Mark Morley, Industry Marketing DirectorMark Morley, Industry Marketing Director

B2B Challenges Facing Divested Companies

B2B Challenges Facing Divested Companies

Slide 2 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Introduction

• The global economy has recently been

through a significant period of change

• Companies in all industry sectors are

streamlining their businesses to raise

much needed capital

• Divesting operations allows companies

to rethink their corporate strategies

• Divestitures provide the ideal

opportunity for companies to re-evaluate

IT and B2B strategies and re-focus on

core competencies

Slide 3 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Divesting an Operation can be ComplexIt will impact all areas of a business...

IT and B2B Infrastructure

Distribution Network

Global Office Locations

Manufacturing Plants

Retail Network

ERP CRM ERP CRM

Divested Operation

Slide 4 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Which B2B Direction Do You Take?

Outsource B2B?

Use Existing B2B

Platform?

Implement New B2B

Platform?

• Following the divestiture of a

company, there are three

possible directions a company

could take for managing their

future B2B requirements:– Continue to use existing

B2B platform– Implement and manage a

brand new B2B platform– Outsource the management

of the entire B2B platform to a trusted partner

Slide 5 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Typical B2B Activities Following Divestiture

• Document Mapping – potentially hundreds of document maps will need to be transferred from the parent company to the newly divested operation

• ERP Integration – ERP integrations from the parent company will have to be re-established in the new operation

• Trading Partner Management – trading partners will need to be managed during and after the divestiture has taken place

• Global B2B Support – Loss of support from a parent organisation means that global B2B support services will have to be provided to maintain global trading capabilities

• Legacy Platform Upgrade – could provide the ideal opportunity to introduce new B2B technologies to the divested operation

Slide 6 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Document Mapping

• Following divestiture, companies

have one of three options with

respect to document maps

– Transfer Existing Maps

– Transfer & Modify Maps

– Develop New Maps

• These options will mean significant

disruption for the divested operation

Slide 7 © Copyright 2009, GXS

ERP Integration

• ERP platforms can be difficult to

integrate to a divested B2B platform

• Personnel with ERP related skills

may reside with the parent company

• The divested operation may need

support to manage global instances

of an ERP platform

• Separation from the parent company

seen as an opportunity to develop a

fully integrated ERP/ B2B platform

for the first time

Slide 8 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Community Management

• Following divestiture it is important

to maintain continuity with trading

partner relationships

• The divested operation will need to

work out a strategy for managing

trading partners in different

locations around the world

• Trading partners will require

ongoing training, development and

support with the divested

operation’s new B2B platform

Slide 9 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Global B2B Support

• Providing global B2B support for all

users across an extended enterprise

can often be the most difficult area

to manage following divestiture

• For global operations, 24x7 multi-

lingual support will be required

across multiple time zones

• The divested operation will need to

manage regional document,

connectivity and industry specific

B2B standards around the world

Slide 10 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Technology / Legacy Upgrade

• Following divestiture, companies

may see this as an ideal opportunity

to upgrade from legacy B2B

platforms and technologies

• Upgrading to new technologies

allows the divested operation to

develop a flexible B2B platform that

can grow as the company grows

• Provides opportunity to develop a

more robust B2B platform with

increased availability/reliability

Slide 11 © Copyright 2009, GXS

Thank You

GXS Sales:

EMEA: +44 (0) 1932 776047

GXS Website:

www.gxs.eu