A familiar concept: Translation service brings Excel into the world of B2B collaboration
Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/19/2008 2:05:00 PM
GXS, a provider of B2B integration and collaboration solutions, now offers a service that allows companies to exchange business documents electronically in Microsoft Excel format.
Announcement of the service, called GXS Trading Grid for Excel, was timed with the annual Convergence conference for European users of Microsoft Dynamics applications, held in Copenhagen this week.
Capitalizing on the new Office Excel 2007 user interface, Excel 2007’s new XML file format, and the traditional ready programmability of Microsoft’s Office applications, GXS Trading Grid for Excel aims to sharply lower the barriers to entry to B2B e-commerce that are typically encountered by smaller businesses, explains Tom Varghese, senior product manager at GXS.
“We’ve long had a saying: ‘No Trading Partner Left Behind,’” says Varghese. “GXS Trading Grid for Excel helps us deliver on that promise.”
The latest addition to GXS Trading Grid e-commerce platform, GXS Trading Grid for Excel began with the simple observation that many businesses struggle to get more than around 20 percent of their trading partners fully integrated on a B2B e-commerce platform, relates Varghese. And while various semi-automated ways of closing the gap exist—such as Web-based forms—resistance is rife. “There’s a limit to how much you can ask people to change the way they do business,” he notes.
Meanwhile, he continues, “We kept getting told, ‘Companies keep sending us Excel spreadsheets—Excel for purchase orders, acknowledgements, and even Excel for invoices.’” The inference was clear: Here was one communication medium where resistance to change wouldn’t be a problem—a conclusion confirmed by a straw poll taken of GXS customers last spring.
The attraction was obvious. While Excel was a popular format for data exchange, it wasn’t without its faults. “Rekeying from Excel into back-office systems takes time, costs money, and can introduce errors,” explains Varghese. “Even attempting to impose order by using standard templates causes problems. Trading partners simply change the templates, deliberately or not.”
Acting as a central translation hub, GXS aims to help businesses sidestep such difficulties. Via GXS Trading Grid for Excel, completed spreadsheets are transmitted to GXS, then translated to EDI format—or a company’s own enterprise-specific format—and then forwarded to the trading partner for processing. “Through greater automation, companies can do business more quickly and more accurate, thereby reducing costs and improving trading partner relationships,” says Varghese.
A major objective is to significantly reduce resistance to formalized e-commerce platforms.
“First and foremost, GXS Trading Grid for Excel is about increasing the options for participating in B2B e-commerce and lowering the barrier to entry,” Varghese stresses. Accordingly, the service includes multi-language support options with help via live chat, phone, and email; as well as context-sensitive self-help. Languages so far supported include Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese.
Right now there are no live ‘beta’ customers, but that could change soon, says Varghese, with both GXS and Microsoft talking to interested parties. The supply base of Dynamics AX user Tesco, a U.K.-based global retailer, is one possibility. The company has some 500 trading partners using Web forms, and a further unspecified number using Excel. Microsoft, too, is looking to its supply base to identify companies presently trading with it through spreadsheets.
“Companies of all sizes today use Excel spreadsheets for creating, tracking, and exchanging transactions with business partners,” notes Mbwana Alliy, product manager, Microsoft Office. “GXS Trading Grid for Excel enables small and medium-size businesses to continue using Excel to create, edit, and modify transactions. It also allows for easy integration of Excel documents with their ERP and accounting systems.”
Featured Company
Most Recent Resources
- FICO™ Xpress Optimization Suite Schedules Big Profits For Clients
- Strategic Pricing: Three Steps to Higher Profit Margins
- Driving Innovation Through Lean Product Development Practices
- Demand Planning Maturity Model Strategies for Demand-Driven...
- Simulation-Driven Product Development:Will Form Finally Follow...
