MAGAZINEOFTIEKINETIX

Total Integrated E-Commerce

25 Years

Future is now!
2013 ~ Introduction to Innovation ~ E-Government

The

Motivated & Data Driven

Business Intelligence

Geared for Growth

WD-40 Case

and more!

How do you fix what you dont know?

Content Syndication

E-Commerce

Integration

Business Intelligence

Whats really happening in your EDI / Integration system?

Effortlessly identify the weakest links within your EDI, XML and other B2B E-Commerce communications with a free Optimization Report. Your customized report will include a detailed overview of: secure communications, trading partners, maps, documents and volume, frequency of errors and additional various system performance aspects.

Current Customers Get a Free Optimization Report!

Contact your local TIE Kinetix representative for a free Optimization Report today.

1-800-624-6354 info@tiekinetix.com www.tiekinetix.com

INDEX

INTRO

P3

The Future is now!

P08 E-Government Solves Everything

Writing the book on

P07 25 Years of TIE Kinetix

SaaS Solutions

P09 Unite Online and In-Store P10  Everyones Talking About the Channel

Motivated & Data Driven

12

P13 Enables Huge Efficiency P14 Introduction to Innovation P16 Geared for Growth P17  More Competitive Insurance Carriers P18 Facts & Figures

Welcome to the fifth edition of our magazine. In this issue we will cover topics from marketing and E-Commerce trends to the importance of integration and business intelligence.

o matter if you are in B2B Telecom or in the government space, the publics expectations are constantly rising in this everchanging digital landscape. We know Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions will provide businesses with the required agility and blinding speed to market they need to meet and exceed customer demand. That is why it was vital we moved past the rules of license based software and wrote our book on SaaS solutions. For many years, we have seen SaaS trends grow and become more widely accepted. As others struggle to make to the SaaS game, we continue to push new boundaries everyday by crafting solutions in the cloud throughout all stages of the supply chain. We invite you to join our exciting journey. Enjoy Reading,

MASTHEAD
Publication TIE Kinetix, Breukelen, Netherlands ~ www.tiekinetix.com Art Direction & Design Remco Baars, Sandra Hellingman | beet-vormgeving.nl Coverphoto Nadja Willems | StudioSoest.nl Printing Van Schaik Grafimedia In Cooperation with Nadja | StudioSoest. nl, David Webb, Robin Pilcher, Shannon Clemons, John Hunnicutt, Carol Irish, Pim van de Donk, John Peters, LewisPR Authors Suzanne Glorie, Patrick van Boom, Brian Tervo, Rick Cedrone, Jim Larkin.
2013 TIE Kinetix, De Corridor 5d, 3621 ZA, Breukelen, Netherlands. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without permission of the publisher.

Jan Sundelin, CEO TIE Kinetix

P4

WRITTEN BY PATRICK VAN BOOM ~ PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO SOEST (P6)

TIE Kinetixs new headquarters as of April 2013. All three offices from the Netherlands will be merged into 1 office centrally located in the Netherlands. The office will be located in Breukelen (the Netherlands) directly next to the expressway A2 and within 5 minutes walking distance of the train station of Breukelen. The office is equipped to fully benefit from the technology available like movement sensors for lighting the office, electric car charging and keyless entry to the office.

TOTAL INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE

P5

The fast moving mobile and social world of E-Commerce

Future is now!
The rise of mobile devices and SaaS solutions, as well as access to big data, are trends driving development in the exponentially growing E-Commerce marketplace. In this article we take a closer look at these trends, and what solutions marketing departments are tracking to integrate these functions online to derive greater value.
he fast moving mobile and social world of E-Commerce last year, (according to eMarketer1), 33.7 million Americans used a tablet device at least monthly. By 2014, the number will rise to nearly 90 million one in three of all Internet users. More than 60 percent of 25-34 year olds now own a smartphone. And more than one billion people worldwide are connected via Facebook. When it comes to shopping, these connected consumers increasingly turn to the device closest at hand. While PCs and laptops are still the most widely used channel for browsing and purchasing, tablet and smart phone shopping is on the rise. E-Commerce solutions must support web, mobile, tablet, call centers and in-store touch points.

The

CONTENT DRIVES MARKETING, BRANDING & SALES

Content Marketing, is a growing area of focus for both B2C and B2B marketers. Many companies now see content marketing as a way to generate direct sales, especially in the world of business-to-business marketing. A study conducted by B2B Magazine2, identified content marketing (51%) as being the most important tool for generating leads, outscoring brand awareness (38%), thought leadership (34%) and sales (29%). Buyers are hungry for content and are less influenced by marketing messages. Instead they prefer to select and consume content on their own terms. They want content created for their particular interests delivered to them when they need it

Many companies now see content marketing as a way to generate direct sales, especially in the world of business-tobusiness marketing.

across more diverse platforms than anyone could have ever imagined. The main goal of content marketing is to drive deeper customer engagement and to do so earlier in the buying process. Creating a message that is consistent in all marketing and sales material and across the different departments is essential for an organization but it is not a common practice. Its hard enough to align marketing and sales within a company

P6

TOTAL INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE

TIE Kinetix Global Management Team Standing (from left to right): Franklin Lassman, Stuart Campbell, Zwier-Jan van Puijenbroek and Patrick van Boom. In front (from left to right): Jan Sundelin and Brian Tervo.

they see IT as bureaucratic, inflexible and slow to respond to fast moving market needs. This costs time, money and ultimately customer conversions. Marketers see SaaS based solutions as innovative and scalable. With the economies of scale, SaaS providers will always outpace innovation in the market because they act on trends before individual organizations / traditional software delivery mechanisms can put these features in play. Marketers want to focus all their effort in driving new business, not defining what needs to be there to execute their mission. SaaS platforms give them freedom, agility and availability to move at the pace of business.

to get them speaking the same language - let alone broadcasting a unified message to the outside world. This challenge becomes herculean when the sales force is not part of the same organization and the company sells through independent resellers. The growing importance of content to drive marketing, sales and branding, means organizations must create the right content and deliver it via multiple touch points to ensure a consistent end-user experience and maximum conversion rates.

BIG DATA IS CHANGING THE GAME

The premise is simple: big data has the power to fundamentally change almost everything we do. But the mountain of data that businesses collect from consumers is only powerful if it is analyzed, put into context and acted upon. The big data trend we have seen take hold in other areas of the enterprise is making its way to channel marketing and sales. Dealing with Big Data is a challenge for many marketers, but its rise in importance is pushing more and more to use it. If marketing managers can create a big data capability to capture, analyze and predict customer behavior, they can fundamentally change not only how marketing is done, but how it interacts with other aligned corporate functions. In addition to developing

an integrated experience for content marketing, organizations will be best served by sourcing a solution provider with a business intelligence product that can help provide a 360 degree view of sales. With systems and processes that enable integration and automation of their business throughout their internal and external facing systems and customer touch points, companies will have greater intelligence and insight - and ultimately stronger sales.

INTEGRATION WILL ACCOMPLISH A SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE ACROSS CHANNELS

A critical issue for the E-Commerce adopter is integrating the activities after the buy button is pressed. E-Commerce solutions must:  Integrate with an organizations ERP system (so data can be analyzed and incorporated as a marketing research tool)  Work together seamlessly in real-time to exchange information without duplicating the content or data  Be able to merge and normalize data and content sources, both from internal and 3rd party sources like content providers and suppliers  Deliver the right content at the right time across all possible touch points to create a consistent end-user experience. Think Total Integrated E-Commerce, think T.I.E. TIE Kinetix believes it is well positioned in this fast changing market because they can offer end-toend solutions throughout the entire supply chain. By facilitating a Total Integrated E-Commerce experience both businesses and their customers reap the benefits.

MARKETING IN CONTROL
The power of decisionmaking is shifting and Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) choose cloudbased solutions according to Gartner, six out of ten CMOs and not their IT managers decide on which IT solutions their company uses. The marketing department is turning into a technology purchasing department. Marketers are looking to break free of anything that encumbers the execution process and

The power of decisionmaking is shifting and CMOs choose cloud-based solutions.

1) eMarketer, Nov 21, 2011. eMarketer covers digital marketing, media and commerce, offering insights essential to navigating the changing, competitive and complex digital environment. 2) B2B Magazine, Dec12, 2012. Content Marketing: Ready for Prime Time

WRITTEN BY PATRICK VAN BOOM

TOTAL INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE

P7

Innovation, Stability and Customer Satisfaction: The hallmarks of TIE Kinetixs twenty five years of experience.

Years 25
08

Total Integrated E-Commerce

onnectivity and integration has been, and continues to be, a foundational part of TIE Kinetix. Our extensive history started in the bits and bytes of back office fulfillment. Over the years, we have leveraged and applied this understanding of connectively and automation to E-Commerce and Online Marketing solutions with great success. Learn how we have raised up over the years and evolved into a total integrated E-Commerce solution provider. TIE Kinetix was founded in 1987 and started as an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) provider focused on the food and distribution markets in the Netherlands. In 2000, the company initiated an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and was listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange as one of the early technology companies to go public that same year, TIE introduced Extensible Markup Language (XML) support and was one of the first companies to offer E-invoicing solutions. In 2000 TIE expanded its market footprint with the acquisition of DNS Worldwide (Burlington, MA) and St. Paul Software (St. Paul,MN) in the United States. In 2003, influenced by the introduction of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, TIE started the development of an advanced Catalog Management product together with an article verification system. In 2005, TIE Kinetix acquired EDI-TIE France SAS. On its way to a Total Integrated E-Commerce offering called TIE Kinetix, in 2006 TIE added a front-end marketing solution to complement its back-end business integration solutions through the purchase of Digital Channel (DC). Before customers purchase a product or solution, they orientate themselves based on productand marketing information. This information should be available at the point of sale, which is especially challenging when suppliers sell through independent resellers or agents. This acquisition gave TIE the ability to

87

00

03

05 06

offer seamless supply chain integration to facilitate the marketing process. In 2008, TIE added E-Commerce functionality to the product range with the acquisition of MamboFive. TIE became a 100% E-Commerce solutions provider and was able to offer its customers the ability to sell online to other business (B2B) or directly to the end user (B2C). Connecting the marketing solutions to the business integrations solutions extended the TIE offering to solutions that facilitate market sell - deliver through the supply chain. In 2012, TIE completed two acquisitions. With the acquisition of Light BV, TIE added talent to the Dutch business and strengthened both commercial and development teams in portal related front-end technologies. Further expansion in Europe is necessary for growth. Recognizing the need for companies to analyze the vast amount of data churned out in the consistent E-Commerce environment, TIE made another strategic acquistion. With the ascention acquisition, an Austrian based company with businesses in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, TIE not only expands its geographical reach but it also adds additional expertise with respect to business intelligence solutions. This last acquisition completes the Total Integrated E-Commerce offering for market sell deliver analyze. In addition, for many years, TIE has been recognized as a leader in the development of next generation technologies. TIE is particularly active in the European Commission framework for innovation programs. TIEs R&D has demonstrated its technological excellence in key topical areas such as SaaS, Cloud, Mobile, Semantics, and Interoperability in vital technologies. With offices in the United States, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Australia, TIE Kinetix can facilitate both global and smaller enterprises to do business electronically around the world with its Total Integrated E-Commerce solutions.

12

P8

TOTAL INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE

WRITTEN BY SUZANNE GLORIE ~ Photography iStockphoto

Digital Portal Automates Dutch Government

E-Government Solves Everything

Organizations exchange several documents with their entire supply chain. Orders, invoices, packing slips, etc. Many of which are still sent and received via (snail) mail. Unfortunately many businesses cannot easily exchange documents electronically.
checks if the sender is authorized to send messages to the addressee.

EFFICIENT AND SAFE COOPERATION

A number of generic steps in processing the messages can be automated, like transferring a message from one format to another, archiving messages, splitting messages for several addressees and delivering status feedback to both the addressee as well as the sender. It facilitates the communication from the system of one organization to the system of another organization, regard less of format. Think of exchanging invoices, orders, order confirmations, etc. Governments and companies that are dealing with many vendors use the Digital Portal to streamline processes and reduce errors. By forcing their vendors to use the portal they make sure all orders, confirmations and invoices are automatically transferred to their back-end system. Quickly, correctly and making sure the right information reaches the right person.

his brings along quite a hassle. Especially when exchanging large amounts of information or sensitive information. Security and authorization issues are very common. There is no structure and control. Important documents might get lost or sensitive infor mation is exposed to unauthorized persons.

DIGITAL PORTAL OFFERS STRUCTURE AND SAFETY

There is a solution that enables you to automate all communication with

your suppliers, the TIE Digital Portal. This Digital Portal is a secured Internet portal from where information can be exchanged. It offers the infrastructure to control and steer the exchange processes. Through the portal messages are exchanged between sender and addressee. This could be between the government and its vendors but also between companies. The portal has been set up in such a way that incoming messages are validated automatically. It checks to who the message is addressed and prior to delivering the message it

BENEFITS TIE DIGITAL PORTAL

The innovations that TIE Kinetix made in developing the Digital Portal have given both governmental organizations as well as businesses many benefits in the area of cost-reduction, efficiency and safety. Some of the benefits are:  Fully automated integration with any back-end system  Ability to directly receive 100% digital invoices, orders, etc.  Even vendors that do not have an ERP system can send you messages in the right format  Save paper, time and money by connecting your vendors to the Digital Portal  Automated processes reduce administrative tasks  Strict validation and authorization within a secured environment

WRITTEN BY SUZANNE GLORIE

E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS

P9

Tablets enable Unique Online and In-Store Retail Experience

Unite Online
and
n 2012, TIE Kinetix launched a new retail solution that enables its customers to effectively link their online and retail business by introducing tablets in their retail locations. This E-Commerce solution is an answer to the growing need to increase sales in retail stores while leveraging the digital strategy. By connecting to their cloud-based E-Commerce platform provided by TIE Kinetix, they are able to easily integrate their physical and online storefronts. This new solution was first implemented with TIEs Telecom customers. In the old situation cell phone collateral, plans and pricing were printed on paper. The average time it took per customer to convert to a sale in a store was approximately 20 minutes. In the new digital experience, the sales process on the retail floor flows much smoother.

In-Store
also have the ability to create a quote for a customer. This not only alleviates the pressure to buy for the customer, but it also helps sales reps close deals faster and more efficiently later in the sales cycle. If desired, retailers can also provide consumers access to their quotes online, giving them the opportunity to purchase online after visiting the store.

IMPROVING THE IN-STORE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

When a shopper is ready to purchase, another helpful quality from the tablets is applied to the in-store shopping experience. Once restricted by their locations stock level, sales reps are now connected to real-time inventories. Their location may be out-ofstock, but the sale can still be completed and everything purchased in-store will be easily shipped to the buyers home. The internet alongside technology has progressively changed how shoppers interact with products in the world today. This new in-store tablet experience is simply another step forward in providing TIEs customers with the best tools to market, sell, deliver and analyze their products faster and more efficiently.

ACHIEVING A MORE EFFICIENT SALES CYCLE

With direct access to pricing and rich product content like videos and reviews, shoppers inside the store can receive the full interactive product experience right alongside a knowledgeable sales representative to guide them through the buying process. Sales reps

P10

WRITTEN BY JIM LARKIN

Everyones Talking About The

Channel

The Case for Telecom The communications industry is going through a massive change. Today telecom is less about software and more about connecting to the cloud. Telco managers have been folded into IT operations. Calls that once took place at a desk can seamlessly be forwarded to an iPhone. And perhaps most importantly, the inherent nature of selling these products through the indirect channel has changed as well.

uture growth for B2B Telecom will depend on the industrys ability to leverage partner communities. This can be done by making existing partnerships more productive and more effective in growing their business, and by introducing new channel partners

who come from different back grounds than the existing ones.

UP-TO-DATE CONTENT
Getting a manufacturers brand and messaging out to partners, and their customers, with limited marketing and web presence, can be an

enormous challenge. How can a unified message be properly delivered when theres no infrastructure to support it? How do these companies make sure that the partners selling their product have up-to-date content on their websites? All channel partners need to sing the same

CONTENT SYNDICATION

P11

marketing song, with up-to-date content, collateral and campaigns. We started working with TIE Kinetix because we had a large amount of content that we needed to syndicate to our partners worldwide, says Shannon Clemons, Director of Marketing at Digium, an U.S. based phone system provider. One of the requirements of our program is that partners have updated Digium content on their websites. We knew that we needed to make it easier for our growing partner base to publish content and it needed to be easier for us to publish as well! Content syndication from TIE Kinetix is a powerful tool for publishing a brands content on a partner product page, while never leaving that partners website. Users can engage and view product showcases, videos, co-branded PDFs, and much more. Most importantly, its delivered directly from the brand to partner websites with next to zero work required.

The content syndication program was very easy to add to our existing website and provides information for potential customers quickly and easily.

VENDORS AND PARTNERS LOVE SYNDICATION

The effectiveness of TIE Kinetix is applauded by Robin Pilcher, Head of Global Channel Marketing at Siemens

Enterprise Commu nications. TIE Kinetix empowers us by syndicating content directly into our partners websites. Our partners dont have to worry about hundreds of web pages being built, updated and managed. Its done for them automatically. Thats why TIE Kinetix is so absolutely critical to us, because content syndication makes our partners websites better, clearer, comprehensive, up-to-date, with the right information, the right images and improves the consumers web experience. Thats very powerful. Partners themselves are quick to acknowledge how useful this process is and how it has helped shape their own marketing programs. According to John Hunnicutt, Vice President Federal Systems at Technology Resource Center of America: As an organization with less than 50, our budget and time for updating web, designing brochures, and researching new information is limited. The content syndication page (embedded in our web) has given us a magnificent tool. It provides our staff and clients fast, easy access to the newest updated information and brochures are automatically co-branded with our logo. Carol Irish, Marketing Director for Ideal System Solutions, Inc. added: The content syndication program was very easy to add to our existing website

and provides information for potential customers quickly and easily. We had a very large potential customer contact us for a nice opportunity through the site. Small, medium and enterprise level brands are also inclined to use content syndication tools since channel reporting is available in real-time from Webtrends. A popular area brands in the tele commu nication space like to measure its leads generated via their content and campaigns. This level of campaign analysis allows vendors a new depth of campaign optimization that was previously unavailable.

PARTNERS WIN WITH FEWER CLICKS & MORE CONVERSIONS

With content syndication, customers find relevant web content in fewer clicks. That customer has no need to shop elsewhere, and is much more likely to convert because they didnt need to jump around to other sites looking for additional information. Our goal is to enable our partners to be more productive and win more business that will grow with Siemens, concluded Robin Pilcher, Head of Global Channel Marketing at Siemens Enterprise Communications. With content syndication from TIE Kinetix we can update content for them automatically and instantly. All around the world, over 500 partner websites immediately reflect a product that we have just launched. It doesnt take days, weeks, months for them - its instant. As soon as I press the button, its updated. This is why TIE Kinetix is absolutely important to our whole channel strategy. If we want to build our channel we need to enable our partners.

P12

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

WRITTEN BY SUZANNE GLORIE

Business Intelligence Helps German Office Furniture Manufacturer

Motivated & Data Driven

edus Stoll AG is a company with tradition that has set new standards again and again during a history that goes back over 140 years. In ergonomics, manufacturing processes and ecology. A brand which moves people and a brand for people who get things moving. Sedus is a global player which continually redefines the concept of aesthetic office furniture and gives a new and timeless quality to the office environment.

STRONG AMBITION FOR INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Sedus ambition goes further than just growing the figures but encompasses sustainability and innovation. In order to achieve the desired growth and ambition the company needs to be able to quickly respond to changes in the market. Therefore, accurate management information is key. In the old situation important business information was stored in different formats in different systems. The IT department spent a lot of time gathering and combining all bits of

information. Generating reports was complex and always required the help of the IT people. In order to increase agility and flexibility Sedus decided to implement a completely new business intelligence solution. They went looking for a end-toend solution, fit for the future, which would directly connect with their SAP system and would seamlessly combine information from all different systems. Sedus asked 4 vendors to do a proof of concept and finally chose TIE ascention to implement the proposed solution.

Where before the IT department was involved to generate standard reports, now departments have the flexibility to generate their own custom reports.
Peter Smoly, TIE ascention

of Revolution to automatically set up a data warehouse structure including the complete ETL process reduced the implementation time by 70%! This enabled Sedus to establish quick and flexible analysis and reporting in the areas of sales and logistics. Key business intelligence to effectively steer the business.

BUSINESS ANALYSIS MADE EASY

Sedus has a Business Analysis department; they gather information from all sources, analyze it and deliver specific information to management or departments upon request. Before, it was very hard to drill down to a deeper level of intelligence. Now, with data centrally stored in the data warehouse, it is much easier to analyze data and comply to specific information requests quickly without the involvement of the IT department. A huge improvement, but Sedus is looking ahead. The next step will be to make this management information accessible from mobile devices.

VALUABLE INFORMATION TO STEER THE BUSINESS

TIE ascention used Revolution to set up a data warehouse. The unique capabilities

WRITTEN BY SUZANNE GLORIE

INTEGRATION

P13

Innovative, end-to-end E-Invoice & EDI solutions

Enables Huge Efficiency

owadays, millions of orders and invoices are exchanged electronically without interference of man, paper, fax or email. Where EDI used to be for automating primary flows of goods it is now more and more used for optimizing the entire purchasing process. Every transaction leads to an invoice and processing these is an expensive and labour intensive task. By combining E-Invoicing and EDI in an end-to-end solution you will be able to electronically receive and process 100% of your incoming invoices. In order to achieve efficient, intelligent invoice processing the following 3 elements are of great importance: - Connecting suppliers and automated data entry and validation - Support of both cost- and goods related invoices

- Workflow and integration with back-office systems

CONNECTING SUPPLIERS, AUTOMATED DATA ENTRY AND VALIDATION

There are 3 possible ways for suppliers to present their invoices: 1.  Delivery of invoices in electronic format (Edifact/XML/UBL, etc.) 2. Online via the Digital Portal 3. P  aper invoice arrives per regular mail and is digitalized via OCR technique

and presented to the appropriate person via workflow. Those responsible for the ordering and invoicing process have real time insight in the status of an invoice including the complete audit trail, tracking & tracing and the invoice archives.

The partnership between TIE Kinetix and Medius has led to a solution that achieves spectacular results in terms of efficiency and costreduction.

WORKFLOW & BACK OFFICE INTEGRATION

It takes a lot of time to manually send around invoices in an organization for review and approval. Automated workflow integration helps to optimize and control this process. Based on predefined rules, the correct employee receives invoices for approval and is able to carry out the complete approval and handling process through a few simple actions. Thanks to the integration of all back office systems, workflow approval and validation, an invoice can easily work its way through the organization quickly, efficiently and error free. The TIE Kinetix and Medius end-to-end solution offers a great chance to digitally process your supplier invoices 100% while improving efficiency and lowering cost.

SUPPORT FOR BOTH COST AND GOODS RELATED INVOICES

Processing invoices, comparing purchase orders and reviewing receipts are time-consuming tasks. Automation saves time and reduces errors. By matching invoice data automatically at line item level, manual work can drastically be reduced while the process is accelerated. Invoices without deviations are processed automatically. Invoices with deviations are marked for analysis

P14

TEXT SUZANNE GLORIE ~ PHOTOGRAPHY WD-40

ERP and message flow integration makes

WD-40 geared
growth
countries, Australia and China. The European distributor network has grown to include distributors in 37 countries. Along with the success came some challenges, especially in streamlining processes. Each group within WD-40 Company used its own systems, making process alignment difficult, while order volumes were increasing rapidly. Some countries even doubled in size! Time to realign processes and tools at the European headquarters in the United Kingdom, WD-40 Business Analyst David Webb realized that steps needed to be taken to overcome these challenges and manage the growth of the business. The UK office was using an old but stable EDI system. Since more and more customers demand the use of EDI the other European offices needed to be set up on EDI as well. At the same

for

We all know WD-40. This famous multi-purpose problem solver finds itself in four out of five households. WD-40 was created in 1953 by the Rocket Chemical Company. Its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry.

t took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th tryis still in use in many households and companies today. In 1969 the company was renamed after its only product, WD-40 Company, Inc.

SUCCESS BRINGS ALONG CHALLENGES

The continued success of the company lead to new product development, growth and international expansion. In a fast pace offices were set up all over the world including many European

time the Epicor iScala ERP system needed to be updated so it seemed like a perfect time to realign processes and tools. WD-40 was looking to improve the EDI set up European wide. The EDI solution should have the capacity to cope with the continuous growth of the business. On top of that, it needed to be closely integrated with the updated version of the Epicor ERP system, E9, which WD-40 was planning to implement. From the selection of vendors WD-40 was looking at, TIE Kinetix offered the best solution. Not purely based on cost but on the all-round package they offered. Especially the partnership with Epicor and their ability to integrate with both Epicors iScala and E9 ERP systems influenced

INTEGRATION

P15

David Webb: TIE Kinetix has the EDI expertise and Epicor ERP knowledge to guarantee great results now and a smooth transition once we are ready to go live with E9. In addition, the fact that TIE can directly communicate with our customers in the local language is worth its weight in gold.

The fact that TIE Kinetix can directly communicate with our customers in the local language is worth its weight in gold.

Thats one of the things TIE helps us to do. It takes a lot of stress away from me and increases my credibility internally as well as externally.

SAAS MANAGED SERVICES KEEPS EXPERTISE CLOSE AT HAND

WD-40 Company is a lean organization and they like to keep it that way. Therefore they do not have the desire to keep all expertise in-house. TIEs EDI SaaS solution fully supports this philosophy. Even when doubling the business theres no need to hire additional personnel to keep EDI running smoothly because TIE takes care of that.

WD-40s decision to choose TIE Kinetix. Eventually WD-40 thought they had to wait with implementing the EDI solution until the migration to E9 was completed but TIE convinced them otherwise. By integrating the EDI system with iScala first, WD-40 could enjoy all benefits of EDI right away. In the meantime, the E9 EDI integration is being set up. To ensure a smooth transition customers are connected in parallel now. They will not even notice the change when E9 goes live.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS HELPS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

In the European roll out of the EDI system TIE takes care of connecting new customers. The direct communication between WD-40s customers and TIE has led to a better customer experience. Expectations are managed better than before and issues can be solved much quicker. David Webb: Previously we would say, we do it in 4 weeks and it would take us 12 weeks, now we say we do it in 6 to 8 weeks and it takes us 6 to 8 weeks, so we are living up to the expectation.

MASSIVE TIME SAVINGS AND IMPROVED PROCESSES

Using EDI has already lead to massive time saving at WD-40. The improved processes and tight integration with their ERP system has led to increased efficiency, improved communication and a better customer experience.

FACTS AND FIGURES  WD-40 has 6 offices in Europe Annually 28000 orders are processed 1  1000 orders are currently processed via EDI  This leads to a message flow of 22000 documents, incl. invoices  Entering an order message manually takes 10 minutes  Sending a message through EDI takes less than 1 minute, requiring NO human intervention Average time savings 3300 hours per annum.
WD-40, multi-purpose problem solver since 1953

P16

RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION

WRITTEN BY SUZANNE GLORIE ~ PHOTOGRAPHY EADS Airbus SAS 2013 All rights reserved.

TIE Kinetix participates in innovative projects with partners like EADS, Airbus, FIAT and University of Vienna

Introduction to Innovation
Innovation is generally understood as the successful introduction of a new thing or method. It is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.
PROUD TO CONTRIBUTE TO INNOVATION
We are particularly proud to contribute to programs and policies the European Commission (EC) is formulating, influencing and, where appropriate, implementing in order to increase Europes innova tiveness. The EC is trying to make sure innovation is thoroughly understood and approached comprehensively, thereby contributing to greater competitiveness, sustainability and job creation. These objectives have our full support and perfectly fit with TIEs vision. IE Kinetix continuously keeps up with new online technology and trends through our Research & Development (RDI) unit with the aim to improve and enhance our products and solutions.

MULTI-PARTNER COOPERATION TO SHARE & ACQUIRE SKILLS

One of the ways we share our skills and acquire new ones is through multi-partner cooperative European and National research projects. TIE is particularly active in the European Commissionss framework innovation programs (e.g. FP7) which annually spends about 50 Billion Euro on research in important fields such as ICT, Energy and Health. Other programs TIE participates in include ITEA and Eurostars - an European Joint Program dedicated to the R&D SMEs. These projects allow TIE to be in touch with partners like EADS, FIAT, Airbus, University of Vienna, SKF and Fraunhofer. Participation in both European, Regional and National innovation

initiatives has many advantages for our organization and our customers, like being at the forefront of technology knowledge, influencing technical direction and using the tangible results in our products. We have a specific strategy designed to contribute our vision and our experience and also extract knowledge and insight into our solutions.

GUARDING INDUSTRY STANDARDS

TIE has always been active in EDI and ebXML community efforts such as the United Nations CEFACT organisation and the European Standards Institute (CEN). More recently, we have been involved in NESSI which is the European Commission supported Technology Platform for Software and Services as one of the formal partners, along with HP, IBM, Thales, Siemens, SAP, Telecom Italia, etc. We are represented in the Board by our CEO Jan Sundelin and our CTO Stuart Campbell who is also one of the Steering Committees Vice Chairs and chair of the NESSI SME Activity.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.
Albert Einstein

CONTACT US WITH IDEAS

The TIE RDI team is very knowledgeable in the area of Research funding and activity and has defined methodologies for constructing successful and creative proposals and also, where applicable, coordinating them to success. If you are interested in our research activities or have an idea and wish to partner with us , we invite you to contact us.

WRITTEN BY BRIAN TERVO ~ ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO

CONTENT SYNDICATION

P17

SaaS Solutions
Marketing and Business Intelligence in the Cloud Fills Gap for Insurance Carriers and their Intermediaries
he current state of the insurance market is in flux for many insurance carriers. Recently a member of the Insurance Advisory Service at the IDC remarked, With increased volatility and complexity, the markets have fundamentally changed, and one cannot expect the future to resemble the recent past. Businesses might be hard pressed to return to the normal business as usual mode, and as a result, insurers will have to react by responding more quickly to both opportunities and threats. 1 One of the drivers behind this shift resides in the ever-changing digital landscape. It is now more commonplace for customers to shop for insurance products and services online and quickly adopt carriers that

Insurance Carriers Stay Competitive with

With content syndication minimizing time to market and aiding content delivery, carriers now have access to a new source of revenue and information. Digital strategy, marketing and management now are able to directly analyze consumer behavior and adjust business strategy in real time. With some agent and broker communities well in into the thousands, SaaS solutions can cost effectively unlock big data with business intelligence.

NEW BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE OPPORTUNITIES

deliver the most enjoyable user experience alongside price. For some insurance providers, this was an opportunity pursued many years ago. Those that invested heavily online are currently in a commanding position. For other carriers with extensive intermediary channels slower to the digital game, customer retention and acquisition currently hang in the balance. The concept and practice of using business intelligence and big data to enhance market and sales performance are not new to the insurance game. The new opportunity lies in the cloud where solution providers can offer another two new competitive advantages. First, cloud solutions dramatically cut cost and processing time when crunching and interpreting enterprise level data. This gives decision makers action-oriented information in minutes rather than days. The second advantage is the ability to easily connect multiple data sources and replace manual analysis with automated intelligence. Its now up to insurance carriers to close the gap and regain market share with shelf-ready SaaS solutions. The same marketing and business intelligence solutions already commercially succesful deployed in other market segments will not only empower carriers to quickly get on par with their competitors, but it will make it much easier to respond more quickly to future changes and opportunities.

SAAS SOLUTIONS CREATE OPTIONS

Carriers selling through intermediaries looking to update their digital strategy need to find the quickest, most effective path to success. In the past, that journey started in the IT department. Now, with the growth of SaaS solutions, decision makers are able to focus on strategy and precision by leveraging marketing solutions in the cloud. For example, distributing digital content, collateral and other key selling assets through agents and brokers was difficult, time consuming and expensive without the proper tools. With SaaS-based content syndication solutions, insurance carriers can easily publish personalized campaigns, assets and tools seamlessly on intermediary websites. This type of marketing automation allows insurers to control and analyze exactly how their brand is communicated through their indirect channel.

1) Sources: www.IDC-Fi.com

P18

Facts & Figures

Customer retention/loyalty Customer acquisition Brand awareness Engagement Website trafc Lead generation Sales Thought leadership 32%

77% 75% 74% 66% 61% 52% 50%

25% Lead management/nurturing

E-Invoicing
Moving from paper invoices to e-invoices will generate savings of around EUR 240 billion over a six-year period for the EU. Deutsche Bank estimates that 16 Billion invoices are sent and received each year within Europe. Electronic and automated invoice processes can result in savings of 60-80% compared to traditional paper-based partially supported by public sector processing. Projects typically result in a initiatives, but just in a handful of countries. payback period of 0.5- 1.5 years. This The growth rates for electronic report will give the reader useful in exchange and archiving of bills/invoices are formation for achieving these results. impressive, but the potential is still Improving conversions 63.1% Mainly private sector businesses and tremendous. numerous solution providers developed the market during the last years. They were *Deutsche Bank Research, 2010

Attracting more buyers to site

61.8%

Annual bill & invoice volume estimated to be at least Recipient segment Consumer Business & Government World 200 billion 150 billion Europe 17 billion 16 billion

Estimated electronic proportion of Estimated annual volume increase Improvingof logistics total volume 22.1% in 2012 electronic bills/invoices World 5%

16.4%

Europe 12%

Expanding internationally
20%

World

Europe
Source: Billentis report, 2012

25% 30%

11.3%

Rising advertising rates

18%

If electronic invoices replaced a major proportion of paper invoices, the saving potential in Europes public sector could be at least 40 billion Euro (for inbound and outbound invoices). Today, less than 10% of it is exploited.

Big Data
Nearly 50% of IT and business professionals reported achieving customer-centric outcomes as their primary goal for big data this year. Nearly 66% of US marketers surveyed indicated that finding a way to manage Big Data was a factor driving them toward data management platforms as a solution to their marketing problems*. *Survey performed by Winterberry Group

Primary Objective of Using Big Data Within Their Company According to IT and Business Professionals Worldwide, 2012 % of total

49%

Customer-centric outcomes

Operational optimization

18%

Risk/nancial management

15%

New business model

Note: n=1, 061 Source: IBM Institue for Business Value and Sad Business School at the University of Oxford, Analytics: The real-world use of big data, Oct 17, 2012

14% 4%

Employee collaboration

TOTAL INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE

P19

Content Management
According to a study conducted by B2B Magazine, 51% of the respondents identified content marketing as being the most important tool for generating leads, outscoring brand awareness (38%), thought leadership (34%) and sales (29%). Content Marketing Goals of B2C Content Marketers in North America, Aug 2012 % of respondents

Customer retention/loyalty Customer acquisition Brand awareness

77% 75% 74% 66% 61% 52% 50%

Android / iOS have taken over Microsofts leading role in the market for Computing Operating Systems: iOS + Android 45% vs 35% for Windows according to Gartner, six out of ten Chief Marketing Officers and not their IT managers decide on which IT their company uses.
Source: Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs, *B2C Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends - North

Engagement Website trafc Lead generation Sales Thought leadership 32%

25% Lead management/nurturing 77% 75% 74% 66%

More than half of the companies plans to 63.1% replatform their eCommerce suite in the next 24 months.** **Source: 61.8% The Forrester Wave: B2C Commerce Suites, Q3 2012

Customer retention/loyalty Customer acquisition Brand awareness Engagement

America* sponsored by Pace, Nov 14, 2012

Website trafc

E-Commerce

Only 36% of marketers said they 52% Lead generation consistently manage their brand experience across all customer touch points Sales 50% Source: Forrester, Benchmark Your 32% Thought leadership Brand-Building Capabilities, September 2012

Shoppers referred conversions from Social Networks Improving such as Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube generated 0.34 percent of all online sales on Black Friday in the US in Attracting more buyers to site 2012, a decrease of more than 35 percent from 2011*. 25% Lead management/nurturing *Source: Black Friday Report 2012, IBM Improving logistics 22.1% Digital Analytics Benchmark.

61%

16.4%
Leading Challenges of Online Retailers According to Online 11.3% Retailers Worldwide, Nov 2012 % of respondents

Expanding internationally
When, if at all, are you planning to change your eCommerce

Rising advertising rates platform technology solution?

Improving conversions

63.1%

Attracting more buyers to site

61.8%

We are not planning to replatform in the foreseeable future 17% More than 36 months 5%

We already have a project underway 6% Within 12 months 9% 12 to 18 months 12%

22.1% 16.4%

Improving logistics

Expanding internationally

49%

24 to 36 months Customer-centric outcomes 20%

Operational optimization 18%

11.3%

Rising advertising rates

18 to 24 months 25%

Base: 140 eBusiness decision-makers (Dont know responses have been removed from this analysis)

Risk/nancial management

Source: SU Systems, Global eCommerce and Site Search Survey, Dec 11, 2012

15%

Effortlessly Market, Sell, Deliver and Analyze Throughout Your Supply Chain

Content Syndication

E-Commerce

Integration

Business Intelligence

Total Integrated E-Commerce solutions

Do you want to learn more about our Total Integrated E-Commerce solutions?

Contact us today.
1-800-624-6354 info@tiekinetix.com www.tiekinetix.com