Crystal Geyser Optimizes Supply Chain With SEEBURGER Managed Services

Outsourcing Improves Transaction Management, Saves 75% over Alternative Solution

Beverage producer Crystal Geyser Water Company has streamlined its supply chain communications by migrating from an installed EDI translator to outsourced business-to-business integration services from SEEBURGER Inc. The transition to SEEBURGER Managed Services has equipped Crystal Geyser with 24/7 monitoring, self-service message tracking and other new capabilities that have improved customer interactions and enabled near-real-time problem identification and resolution for exchange of business-critical transactions such as purchase orders and invoices.

Use of SEEBURGER's rapidly expanding collaboration cloud has also allowed Crystal Geyser to:

• Eliminate the need to invest in a new in-house EDI infrastructure, employ an in-house specialist, or support disparate communication protocols required by retailers who sell Crystal Geyser's all-natural flavored sparkling mineral waters, sparkling juices and iced teas.
• Shave 75% off the cost of an installed B2B integration solution from another provider - including upfront software and hardware costs as well as annual maintenance fees – by taking advantage of SEEBURGER's shared infrastructure and existing library of pre-built industry- and transaction-specific message maps.
• Pay a predictable monthly fee that covers SEEBURGER-provided system administration, updates, backup and restore, 24/7 system monitoring, and message management services – including error reporting, problem analysis/resolution and specified mappings.

With SEEBURGER's web-based, self-service message tracking technology also included in the subscription fee, both IT and business users at Crystal Geyser can search for transaction messages in real time by any field including customer, P.O. number and date range. This functionality – not available with the beverage company's previous EDI solution – enables Crystal Geyser to quickly research customer inquiries about issues such as unfulfilled purchase orders.

"We initially replaced our outdated EDI translator with SEEBURGER's in-house B2B integration platform, but we soon realized that we could make better use of our internal staff resources by moving to SEEBURGER Managed Services," said John Herrick, IT Manager for Crystal Geyser. "We get identical functionality, including the same seamless integration with our SAP R/3 system, as well as easy scalability for future growth without having to manage EDI/B2B operations ourselves."

SEEBURGER Managed Services utilizes the company's flagship Business Integration Suite (BIS), a powerful and highly scalable integration service that reduces administrative costs and accelerates business processes for thousands of organizations around the globe. Companies outsourcing their B2B integration needs to SEEBURGER uniquely have the option to bring their e-business infrastructure in-house at any time without purchasing a completely new solution.

Both in-house and cloud-based business integration services from SEEBURGER can be tightly integrated with an enterprise's ERP system to enable purchase orders, shipping notifications and other transactions with customers and suppliers to be automatically populated into the organization's business management software in near-real time.

"Rapid partner onboarding and a smooth exchange of transaction documents are the components of an effective supply chain. Increasingly, SMBs as well as Global 1000 enterprises are turning to the cloud to improve their B2B process because of the staffing benefits, predictable monthly pricing, rapid deployment, extensibility of collaboration, and flexibility to scale up/down based on demand," said Matthew Mikell, Director Cloud Solutions, SEEBURGER. "The choice of deployment methodologies depends entirely on the company, but the cloud delivery model is rapidly gaining ground with the promise of robust collaboration in high-volume and large-file transfers."

A complete case study on the Crystal Geyser implementation is available here.

About SEEBURGER
SEEBURGER is a global provider of business integration solutions that accelerate intra- and intercompany collaboration, reduce operational costs, and facilitate governance and compliance. The company offers a comprehensive suite of business-to-business and managed file transfer solutions, including ERP-specific solution extensions that optimize transaction flow, document and event automation, community management and other processes critical to efficient business operation. With more than 25 years in the industry, SEEBURGER today is ranked among the top business integration providers by industry analysts, serves thousands of customers in more than 50 countries and 15 industries, and has offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. For more information, visit www.seeburger.com.

SOURCE: SEEBURGER