SEEBURGER Expands Managed Services with Enhanced Community Management Offering

SOURCE:  SEEBURGER

SEEBURGER Inc. today announced the expansion of its managed services portfolio with a new community management service that allows all supplier enablement processes – including supplier onboarding, message delivery, data integration and technical support – to be outsourced to SEEBURGER. The new service allows manufacturers and other enterprises to electronically integrate smaller and lower-volume trading partners with their supply chain without requiring in-house resources, software licenses or other overhead.

The managed supplier enablement service provides a fully outsourced alternative to both Hub & Spoke and web portal solutions for automating communications with non-EDI-enabled trading partners. It also enhances SEEBURGER’s community management platform, which incorporates a collaboration portal, campaign lifecycle management, provisioning/testing and compliance and operations monitoring for end-to-end support.

With SEEBURGER’s new managed supplier enablement service:

• SEEBURGER Managed Services onboards new suppliers on behalf of the hub enterprise. Supplier registration as well as communication, syntax and end-to-end testing are included, ensuring smooth message delivery and data integration with the hub’s and supplier’s business management systems.
• A secure electronic mailbox hosted by SEEBURGER Managed Services receives purchase orders, ASNs, invoices and other transaction documents.
• Purchase orders are imported into the supplier’s business application as soon as they are retrieved from the mailbox, while newly generated supplier ASNs and/or invoices are automatically exported to the hosted mailbox. These functions leverage the data import/export capabilities of the supplier’s business software.
• Supplier messages are automatically retrieved, converted and integrated with the hub company’s ERP system by the SEEBURGER Business Integration Suite, a widely adopted B2B integration platform that can be deployed under a licensed, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or managed services model.

For manufacturers and other hub companies, the service reduces costs by eliminating the need for in-house staff to onboard smaller suppliers, purchase a Hub & Spoke license, troubleshoot suppliers’ web portal issues, or purchase dedicated onboarding solutions that may be needed only for a one-time project. It also increases data accuracy by eliminating supplier rekeying of transaction data that is required with a webforms solution.

For suppliers, the managed services approach eliminates the need to install Spoke software for Hub & Spoke deployments, manually rekey data from or to a web portal, and spend time resolving errors caused by inaccurate data entry. These features also greatly simplify the process of complying with the EDI mandates of manufacturers and other organizations.

Early Adopter
One user of SEEBURGER’s managed supplier enablement services is Bruce Power, Canada’s first private nuclear generating company and the source of more than 20% of Ontario’s electricity. The utility purchases thousands of parts and maintenance products to maintain its eight nuclear reactors. Bruce Power selected the managed services option to automate the exchange of purchase orders with key non-EDI-enabled suppliers as part of a supplier consolidation program designed to streamline procurement processes.

“We initially planned to use SEEBURGER’s Hub & Spoke system to electronically enable suppliers who were still doing business on paper, but we switched to the managed services strategy when we realized it would be much less work for our IT team,” said David Eddie, Business Process Specialist with Bruce Power. “It will save us both time and money, reduce the amount of paper that flows through our procurement department, and help ensure timely processing of our parts orders.”

Availability
Managed supplier enablement services are available immediately from SEEBURGER. Monthly service fees are based on message volume and the number of suppliers being serviced.

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