaints regarding payment. e-Invoicing also has advantages for suppliers as they not only profit from reduced process costs, but also the cost and time delays associated with posting invoices.

“OB10 is an international operation – like Lufthansa – and fulfils our requirements for electronic invoice processing in the countries that are most important to us,” says Martin Steuernagel, Department Manager for External Accounting at Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “That makes OB10 the ideal partner to simplify many of our more complex external invoicing procedures with e-Invoicing. What really tipped the scales for OB10, however, was the supplier enrolment programme, which will ensure that our international suppliers and partners will also be promptly connected to the OB10 network. Nobody else offers this type of programme – in seven different languages – and it will help us save valuable time and resources as we implement the overall project.”

“Thanks to our ANY-TO-ANY DATA FORMATTING we can handle any type of invoice format – without requiring our customers or their suppliers to install additional hardware or software,” adds Jamie Gunn, CEO, OB10. “We are proud that with Deutsche Lufthansa AG, we are working with another client who wants to encourage their suppliers to become part of our global network.”

About OB10
OB10 (www.OB10.com) is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network. OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organizations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by typically 60 percent and can deliver an ROI in less than a year if the program follows OB10′s best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT, tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 100 countries. To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrollment, each new customer’s suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Lufthansa AG Switches to Paperless Invoices with OB10.

ING strengthens focus on electronic invoicing with Anachron After raising its stake in Billington to 100%, ING has now also increased its interest in Anachron, a specialist in the field of electronic invoicing. ING expects the majority of European companies to switch to electronic invoicing within the next five years.

The increase in ING’s stake in Anachron to 30%, as well as the strengthening of the cooperation between its Billington unit and Anachron, illustrate the vision ING has for the future and the role it sees for electronic invoicing in the payments sector. Anachron is one of the top European companies in this rapidly developing market and its expertise makes it a very important partner. The cooperation builds on the activities already developed by the two parties in the field of electronic invoicing and will look at opportunities for their further expansion on the European market through ING’s national and international network.

ING foresees strong growth in the electronic invoicing market. “Within the next five years we expect the majority of European companies to use electronic invoicing,” said Robert Heisterborg, responsible at ING for corporate payments in his capacity as Global Head of Payments and Cash Management for ING Wholesale Banking.”The agreement reached this week between the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW) and Dutch SME employers’ organisation MKB-Nederland with the Deputy Ministers of Economic Affairs, Finance and the Interior confirms the expectation that electronic invoicing is going to be the norm.”

Market growth for ING unit
Billington and Anachron ING benefits from the combined forces of its Billington unit and Anachron. Billington is a full-service provider of electronic invoicing solutions for the corporate (B2B) and consumer markets. Anachron is specialised in developing electronic invoicing solutions which are made available through the internet. “We have been developing solutions for e-invoicing since 1999. Via our customers’ websites we present invoices with interesting functionality that optimise both the outgoing and incoming flows of invoices. This makes it possible for customers to consult the e-archive at any given time, providing them not only with information on the status of their invoices but also with the ability to answer customer questions quicker. It also allows recipients to retrieve invoicing data automatically in their own system, creating important cost savings for them too. Used in more than 25 countries, our e-billing solutions are of course completely compliant with all EU regulations. We elected to join forces with ING because of the international network of ING Payments & Cash Management and its leading position both in the Netherlands and abroad,” said Anachron CEO Frank Hoekstra.

Facilitating payments is one of ING’s core activities. Combining its knowledge of payment processes with innovations in the field of electronic invoicing, ING offers a complete range of products from invoicing to payments. This makes ING even better positioned to benefit from a large portion of expected market growth.

Advantages of e-invoicing
Robert Heisterborg: “For companies the advantages of electronic invoicing are quicker payments and better working capital management, on top of the cost savings provided by the transition from manual paper invoicing to automated e- invoicing. Invoices can also be paid automatically.” At the same time, consumers also benefit from electronic invoicing. Heisterborg: “Consumers get their own archive containing all their important invoicing information and an electronic expenditure book providing easy-to-access product information. It’s a simple way to pay invoices.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Increased stake in Anachron illustrates ING’s vision for the future.

As pressure mounts on organisations to be more “green” in their business operations and the continuous drive for greater efficiencies, eBilling is set to change the way companies send invoices to their customers. The market for eBilling solutions is expected to have massive growth in the next few years so Anachron and zumzum have forged a strategic partnership to capitalise on the UK market.

“Having reviewed over 50 eBilling providers across Europe it became very clear why Anachron is in the top 3 eBilling solution providers in Europe” explains Bashrat Din, Managing Director of zumzum. “Anachron is the only vendor that has solutions for large billers through to very small companies. The particular expertise demonstrated by Anachron in the B2B eBilling sector, the advanced set of features and the total commitment to quality of service means that Anachron is ideally positioned to increase their market share across Europe. We are very excited to be working with Anachron to increase their footprint in the UK.”

Continued Bashrat Din, “Anachron established the business in 1999 so is a survivor of the dot com meltdown, but not just survived but prospered by accumulating a very impressive set of reference customers. The investments Anachron has made in technology means that they are unique with a total set of solutions for both the Biller-direct model, which is well suited to large accounts and also the Biller-Consolidator model (Ingis) targeting the SME market. This latter solution is as a result of an investment made in Anachron by ING bank so this is an example of the very creative partnerships Anachron is capable of developing.

“From our very first contact with Anachron we have been incredibly impressed with the people at Anachron, and they constantly demonstrate a creative and flexible approach to partnering. They are just great people to be working with and we are delighted with the early results we are achieving” concluded Din.

Source: www.anachron.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Anachron and zumzum launch eBilling Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the UK.

In the corporate market, banks see potential for generating additional revenue by integrating e-invoicing with existing cash management, supply chain and financing services.

However, in the absence of widely accepted standards. many see their projects as long-range efforts, with an average estimated five year payback in terms of return on investment.

Swift says its potential involvement in the market was welcomed by approximately three-quarters of the banks surveyed.

The Euro Banking Association and an EU Commission Expert group are currently researching the market for e-invoicing and the potential for wider banking industry involvement.

Swift says it will await the findings of both these efforts before setting up its own Ad Hoc advisory group. This would seek to set out and test a business case for an interoperable e-invoicing platform, and identify the key functionality and the role of Swift and other parties in the provision of this capability.

Source: www.finextra.com  

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Swift set for greater involvement in e-invoicing.

The importance of the CEN/ISSS Workshop deliverables
The Adobe whitepaper shows once again the importance of the deliverables of the CEN/ISSS Workshop deliverables. At this point the Workshop is in its second phase, having delivered at least one groundbreaking deliverable: the Draft Good Practice Guidelines. These guidelines are available here, here and soon on www.cenfiscalesguidelines.com Some groups with other interests on e-invoicing do not quite agree with these Guidelines. But we arguably can not ignore the fact that this is a serious attempt to remove one of the major barriers on e-invoicing: uncertainty on e-invoicing.

Intelligent PDF: removing barriers?
The intelligent PDF approach presented by Adobe could also serve as a mean to remove a barrier to e-invoicing: adoption in a B2B environment.

E-invoicing is acknowledged to be an unstoppable innovation across and outside Europe. Taking a leap in the future, full scale e-invoicing would mean that the vast majority of organisation is not only sending e-invoices, but also –and this very important– receiving e-invoicing.

One of the results from a major survey conducted by e-business watch showed that most of the companies prefer to receive e-invoices per e-mail in PDF. This is not the answer that some of the BSP would like to hear. But it clearly shows that receivers are in need of control over the inbound e-invoice.

The intelligent PDF approach of Adobe does just that. It combines the humanly interpretable PDF with a for computer systems readable XML format. So now we can receive and read the PDF invoice and having established the perception of control over the e-invoice, we can now extract and import the XML data into our financial software.

This enables e-invoicing between business partners regardless of size, sector, business processes and accounting software. If in fact the intelligent PDF approach guarantees compliance with the respective national VAT legislation, it would also be usable in cross border e-invoicing.

Intelligence in authenticity and integrity?
Interestingly enough, the Adobe intelligent PDF whitepaper mentions the possibility to sign the PDF document. So the PDF document is the format that is being used for formal validation. The invoice’s XML data can be submitted for material validation against external documentation such as supplier contracts. E-invoices archived in PDF/A guarantee the fidelity of the invoice, while the use of XML ensures that invoice data can be transformed to any format required by auditing software.

Maybe it is also interesting to use the XML data for formal validation. This would implicate that not only the PDF document is signed, but also the XML file, for instance with XADES or XMLDSIG. Then, the XML feed can also be used for formal validation even when archived. Additionally it would be very interesting for SME’s to use the PDF document for material validation.

So, the Adobe intelligent PDF is more intelligent compared to the plain old PDF docyument. We can expect it to have an impact on removing the barrier of awareness, including the aspect of adoption by have the perception of being in control. And maybe the approach can be made even more intelligent by incorporating XML signing. This would be very interesting because then it would not matter which document is being used for formal validation: PDF or XML, or both. Creating ease of use (which will be explained in the next Featured Article).

Read the Adobe white paper here:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Intelligent PDF: removing barriers?.

To make the whole invoice process completely paperless, OB10 also archives invoices electronically, providing access for both suppliers and buyers via the OB10 Portal. Conducting the invoicing process in this way saves vast amounts of paper (as well as postage, logistics, transportation, etc. for delivering invoices) and helps the finance function to become more environmentally compliant.

The award is run by the Green Organisation, an independent non-profit, non-political group supported by the Environment Agency and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Green Apple Awards are presented to Companies that have recognised the benefits that can be gained from environmental best practice, and also realise the business benefits of being green. Jamie Gunn, CEO, OB10, commented, “We are delighted to receive this Green Apple award for the second year running from the Green Organisation. It’s great news that the environmental benefits of e-Invoicing are being recognised. Businesses need to be fully aware of the damaging consequences of paper invoices. It is not only the cost and efficiency savings that can be made, but with the amount of paper invoices in circulation, in Europe alone – that equates to 763 housand tons of paper or almost 13 million trees, not including the fuel and landfill space that is also saved.”

In the past year alone, OB10 has electronically processed more than four million transactions on behalf of its global customer base, the equivalent of 85 tons. Using standard industry calculations1, that saving represents 1,443 trees which have been spared, as well as enough fuel to run 100 cars for over 1,000 miles, fuel a home for 42 years and 208 cubic metres of landfill space. With OB10’s year-on-year global growth, and the increasing acceptance of electronic invoicing, the environmental savings are set to increase even further. To put it into context, the 1,443 trees that OB10 saved last year could have absorbed up to 231,485 kilograms of Co2 in just one year, and released enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support a staggering 2,886 human beings.

About OB10
OB10  is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network. OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organisations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by typically 60 percent and can deliver an ROI in less thana year if the programme follows OB10’s best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT, tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 100 countries. To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrolment, each new customer’s suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network. Customers include: Agilent Technologies, Barclays, BP, Cargill, DHL, DSG International, Eli Lilly & Company, Fisher Scientific, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Kellogg’s, Logica, Lufthansa, Mohawk Industries, Norwich Union, SaraLee, Shaw Industries and Steria.

Source: www.OB10.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: OB10 awarded a Green Apple Award.

TIE Holding N.V. (“TIE”) hereby announces that it has entered into a tentative agreement to acquire MamboFive B.V., an e-Business software company based in The Netherlands. The transaction completes TIE’s portfolio of the TIE Kinetix e-Business products and solutions and creates further business development opportunities for up-selling TIE Kinetix to the expanded customer base.

This acquisition fits well into TIE’s strategy of acquiring businesses that strengthen TIE’s bottom line, whilst providing expansion of the product and service potential. The acquisition is expected to contribute to TIE’s revenue and profitability.

Following the completion of the financial, technical en legal due diligence, and the agreement for the purchase of 51% of the shares, TIE shall pay a purchase price amounting to EUR 200,000. The purchase price for the first 51% of the shares also contains a short term 5% annual interest bearing loan amounting to EUR 300,000. On March 1, 2009, TIE requires to pay the loan and interest to the shareholders of MamboFive.

Regarding an additional 24,5% of the shares, TIE receives an option to buy them per April 1, 2009 for a purchase price of EUR 450,000. In order to acquire the final 24,5% of the shares, TIE receives an option to buy them for a purchase price of EUR 450,000. In case TIE determines to exercise the options, TIE will issue convertible bonds amounting to the purchase price. Each convertible bond has a notional term of five years and a lock-up amounting to 1 year. The convertible bonds are non-interest bearing and the conversion rate of each bond will be based upon the average closing rate of the last 4 days prior to the closing date or exercise date as well as the closing date or exercise date, always with a minimum of EUR 0.10.

The total purchase price for the acquisition of all shares of MamboFive therefore amounts to EUR 1.4m. The company has decided to split the transaction in order to anticipate on the current circumstances in the financial markets, and therefore provides itself with multiple decision moments to evaluate the financial market status at that moment. TIE expects to finalize the agreement after the publication of the annual results, which is planned on November 26, 2008.

With the addition of MamboFive, TIE will be able to deliver its customers a complete state-of-the-art TIE Kinetix e-Business solution, including a web shop. Our customers can now connect and integrate with their trading partners in the supply chain in every possible way, whether it’s the support of online orientation for their customers, online selling or online fullfillment. Therefore they can keep their business virtual as long as possible and save valuable time and money and even grow their revenue.

TIE will also be able to deliver its Business-to-Business integration know-how and solutions to the customers of MamboFive, who are predominantly in the telecom industry. Customers of MamboFive are KPN, HI, Debitel, AH Mobiel, Vodafone and e-tailers such as Elders Websales and Slimshops.

“Combining with TIE provides a significant opportunity to further accelerate our combined business”, said Frank van Doorn, Director of MamboFive. “We have been looking for possibilities to provide our clients additional services and complete solutions. We are very pleased to be able to integrate our MamboFive solutions in the TIE Kinetix platform. This will enable us to realize substantial growth in new markets and to extend the business with our existing clients”.

“Web shops and e-business solutions are the final step in our vision of offering a full range of e-business solutions to our customers”, says Jan Sundelin, CEO of TIE. “MamboFive delivers a full multi-channel concept, including shop-in-shop. With the acquisition of MamboFive we have a very powerful solution for our clients in doing their business online via a web shop.”

About MamboFive
MamboFive delivers and implements e-business solutions based on her standard MamboFive Commerce Suite (MCS), which is suitable for B2B and B2C solutions.
MCS is a fully ‘Web Enabled ERP’ for the internet entrepreneur. New technologies such as e-procurement, web shops, catalogue management and web services can be implemented upon the existing investments in financial and logistic systems.

The company was established in 2000 and is headquartered in Utrecht, in the center of the Netherlands. It developed the MamboFive Commerce Suite especially for midsize and large enterprises who can implement the software package quickly without high investments. MamboFive’s main focus is the high end corporate retail segment. The client reference list comprises strong corporate brands as KPN, HI, Debitel, Vodafone, Fujitsu-Siemens, SimYo Belgium, Simac ICT and Elders Websales (GSM.nl).
MamboFive also has a strong position in the mid segment with runner up companies and niche players who require state-of-art solutions for their e-businesses.

Profile TIE
Master Data Management Software Company TIE (NYSE Euronext: TIE Holding) bridges the gap between online and traditional business. TIE helps industry and supply chain partners to achieve electronic business collaboration with solutions in the traditional and upcoming markets like Data Quality Management, e-Invoicing, Master Data Management and Digital Channel Communications. Our solutions are proven to lower costs, increase revenue and optimize business processes. Because we have decades of experience to share, TIE remains a key contributor to the development and implementation of global eCommerce standards. TIE is a publicly held company with offices in the United States, France, and the Netherlands.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: TIE to acquire MamboFive.

The combined offering provides a complete procure-to-pay solution that supports settlement using a MasterCard payment card account or electronic funds transfer (EFT).

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAWW), a leading provider of global air cargo assets and services, is the first company to utilize the integrated capabilities of the MasterCard Payment Gateway and iPayables.

“We manage and operate the world’s largest fleet of 747 freighter aircraft, providing a unique value proposition to our customers through highly reliable, cost-efficient assets and operating services,” said Joseph Lopez, Sr. Manager, Indirect Procurement for Atlas Air. “Similarly, the MasterCard Payment Gateway is a highly reliable, cost-efficient service that will streamline the process for paying our suppliers, saving time and money for us and our vendors.”

First introduced in October 2007, the MasterCard Payment Gateway is a flexible enterprise-wide payment processing platform for routing commercial payments between buyers, suppliers and their financial institutions. iPayables is the first non-bank reseller whose functionality is coupled with the MasterCard Payment Gateway, creating an end-to-end solution that offers companies a more streamlined, faster and secure way to make payments.

“The combination of iPayables’ electronic invoicing capabilities with the MasterCard Payment Gateway provides Atlas Air with one efficient and secure B2B payments solution,” said Shari Krikorian, vice president, Advanced Payments, MasterCard Worldwide. “By managing multiple payment types, the MasterCard Payment Gateway is simplifying the historically inefficient, check-dominated process of payment, and solving corporations’ growing demand for straight-through processing.”

Using the MasterCard Payment Gateway, a buyer can initiate payment card and EFT payments directly from its financial system to the banks of its suppliers. Remittance data is provided to both the buyer and supplier to speed up reconciliation processes. No account information is shared between the buyer and supplier, and the supplier does not need to use a point of sale device to originate payment.

“The MasterCard Payment Gateway expands our electronic invoicing capabilities and enables us to provide our customers with a complete payables solution that delivers increased efficiencies for all of their commercial payments needs,” said Ken Virgin, CEO, iPayables.

The modular nature of the MasterCard Payment Gateway also provides financial institutions with an enterprise-wide electronic solution that they can re-brand and make available to their corporate customers, or integrate into their current product offerings to enhance their functionality and efficiency. This can enable them to increase payment volumes without building infrastructure, potentially grow profits with additional fees, deepen customer relationships and differentiate from the competition.

Suppliers that process payments with the MasterCard Payment Gateway enjoy automated payments with straight-through processing, decreased paper check processing costs, automated reconciliation via enhanced remittance information for common payment types and preference among buyers that pay electronically.

Buyers that rely on the MasterCard Payment Gateway can drive efficiencies by streamlining their payment options, integrating with existing accounts payable processes and can potentially save money by enabling one connection. Through this method/gateway, buyers can have one streamlined total payables solution that can help them increase productivity, enhance security and increase profits.

Source: Sibos Online

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: MasterCard Payment Gateway integrates iPayables e-invoicing.