Driving information exchange and process integration with the E-Business Networking Hub.

1. Danny Gaethofs – E-Business Networking Hub
Danny has extensive knowledge of designing and implementing integration and
collaboration solutions in the Business-to-Business exchange domain. He has
build up 20 years of experience in automating business-to-business processes and
information exchanges in complex supply chains with multiple trading parties.
He advises and guides companies in developing strategies and approaches for
implementing electronic ordering and invoicing with their trading partners.
Danny is the founder of the Electronic Business community responsible for
building a strong group of experts in the Business-to-Business exchange domain.
He developed the concept of the electronic business highway that enables
system-wide interoperability and cross-enterprise / industry-wide information
exchange based on open exchange standards.

2. Title: Driving information exchange and process integration with the
E-Business Networking Hub
Chapter 1: What are the current business problems?
Enterprises in today’s world business environment are forced to cooperate with multiple business
partners using a multitude of exchange standards while business processes are spanning a wide variety
of enterprises. These collaborative business processes require exchange of different kinds of
information between heterogeneous enterprises and applications.
At the same time the world-economy is transforming into an open information exchange space where
the speed of business information integration becomes a vital asset to stay and remain competitive.
Establishing partner-to-partner business connections with today’s growing number of companies that
adopt electronic business is no longer doable due to the increased diversity of applications, exchange
standards, partner profiles and agreements, as well as legal and fiscal requirements. These types of
connections require companies to approach each new partner connection as a separate project,
demands continuous changes in processes and systems which have an effect on all connected partners.
Today most companies are extending the boundaries of their enterprises to enable fast and efficient
communication and collaboration with trading partners on a global scale.
The main problems these companies are currently facing are the lack of process, regulatory, system and
information integration and interoperability.

3. Chapter 2: Our Solution Overview!
The implementation of Electronic Business influences the strategic position of companies. It enables
organisations to communicate faster and more efficient with their trading partners.
Although there are many software solutions and service providers available companies should realise
that implementing e-Business is still a considerable endeavour and should not be done 'overnight'.
We offer organisations a proven e-Business Implementation Methodology and Solution that will guide
companies in their e-Business aspirations from inception to on-boarding. The methodology is a
framework that can be applied to all e-Business implementation projects irrespective of the type of
business.
The focus of the methodology is on creating a series of value-adding successes by taking small
manageable steps aimed at enhancing the knowledge and confidence of the organisation in e-Business,
defining a broadly-shared vision and strategy, develop a business case and implementing a simple,
affordable, future-proof (extensible and adaptive), and mature solution.
Step 1: Interactive Awareness Workshop
Before jumping on the bandwagon of e-Business organisations need a better understanding of e-
Business distribution models and solutions. Moreover it is imperative for companies to determine a
broadly-shared vision on e-business. This vision should reflect the core values and common beliefs of
the organisation and present the aspirations and strategic direction for the future of the company.
During a one-day interactive awareness workshop stakeholders will learn to know e-Business concepts
and develop a broadly-shared and sustainable vision with respect to e-Business.
The outcome of the Interactive Awareness Workshop is:
- Understanding today’s e-Business models and available solutions
- Understanding the impact of drivers and inhibitors on adoption
- Overview of the company’s core values and common beliefs
- Preferred e-Business communication channels of stakeholders
- Broadly-shared and sustainable vision statement
Step 2: Organisational Readiness Scan & Impact Analysis
The Organisational Readiness Scan & Impact Analysis is a high level investigation of the core capabilities,
called Foundation Capabilities, of the enterprise. It enables companies to establish a better
understanding of their collaboration and integration capabilities and select a proper implementation
strategy.

4. These core capabilities provide a clear view on the Organisational Readiness for e-Business and form the
basis for identifying the implementation strategies and scenario’s.
The outcome of the Organisational Readiness Scan is:
- Understanding of the inter-enterprise business processes and data exchanges
- Understanding of the collaboration and integration capabilities of the enterprise
- Overview of implementation scenario’s and their impact on business and information
technology
- Estimated financial gains (benefits) and investments (costs) of these scenario’s
- Segmentation of trading partners and on-boarding approaches per segment
At the end of the Organisational Readiness Scan & Impact Analysis these results will be presented to the
main decision-makers during a Strategy Closing Workshop.
The goals of the Strategy Closing Workshop are to select the preferred implementation scenario and
agree upon executing a small pilot with a limited number of trading partners.
Step 3: Establishing the connection with the E-Business Networking Hub
Getting ready to drive on the E-Business Networking Hub requires a one-time connection for each of the
business processes and information exchanges a company wants to support.
We can enable the technical connection to the network for any type of information system using
standard available integration software and components and align the business processes and data
exchanges involved with the requirements of the network.
We can help companies using SAP to establish the connection and integration with the network using
their SAP landscape they have already invested in. We can also help companies with establishing the
connection by providing knowledge and expertise of the network.
Step 4: Pilot with limited number of trading partners
Instead of going for a big-bang roll-out companies should experience the real benefits e-Business brings
and the efforts required to on-board a huge number of partners during a small pilot with a limited
number of trading partners. The pilot will focus on those business processes that have the most
widespread and positive impact across the organisation and will not disturb the current ways of doing
business.
Step 5: Roll-out and on-boarding of trading partners
The success of any e-Business project depends on the flexibility of the e-Business solution and on the
effectiveness of the on-boarding program.

5. Trading partners differ in characteristics, willingness and readiness, product groups, level of
authorisation, culture, geographic presence, IT landscape, … and therefore successful on-boarding
requires that each partner group and industry segments receives it’s own on-boarding strategy and
communication approach, … and requires a proven methodology and a readily available team of
experts.
The E-Business Networking Hub maintains a centralised Partner Repository containing the process rules,
data formats and communication protocols used by thousands of pre-integrated network partners and
ERP systems. Connecting to any new trading partner can be done in a matter of days or even hours
when already existing in the repository.
Our on-boarding team integrates all required skills, competencies and backgrounds and manages on-
boarding for two types of trading partner groups:
- Self-care on-boarding for establishing connections with pre-integrated network partners.
- Guided on-boarding for building connections with trading partners already using other
solutions.
We can also help with persuading trading partners that are not yet convinced of the gains e-Business
delivers and are not vulnerable for external pressure. This type of partner group, called persuaded on-
boarding, requires awareness-raising and promoting the competitiveness and sustainability of the E-
Business Networking Hub.

6. Chapter 3: What is our Value Proposition?
The E-Business Networking Hub simplifies B2B communication and cooperation in all industries by
breaking down the technological barriers to enterprise-wide information exchange and business process
collaboration between enterprises in- and outside Europe.
By enabling seamless integration and long-lasting interoperability with the power of flexibility and
simplicity the E-Business Networking Hub enables businesses to connect instantly with anyone,
anywhere, for a fixed cost, thus becoming more readily to survive and face competition in the global
marketplace.
The E-Business Networking Hub focuses on the Business Exchange Domain in which the exchange of
business documents between two or more enterprises takes place and enables integration and
collaboration in the Purchase-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash and Supply Chain processes.

7. Low Cost: Businesses need a one-time investment only to connect to the E-Business Networking Hub
and gain access to all their business partners already integrated on the network at a reasonable and
predictable fixed cost. Connecting to a new trading partner electronically requires selecting the
business partner and the involved process without having to deal with system connectivity and
exchange standards.
High adaptability and independency: The E-Business Networking Hub hides the complexity of business
information systems and middleware technologies from business partners while enabling businesses to
adapt fast to changing communication and collaboration needs. Businesses can even redesign their
complete enterprise architecture without impact on their existing partner relationships.
Flexibility: The E-Business Networking Hub provides a multi-channel approach that builds on reusability
of business content and integration services. This enables companies to start small with the business
processes that have the most widespread and positive impact across the organisation without disturbing
current ways of doing business,
High visibility and transparency: The E-Business Networking Hub provides a community portal that
gives online visibility into partner relationships and delivers real-time insight in the status of business
transactions.

8. Chapter 4: Why consider our offer and services?
Successfully implementing e-Business requires a profound understanding of supply chain management
principles, logistic and distribution processes, legal and fiscal regulations combined with extensive
knowledge of communication and integration architectures, international exchange standards and
leading enterprise solutions.
Moreover the implementation of e-Business requires companies to align processes and information
flows across multiple business partners and to establish fluent integration between diverse systems and
applications.
We are a Consulting group providing business consultancy, system integration and managed services in
highly competitive industries and in rapidly changing supply chain environments.
We have a long-lasting history in implementing e-Business solutions and services with different
technology solutions and gained as such profound knowledge of the integration and collaboration
aspects.

9. We have implemented electronic ordering and invoicing during the past years for several customers to
support their order-to-cash processes and purchase-to-pay processes.

10. Chapter 5: How starting adoption of e-Business?
When companies consider implementing e-Business they need to understand that there are several
factors steering the adoption of e-Business. Adoption is the process during which an enterprise becomes
capable of transacting electronically. The adoption process starts with acquiring knowledge of e-
Business concepts and understanding the factors that influence the intent to adopt of companies and
their trading partners.
The most important factors driving or inhibiting adoption of e-Business are perceived benefits and costs,
external pressure and organizational readiness. Organisational readiness applies to the maturity of the
technological and business architecture of the organisation. The more perceived benefits outweigh
perceived costs the more likely decision-makers will consider adoption. Moreover even though there is
a considerable amount of evidence that benefits exceed costs, companies may still be reluctant to adopt
e-Business due to an apparent lack of organisational readiness. On the other hand when decision-
makers face extreme external pressure that may affect the well-being of the company they become
increasingly vulnerable to adopt.
During the Interactive Awareness Workshop we will guide the main decision-makers and stakeholders
in understanding the e-Business models, demonstrate our thought leadership on the subject matter,
provide insight in the drivers and inhibitors of e-Business and build together a broadly-shared and
sustainable , including defining the goals and objectives of the company.
The main objectives and benefits of the workshop are to align the thoughts and ideas of the
organisation, to build a strong management commitment for executing an Organisational Readiness
Scan and Impact Analysis and establish consensus on initiating a proof of concept or pilot with a limited
number of trading partners.