eSMEs - Best Practices in the use of eBusiness standards for European SMEs

8/9/2019 eSMEs - Best Practices in the use of eBusiness standards for European SMEs

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eSMEsBEST PRACTICES IN THE USEOF eBUSINESS STANDARDS FOREUROPEAN SMEs

Focus Group

eBUSINESS AND EUROPEAN STANDARDS BENEFITS FOR SMEsIncreasing competitive pressures and a changing legal and administrative environment are compelling over 23 million European small

and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to optimize their business processes, cut costs and enter new markets in Europe and the rest

o the world.

eBusiness standards are an impor tant tool or companies. By integrating eBusiness and eBusiness standards, each SME can:1 Optimize relationships with suppliers

1 Shorten response times

1 Improve security in planning

1 Reduce costs

1 Increase customer satisaction

1Acquire new customers

1 Enter new markets

1 Improve the companys image

1 Create a distinctive profle

1 Boost revenue


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HELPING SMEs EMPOWER THEIR eBUSINESS

1 MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT: Achieving security in

planning or all business processes.

1 VENDOR-MANAGED INVENTORY: Reducing stock levels

and accelerating product innovation.

eBUSINESS STANDARDS THE KEY TOENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESSInternationally accepted and cost-efcient standards are

fundamental to the implementation of eBusiness activities. They

ensure that a companys work processes are ully digitized and

not interrupted by changes in media.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONSDIGITAL AGENDA FOR SMEsHelping SMEs go digital is a priority or the European

Commission. The Commission has set up a European Portal

or SMEs, the eYouGuide portal and the eBusiness support

network.

eBusiness standards acilitate policy implementation, and, in

order to cope with eBusiness and standards in their daily work,

SMEs need tailored inormation and tutorial training. The CEN

Focus Group eSMEs addresses, on a European level, the

tutorial support that SMEs need in order to integrate eBusiness

standards into their operations.

Five categories o standards are addressed:

1 IDENTIFICATION STANDARDS - Identifcation standards are

used to identiy products and services, organizations and

companies, locations, logistics and transport. Their use

is undamental in eBusiness or the transaction o goods

and services between companies as well as the use o

WHAT IS eBUSINESS AND WHAT ARE eBUSINESSSTANDARDS?

The ollowing unctional areas are supported by eBusiness

applications. These applications rely on eBusiness standards

or their integration and unction, and they are essential or

achieving efciency in corporate processes:

1 CATEGORY MANAGEMENT: Improving product range policy

and marketing.

1 COLLABORATION ON PLANNING, FORECASTING AND

REPLENISHMENT: Reducing transport and distribution

costs and optimizing collaboration along the supply chain.

1 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: Better

understanding of customers and increased customer loyalty.

1 ELECTRONIC EXCHANGE OF DATA: Automatic ordering,

billing and notifcation o dispatch.

1 ELECTRONIC CATALOGUES: Updating electroniccatalogues at the push o a button.

1 ELECTRONIC MARKETPLACES: Benefting rom sales

opportunities in global markets.

1 ePROCUREMENT: Using supplier shops and rationalizing

purchasing.

1 JOINT FORECASTING: Optimizing logistics and the ow o

goods.

1 ONLINE-SHOPS: Discovering new distribution channels and

making sales around the clock.


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CEN FOCUS GROUP: eSMEsThe objective o the CEN Focus Group eSMEs is to help SMEs

integrate eBusiness procedures into their daily work. The

groups main activities are:

1 Collecting and disseminating practical knowledge, information

and experience as well as guidelines concerning the use o

eBusiness and eBusiness standards.

1 Identiying SME support gaps in the area o eBusiness and

eBusiness standards.

1 Creating a wiki or planning and communicating recom-

mended actions to overcome identifed gaps.

1 Developing courses and tutorials targeted specifcally to

small and mid-size enterprises in the areas o product data

description and exchange standards.

1 Developing a methodology to eectively disseminate

inormation and material.

1 Creating an eBook on the results o the Focus Group.

REPORT AND eBOOKThe Focus Groups fnal report and eBook will be published in

June 2010 on the CEN website and distributed throughout the

European Commissions eBusiness Support Network.

scanner technology (Barcodes). An advanced technology

in the orm o RFID (Radio Frequency Identifcation) is also

gaining importance. Examples o identifcation standards:

EAN/GTIN, GS1 128 and EPC/RFID.

1 CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS - Classifcation standards

describe products consistently and align them in ahierarchical system or grouping materials, products

and services. This is done according to a logical

structure with a level o detail that corresponds to the

product-specifc properties. Examples o classifcation

standards: CPV, eCl@ss, ETIM, GPC, and UNSPSC.

1 CATALOGUE EXCHANGE FORMATS - For acilitating the

exchange o catalogue and product data, trading partners

need a standardized exchange ormat. Electronic catalogue

data can also be exchanged with platorms. Examples o

catalogue exchange ormats: BMEcat, cXML, Datanorm/

Eldanorm and PRICAT.

1TRANSACTION STANDARDS - Consistent messages areneeded or the electronic exchange o electronic invoices

and bills. Transaction standards enable the creation o these

messages. Examples o transaction standards: EANCOM,

EDIFACT, GS1-XML, OAGIS, ODETTE, openTRANS and UBL.

1 PROCESS STANDARDS - Process standards enable

standardization o entire business processes. Process

standards are not as common in the manufacturing industry

as they are in the consumer goods industry where joint

forecasting and vendor-managed inventory are state of the

art. Examples of process standards: Category Management,

CPFR, ebXML, Joint Forecasting, OSA, RosettaNet and VMI.


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USEFUL LINKSwww.cen.eu/go/FGeSMEs

www.ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sme/index_en.htm

www.ec.europa.eu/eyouguide

www.ec.europa.eu/enterprise/e-bsn/index_en.html

www.prozeus.de

www.epme.eu

ABOUT CENThe European Committee or Standardization (CEN) is a business acilitator in Europe, removing trade barriers or European industry

and consumers. Its mission is to oster the European economy in global trading, the welare o European citizens and the environment.

Through its services, CEN provides a platorm or the development o European Standards and other technical specifcations.

CENs 31 National Members work together to develop voluntary European Standards (ENs). These standards have a unique status,

since they are also national standards in each o the 31 member countries. With one common standard in all o these countries, and

every conicting national standard withdrawn, a product can reach a ar wider market with much lower development and testing costs.

CEN helps to build a European Internal Market or goods and services and to position Europe in the global economy. More than 60.000

technical experts, as well as business ederations, consumer and other societal interest organizations, are involved in the CEN network,

which reaches over 480 million people.

For urther inormation please visit: www.cen.eu

ABOUT eSMEs

The CEN Focus Group eSMEs has been proposed by the PROZEUS project and the University o Hagen. A variety o stakeholdersparticipate in the Focus Group, including non-proft organizations, trade associations, public agencies, IT consultants, sotware

vendors and standards developers.

The project team comprises: Jan Goossenaerts, Pragmeta Knowledge Clout (Belgium) 1Tony Hittema, AFNOR Association Franaise

de Normalisation (France) 1Aurlie Virgili, Independent Consultant (Belgium) 1Jens Brking, Semaino Technologies (Germany) 1

Michel Declunder, Periscope (France) 1Romano Klein, Institut der deutschen Wirtschat Kln Consult (Germany).

The work is suppor ted by the European Commission, the Directorate General Enterprise and Industry, and the European Free Trade

Association.

CEN-CENELEC Management CentreAvenue Marnix 17 B-1000 Brussels Tel: + 32 2 550 08 11 Fax: + 32 2 550 08 19 [email protected] www.cen.eu

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eSMEs - Best Practices in the use of eBusiness standards for European SMEs