b2b challenges facing divested companies

Mark Morley, Industry Marketing DirectorMark Morley, Industry Marketing Director

B2B Challenges Facing Divested Companies

B2B Challenges Facing Divested Companies

© 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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Thank You

GXS Sales:

EMEA: +44 (0) 1932 776047

GXS Website:

www.gxs.eu

http://www.gxs.eu/

b2b challenges facing divested companies

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