Published on 17-Jan-2008
"Lotus Forms helps us improve customer satisfaction and increase our competitiveness with a highly integrated solution built on open standards and Web 2.0 capabilities." - — Tom Varghese, Senior Global Product Manager, GXS
Customer:
GXS
Industry:
Computer Services
Deployment country:
United States
Solution:
Empowering People
Overview
GXS Trading Grid is a global B2B e-commerce and integration platform that supports the creation and adoption of on-demand supply chain management solutions for companies of any size.
Business need:
The company’s customers needed a solution that could render forms that looked like their paper equivalent, perform complex table look-ups and support double-byte character languages such as Japanese and Chinese.
Solution:
GXS deployed IBM Lotus Forms software (including both Lotus Forms Viewer and Lotus Forms Server products) as a key component for GXS Intelligent Web Forms, a Web forms solution that enables small businesses to conduct B2B e-commerce with larger trading partners.
Benefits:
Lotus Forms provides the user-friendly front end that drives automation of forms-based business processes between global partners
Case Study
GXS is one of the world’s largest providers of business-to-business (B2B) solutions. Its Trading Grid integration services platform enables real-time flow of information between businesses.
“Lotus Forms helps us improve customer satisfaction and increase our competitiveness with a highly integrated solution built on open standards and Web 2.0 capabilities.”
— Tom Varghese, Group Manager
Senior Global Product Manager, GXS
Challenge
GXS Trading Grid is a global B2B e-commerce and integration platform that supports the creation and adoption of on-demand supply chain management solutions for companies of any size. With a broad menu of electronic commerce services for businesses worldwide, GXS sought to increase the functionality of its current forms-based solution to provide new capabilities. The company’s customers needed a solution that could render forms that looked like their paper equivalent, perform complex table look-ups and support double-byte character languages such as Japanese and Chinese. The solution had to be cost-effective, efficient and user-friendly with easy-to-use forms and Web 2.0 capabilities that enabled large businesses to trade electronically with their small suppliers and customers.
Solution
GXS deployed IBM Lotus Forms software (including both Lotus Forms Viewer and Lotus Forms Server products) as a key component for GXS Intelligent Web Forms, a Web forms solution that enables small businesses to conduct B2B e-commerce with larger trading partners. IBM WebSphere Application Server provides background support for the Lotus Forms application. GXS uses Lotus Forms software as the front-end interface, while it uses the Lotus Forms Webform Server solution to bring Web 2.0-based forms to the Internet with minimal footprint.
As an example, GXS Intelligent Web Forms was deployed for a prominent U.S. clothing manufacturer with 3,000 small business customers. Through on-demand online document exchange, the manufacturer now can rely on the application to streamline receipt of invoices and advance ship notices for customers. By making it easier for manufacturers’ customers to access and receive data via the Web, GXS Intelligent Web Forms, powered by Lotus Forms, helps the manufacturer increase efficiencies within these core business processes, lower operational costs and boost overall competitiveness.
Benefits
• Lotus Forms provides the user-friendly front end that drives automation of forms-based business processes between global partners
• Pre-populated forms increase the speed and accuracy of forms completion; wizard-based forms with built-in template capabilities save users data entry time, minimize data entry errors and accelerate electronic transactions
• GXS enterprise customers can now automate business transactions with small trading partners (customers and suppliers) around the world
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Software:
Lotus Forms, WebSphere Application Server
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2008 IBM Software Group Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 U.S.A. Produced in the United States January 2008 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo, Lotus, Lotus Forms and WebSphere are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. ALL INFORMATION IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS-IS” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this documentation or any other documentation. Nothing contained in this documentation is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software. References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual costs and performance characteristics may vary by customer.