Hosted Service Handles B2B/EDI Integration, Transactions & Operations Support
SEEBURGER has announced that Karcher USA, the U.S. division of the global cleaning equipment manufacturer, is outsourcing its trading partner management and other business-to-business functions to SEEBURGER Managed Services. SEEBURGER’s hosted service is handling all B2B/EDI transactions with Karcher’s U.S.-based retail customers as well as all transactions that pass through UPS Supply Chain Management (UPS-SCS), Karcher’s logistics provider, eliminating the time and expense involved in maintaining e-commerce systems in-house.
SEEBURGER has announced that Karcher USA, the U.S. division of the global cleaning equipment manufacturer, is outsourcing its trading partner management and other business-to-business functions to SEEBURGER Managed Services. SEEBURGER’s hosted service is handling all B2B/EDI transactions with Karcher’s U.S.-based retail customers as well as all transactions that pass through UPS Supply Chain Management (UPS-SCS), Karcher’s logistics provider, eliminating the time and expense involved in maintaining e-commerce systems in-house.
The engine that drives the service is the SEEBURGER B2B Gateway, a comprehensive EAI and B2B integration suite that is tightly integrated with Karcher’s SAP R/3 system to enable all transaction information to be automatically populated into SAP in real time. The gateway is processing thousands of Karcher messages per month, representing purchase orders, shipping notifications and other transactions with all U.S. customers ranging from Wal-Mart to Costco, Lowe’s, Menards, Sears and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).
That message volume also includes communications with UPS-SCS, which fulfills a large percentage of Karcher orders. All orders to be shipped directly by UPS are transmitted by the SEEBURGER service over a secure FTP connection, loaded into the UPS system, and confirmed with a shipping notice that is sent back to the SEEBURGER system and automatically imported into SAP.
SEEBURGER Managed Services is also handling Karcher’s eBusiness integration and operations support needs. Before deployment, this included all message mapping, workflow development and system testing with each trading partner as well as integration and testing with UPS’ information systems. Since deployment, responsibilities have included 24x7 system monitoring, error handling, and ongoing message maintenance to accommodate changes in trading partners’ needs.
“Our parent company in Germany and several other European offices use the installed SEEBURGER B2B Gateway for their B2B/EDI operations, but our business model in the U.S. is better suited to a hosted service because our staff here is relatively small,” said Oliver Schmid, Manager of Information Systems at Karcher USA in Duluth, Georgia. “It is more cost-efficient for us to outsource this service rather than investing in an internal infrastructure, including a developer and technician, even over the long run.”
Like other users of SEEBURGER Managed Services, Karcher pays a fixed monthly fee, avoiding the upfront costs associated with software, hardware, training and internal staff. Customers can use the SEEBURGER hosted platform as long as they wish, with the option to bring the system in-house at any time without having to invest in a completely new solution.
“Our hosted service reduces risk and lowers the total cost of ownership for any organization with B2B/EDI needs, whether it’s a smaller company, a larger enterprise, or a division like Karcher USA,” said Rakesh Harji, Managing Director of SEEBURGER UK. “Users have access to our mature B2B platform and our 20 years of experience in providing B2B solutions and services without having to install and maintain their e-business infrastructure in-house. These benefits and others make our Managed Services offering a practical alternative for managing B2B
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