TIE Kinetix Magazine #2

8/2/2019 TIE Kinetix Magazine #2

1/28

Number two ~ 2010

Digital Media ready for breakthrough ~ News & Gadgets ~ Behind the Button ~ Champa

QuantoreHaute

Content

e-commerce reduces

integral cost price

Selling clothes on the Internet

requires its own solution

GlobalAn interview with

Epicors CMO John Hiraoka


2/28

Business Integration Platform Content Syndication Platform E-commerce Platform

About TIE Kinetix: TIE Kinetix provides customers solutions that will give

them incremental changes to enable significant changes in the way they

perform their business with partners in the supply chain. Implementation of

the TIE Kinetix solutions will enhance productivity, increase revenue, and add

to the bottom line of our customers.

www.tiekinetix.com

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3/28

Co-operation

This is certainly so when such co-operation means a readiness to share

inormation and content that serve mutual interests. Modern orms o

channel management are based on the will to increase sales through on-

line co-operation. This works to the beneft o both parties. When companies

co-operate with distributors or resellers that each have their own B2B or B2C

ront ofce, it depends on an ability to inorm the market quickly and reliably.

Wouldnt it be nice to be able to simultaneously provide inormation and

content in the orm o product oers or price changes, or example, to all o

the co-operating parties in exactly the way they would like? Instantly? With

one click o a button? For one webshop, or even a thousand? The TIE Con-

tent Syndication Platorm (CSP) makes that possible. In act we do this every

day or organisations like CBSi or Epicor (see page 18-19). and we work

together with partners like Alta and Quantore (see pages 4-6). The latter will

be examined in more depth in a lead article in this magazine. Thanks to eec-

tive co-operation and TIE Kinetix CSP, this co-operative society with more

than 500 members has succeeded in drastically lowering its cost price. Cur-

rently we have over one thousand resellers using our CSP, and were looking

or more partners or TIE Total Integrated Ecommerce.

I hope you will enjoy reading this latest edition o TIE Kinetix Magazine.

Jan Sundelin, CEO TIE

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P3

INTROCONTENT

COLOPHON

Co-operation means

contributing to a joint

result, with everyones

interests at heart. Perhaps

this is also the core ofmodern business: working

together towards a common

result. Co-operation is

becoming an established

concept in e-commerce

as well.

P07 Column James Dorsey

P08 Channel Media

P11 Column ICSC

P12 City Sports

Quantore

Publication TIE Kinetix BV, Hoofddorp,

Netherlands ~ www.tiekinetix.comEditor & Management Cees Steijger |

Steijger.communications BV Art Direction

& Design Remco Baars, Sandra Hellingman

| beet-vormgeving.nl Coverphoto Leder

International Printing Van Schaik Offset BV,

Oudewater Cooperation from Marcel R.

Bakker, Wim Sonius | Sonius Creative Imag-

ing, James Dorsey, Ronald Oeges, Jim Larkin.

2010 TIE Kinetix BV, P.O. Box 3053, 2130 KB Hoofd-

dorp, Netherlands. All rights reserved. No part of this

publication may be reproduced in any manner without

permission of the publisher.

4

14Jollein comes of age

P17 Behind the button | PART 1

P18 Epicor CEO Interview

P20 Customer Care

P22 Haute Content

P24 Champagne!

P25 News & Gadgets


4/28

XXxxQuantoreMission Quantore wants to be the best partner or

the ofce supplies trade in the Benelux countries. To

that end, Quantore oers its members the best deal

and assists them on their way to commercial success.

Vision Quantore is an organisation that has

been created by and or its members and which

promotes the interests o its members as best as

possible. Together with its members, Quantore ap-

proaches the market honestly and transparently.

Future The uture oers a host o opportunities

and possibilities or continuing to grow into a

leader in efciency. Optimum logistics and the use

o ICT and e-commerce will help to lower costs

urther without compromising service and quality.

Quantores new

warehouse in Beuningen

Marc Gijsberts (let) and Wilbert Homeester


5/28

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P5

BUSINESS INTEGRATIONText Cees Steijger ~ Photography Marcel R. Bakker

Quantorereduces integral cost price

with e-commerce

A cooperative society with over 500 members

ers with products aster and easier. And

Quantore continues to develop in the feldso e-commerce and automation too. We

actively support our customers in ICT and

e-commerce in order to achieve more sales,

efciency and distinctive capability in the

industry, says Marc Gijsberts, who manages

For more than 90 years, Quantore

has been purchasing ofce supplies,and providing logistic and sales

support. Quantore ocuses primarily on

purchasing and logistics. By purchasing

in bulk, Quantore can oer its members

good conditions that enable them to keep

their prices low. We want our members

to be able to dierentiate themselves in

the market both in terms o price and

product range and quality, says Wilbert

Homeester, Marketing Manager at Quan-

tore. We talked to him and to Quantores

ICT Manager Marc Gijsberts in Quan-

tores brand new ofces and state-o-the-

art distribution centre close to the A73

motorway in Beuningen, near Nijmegen.

This striking building, equipped with

the latest technology and systems, was

designed by the Czech architect and artist

Borek Sipek, amous or his strikingly

colourul designs.

Direct In our logistics centre, there

are more than fteen thousand products

Quantore Europe is the biggest stockist and purchasing and sales

organisation for ofce supplies in the Benelux. Quantore is a

cooperative society of more than ve hundred ofce supplies

specialists, focussing on the private and business-to-business markets.

suppliers are connected via TIE sotware

to our back-ofce. We send our membersand suppliers a fxed set o messages. For

members we call that TradelinQ, a set o

XML messages that enable them to place

orders rom their own ERP back-ofce

environment. For our sixty suppliers, the

standard is PBS Easy in EDIFACT ormat.

We are the central hub or all product and

article inormation that we release to the

web systems, our own systems and our

customers systems. At the moment, the

Messaging Portal processes 50,000 mes-

sages per year and it is expected that this

number will rise considerably in the years

to come.

Drop shipments Marc expects

that this rise will come mostly rom an

increase in the number o so-called drop

shipments. These are web orders that are

received through the members webshops

and delivered directly to the end-user by

Quantore. This enables Quantore to re-

duce the integral cost price. In the supply

chain, the cost o stocking at two locations

is, by defnition, higher than distributing

rom one central location. Customers who

supply rom their own stock pay more

the implementation o the

strategic inormation plan

at Quantore. One o the

eatures o this ambitious

plan is the use o online

technology in combina-

tion with existing oine

activities.

Quantore has been

working with TIE Kinetix

since 2006. The relation-

ship started when TIE

Digital was taken over

by TIE in the same year.

Digital Channel has since

been incorporated into

TIEs Content Syndication

Platorm (CSP). Quantore

then also started to use

the TIE Messaging Portal,

to which all o its suppli-

ers are connected. Our

Oursuppliers are

connected

via TIEsotwarewith our

back-ofce.

ready to be sent to our members or directly to the custom-

er, says Wilbert. We can stock up to 23,000 articles in our

modern warehouse. Quantore deploys the latest technol-

ogy and insights to provide its members and their custom-


6/28

P6 ~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

BUSINESS INTEGRATION

than i they use drop shipments. Our customers choice is o-

ten based on geographical arguments as to whether they willdeliver rom their own warehouse or use drop shipments.

Its up to them. We took a critical look at our members

ICT needs, adds Marc. Then we put together a number o

back-ofce solutions that members can u se as they need . For

example, we oer our members webshops in which they do

not need to use the same applications as everyone else.

chain marketing Quantores approach ocuses

squarely on chain marketing. Quantore not only looks ater

joint advertising s uch as olders, c atalogues and promotional

Quantore stocks up to

23,000 articles

materials but also provides its members

with up-to-date product inormation

or use in workshops, and all the email

marketing tools that they might need or

an eective campaign. For this they use

TIE Kinetix CSP, which is called Supplies

Channel at Quantore. This smart market-

ing tool enables us to manage customers

websites centrally and to provide them

with up-to-date inormation at the press

o a button, says Marc. The advantage o

this is that the customer doesnt have to

bother with it. We manage databas es or

proessional email campaigns and we sup-

ply ready-to-go newsletters that can be

adapted to the individual situation, either

with or without 1st line support.

Orders

received byQuantorehave nowbeen in-

creasing by10% year

ater year.

In Quantores experi-

ence, the number o ordersincreases almost immedi-

ately ater members have

switched to e-commerce.

Orders received by

Quantore have now been

increasing by 10% year

ater year. O course our

customers and end-users

have to get used to the

act that when you order

something online you can

no longer say and throw

in a box o those envelopes

that we always have, says

Wilber t. The webshop

isnt enough in itsel. So i

you want to stop the end-

user rom dropping out

on his frst visit, you have

to make it easy or him.

By including a avourites

list, or example. We also

help our customers with

Search Engine Optimali-

zation (SEO). Our slogan

has always been: You do

the selling and well do the

rest. And perhaps in the online era, wel

have to do more.

neXt DaY And meanwhile competi-

tors are not exactly standing idle. Marc

and Wilbert are putting a lot o work into

helping their customers on their way and

increasing acceptance o the online ap-

proach. And they are not shrinking rom

CSP either. I we want to keep to our 10

yearly growth, well have to speed up dis

tribution, says Wilbert. At the momen

customers must still place their orders o

drop shipment beore 5.30 p.m. but this

deadline is constantly being extended an

the end-user will still receive his goods

the next day.

innoVationsAnd, adds Marc,

pointing to his HTC, were also using

Twitter. I theres a TV commercial or

one o our oers, we link that to Twitter,

where you can read more about it. This

is how we want to handle communities

and niche groups. Hmm, a Twitter alert

could be handy! Soon we will see iPod

widgets, o course. When it comes down

to it, youre either a business innovator o

youre not.


7/28

COLUMNBy James M. Dorsey

Abusinesswoman approached Conservative

British European Parliament member James

Elles at a recent local business conference

in Oxfordshire to discuss how local business can

survive mounting competition from the likes of India

and China. The businesswoman warned that she

abled society that will drive growth by making the continent an

outward-looking technology leader and partner for the rest of the

world. Achieving that is complicated by the fact that Europe does

not have technology giants like Microsoft and Google. Europe is

trying to promote the growth of SME-type enterprises through

research and development that will, become bigger and may have

inuence, says TIE Chief Technology Ofcer Stuart Campbell.

The digital society, just as was the case with past technologi-

cal advances such a s the mobile phone, the computer and the

Internet, raises social and political questions about the kind ofdemocratic society Europeans want. Issues social groups and

political leaders have yet to confront include what impact the

digital societ y will have on the democratic process and how one

reconciles digital responsiveness a world driven by mass inter-

action enabled by the ubiquitous availability of high speed, high-

capacity digital communications networks, systems, tools and

services connected by the Internet - with democratic legitimacy.

The spread of purpose-driven online collaboration involving

digital acts being captured and stored in

databases invades the domain of public

policy, politics and politicians. It impacts

issues already in the public domain such as

the tension between privacy and security

or, as the recent nancial crisis demon-strated, the destructive potential of mass

collaboration. That collaboration empow-

ers citizens who will demand greater

transparency and participation, blurring

the lines between direct and representa-

tive democracy and transforming the role

of government into one of a mediator

between empowered, engaged stakeholder

communities.

To get there, the Oxfordshire business-

womans telecommunications problem needs to be resolved.

Rapid advances in mobile Internet technology are key. Ever more

people will be online with mobile devices anywhere at any time;

user interfaces to access the network will be simplied and more

intuitive; new tools, applications and services will be part of the

network or available through the network to manage and make

sense of vast volumes of data. To be on the leading edge of tech-

nical development it will be essential to have unimpeded access

to mobile networks, MEP Elles says.

lacked the basics to do so. She told Elles that to ensure recep-

tion on her mobile phone she had to climb to the third oor

of her house. Yet, when I am in my holiday home in Turkey

its as clear as a bell, Elles quotes the woman as saying. Thewoman accosted Elles just about the time that British telecom-

munications regulator Ofcom announced that this year would

be the rst year in which Britons will make more calls on mobile

devices than on xed landlines.

The incident highlights the competitive pressures on Europe

as the European Commission and the Spanish presidency of

the EU focus on the European digital agenda and the enhance-

ment of the continents digital economy. European Information

Society and Media Commissioner Viviane

Reding says the EU will give priority to

the boosting of digital services, integrating

markets to overcome fragmentation due to

a hodgepodge of national rules, improved

coordination of copyright issues and thedigitization of books to ensure the union

remains competitive with the United

States. The key is to merge knowledge

and ensure that software architecture

and research is close to the future of the

Internet and the next generation, says

Jan Sunderlin, CEO of TIE Holding NV, a

Dutch company involved in EU-funded

research to advance Redings agenda.

The European Ideas Network, founded

by Elles, warns in a recently issued report that to be competitive

15 years down the line, Europe needs to put in place a proper

research and development framework. That may already be hap-

pening with the Commission investing 1.3 billion a year over the

next ve years to ensure that people are better connected and able

to cooperate better.

European competitiveness will depend on its abilit y to

ensure that smart systems able to increase efciency are at

the core of major economic and social sectors such as energy,

transport, health care, environmental management and public

services. Already, digitally-enabled, purpose-driven mass-

collaboration demand side systems are undermining inward-

looking economic and political institutions who seek to control

information, distribution channels and specic technologies.

Those approaches are f urther cornered by the Commissions

insistence system on open standards for ongoing research and

development to turn Europe into a collaborative, digitally-en-

James M. Dorsey was a foreign correspondent

for more than 30 years for The Wall Street Jour-

nal and other publications. Today Mr. Dorsey is

a columnist, media entrepreneur and interna-

tional affairs analyst and consultant to strategic

communications, sec urity and water companies

as well as investment funds.

Driving Europes Digital Agenda:

Mobile Access

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P7


8/28

P8 ~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

Text Cees Steijger ~ Photography Wim Sonius

In recent years, the online dealer channel has grown into one o

the most effective sales tools. Alta Creative Marketin

Communications Digital Media is an innovative marketin

tool that enables brands to send their content and campaign

straight to their online dealer channels and reach hundreds o

thousands of people (B-to-B and B-to-C) . This marketin

approach, based on TIE Content Syndication (CS) technolog

is about make a huge breakthroug

Every branddesperately needs

measurable results

Digital Media ready for huge breakthrough


9/28

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P9

CONTENT SYNDICATION

product level (as used for

Topform, for example) or

at information level (ideal

for government use). So it

offers very many oppor-

tunities and youre right

there where the consumer

or B-to-B end-user islooking. You cant get

more specic than that.

Were the only communi-

cation agency in Europe to

specialise in this and the

only one to translate TIEs

unique technology into

brand communication.

It seemed to be a gap in

the market. Altas unique

obtained with a Google campaign, adds

Annelouk Kriele. She mentions the Dutch

furniture brand Topform as an example.

In 2008, Topform became one of the rst

brands in the Netherlands to start using

Channel Media for its collections and

campaigns. Now three-quarters of Top-

forms dealers use it and online reach hasmore than doubled in one year. We have

achieved an extra qualitative reach 1 on

1 of 100,000 more potential custom-

ers than the year before. This is a vast

improvement on the total results that you

could have obtained with old-fashioned

banners or an advertisement because that

would obviously not be a qualitative reach

and not 1 on 1 and not at dealer level, says

Annelouk.

Dynamic It is expected that by 2012,

80% of customer contacts will be online.

The retailer who is able to full the wishes

of these consumers will see them in the

shops. Whereas previously this would

have been too expensive and time-con-

suming for the dealers, Channel Media

makes it possible to keep the dealer chan-

nels constantly up-to-date and also to ac-

tivate them. Channel Media is dynamic.

We can make a marketing campaign for

4,000 websites even in different coun-

tries in one minute. And if a competitor

appears with an offering tomorrow, we

can respond to that with a single push on

the button, concludes Wilco.

Were theonly com-

municationagency inEurope to

specialise inTIEs unique

ContentSyndicationPlatform.

We spoke to an enthusiastic

Wilco van Schaik, a partner

and business director at Alta,

and client services director Annelouk

Kriele. We met up with them at their

inspiring ofce in the Cartesius business

park in Utrecht. The atmosphere in this

former power station is both industrialand creative, and this is reected in the

sort of company that now occupies the

building: architects, inventors, musi-

cians, developers and m arketing people

all come together here. Alta is a famous

name in the Dutch communication

world, with roots that stretch back to

1921, making it the oldest advertising

agency in the Netherlands.

Smart SyStemS Weve taken

the lead again with our Digital Media

concept, says Wilco van Schaik. The

advent of the Internet meant that we had

to respond to the demand for keeping

brands online dealer channels up-to-

date with the latest collections, offers

and campaigns. This swiftly led to talks

with TIE Kinetix and, in 2008, to a li-

cence enabling us to launch our Channel

Media product.

You should actually view Channel

Media as a new medium , alongside such

things as advertisements, folders or radio

commercials, explains Wilco. Its a me-

dium that allows you to communicate at

three distinct levels. This can be purely at

approach (applying the technology to commu-

nication/content) caught on, especially with

clients in durable consumer products such as

the furniture industry, which was the rst to

adopt. But in fact the entire retail trade can use

it. Every brand desperately needs measurable

results from its campaigns, and we can provide

them, says Wilco. Because we approach online

marketing from a communication angle, we are

in a position to exploit the opportunities that

exist between the brand and the dealers much

more effectively. Wilco is proud to point out

that with Channel Media, Alta is able to at least

double the number of online contacts with po-

tential purchasers who are looking to see what

the market has to offer. With our approach,

we have a qualitatively better reach than can be


10/28

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Join the global leader in

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www.cnetcontentsolutions.com

[email protected]


11/28

COLUMNBy The Internet Content Syndication Council

Internet content syndication is the controlledplacement of the same content on multiple part-

nering Internet destinations. Controlled place-

ment means that content is placed on the destina-

tion sites, and, to some degree, those placements are

directed by the content owner. Multiple destination

placement of content is used to increase licensing fees

and audience exposure. Destinations partner with the

change for content, preferring to tolerate advertising messaginginstead. Essentially, this means that online content is supported

almost entirely by advertising.

Because fragmentation is a problem for advertisers, it

becomes a problem for users in the long term. Although Web

advertising revenues have been growing at a phenomenal rate,

the Web itself has mushroomed. In other words, the number

of content creators and publishers supported by advertising is

growing faster than the advertising budgets that support them.

That means more publishers are sharing less income, which

means fewer resources are available to put back into their busi-

nesses of creating content for their users. In essence, therefore,

fragmentation threatens the quality of content on the Internet.

The sheer volume of choices online now appears to be more of a

danger than a blessing.Content syndication simplies Internet advertising by pro-

viding, to paraphrase Bill Bernbach, portable environments to

buy. With one simple media investment, advertisers can reach

large, targeted audiences throughout the vastness of cyberspace

in a controlled editorial environment. Supporting syndicated

content allows advertisers to go where their audiences are rather

than driving their audiences to them.

content owner by either contributing value in return for v aluable

content or by sharing revenue.

You have probably consumed syndicated content many times.

Whenever you read an article by The Associated Press on Yahoo!

News, for example, that is syndicated content. RSS is often

referred to as Really Simple Syndication, and when you see

RSS feeds for one publication placed on another site, that too, issyndication.

Its also important to understand what syndication is not, as

there are other types of online distribution that fall outside its

scope. On one end of the spectrum is xed-site or single-site

distribution, in which content owners retain exclusive r ights

over their content and drive trafc through search and display

advertising. This is not syndication, because there are not multiple

destinations for the content. On the other end of the spectrum is

viral distribution, where there is no formal partnership between

the content owner and the destination site. Furthermore, with

viral distribution, the content owner has no control over the des-

tination of the content. Instead, it is given away to any publisher

site that wants to carry it.

If you have ever struggled to reach an audience online, you

should consider Internet content syndication. With the number

of Internet sites at 175 million and growing, reaching an audi-

ence is difcult and complex. On the surface, the sheer volume of

choices online is a blessing for users .

Of course, there is something for everyone on the Internet,

which means that everyone has a unique destination. The reality

is this range of choices leads to audience fragmentation. For any

advertiser looking to reach a large audience online, fragmentation

presents an unmanageable number of channels, networks, and

technologies to research, negotiate with, and manage.

This leads to a further difculty because advertisers are usually

the only means of revenue for Internet content producers. Users

have been notoriously resistant to paying subscription fees in ex-

The thing to remember is...

Although syndication itsel is not new it is,

in act, as old as mass media it is new on the

Internet, and it has the potential to beneft all the

constituents o the media industry.

Some content syndication takeaways:

For content producers, syndication provides

an opportunity to increase revenue that can be

reinvested into their businesses, increasing the

quality o their oerings.

For content publishers, syndication provides ac-

cess to high-quality content at aordable rates.

For advertisers, simple investment syndication

provides reach in a controlled editorial environ-

ment.

For users, syndication provides higher-quality

content easily located. As ragmentation per-

sists, look to syndication to continue to enable

content to thrive on the Internet.

InternetContent

Syndication

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P11


12/28

P12~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

TextJim Larkin ~ Photography Sto

Accelerate growthand reduce TCO

equipment, geared towards running, tri-

athlon, tness, racquet sports, swimming

and outdoor.

Sporting-goods retailer City Sports

has been growing year after year, and as a

result the demands and requirements ofkeeping its transactional data and proc-

esses error-free, up to date and responsive

to market conditions were also grow-

ing. The time spent manually resolving

individual errors in-house, in addition

to training qualied technical personnel,

led City Sports to seek out a trusted and

cost-effective solution that would justify

outsourcing its EDI process.

Managed Service TIEs all-inclusive

Managed Service is designed to extend

busines s development awless ly in order

to accelerate growth and reduce its clients

total cost of ownership (TCO). Automat-

ing the EDI process lowers overall operat-

ing expenses, accelerates time to market

and leads to predictable operational costs.

Managed Service customers enjoy the lat-

est TI E technology, optimised eBusiness

processes, and a standardisation of the

way they connect to their c ustomers and

partners electronically.

Im thankful the Managed Service op-

We receive one predictable bill a month,

it solves any potential headaches, and is

easy to sell to upper management. It was a

simple decision.

TIEs Managed Service offering is

based on over 20 years of transactional

From

a billing

standpoint,

the

Managed

Service

option

worked

out very

well for us

tion was made available to us, says Dylan Bruntil. I dont

worry about EDI anymore. From a billing standpoint,

the Managed Service option worked out very well for us.

City Sports wanted a trusted, cost-

effective solution that would justify

outsourcing its EDI process. It se-

lected TIEs all-inclusive Managed Service.

I dont worry about EDI anymore, says

Dylan Bruntil, City Sports Director of

Information Technology.

SPOrTS reTaiLer City Sports is an

award-winning, speciality sports retailer.

The company was founded in 1983 and

opened its rst shop on Massachusetts

Avenue in Boston. The company now

operates 17 shops in metropolitan loca-

tions in Boston, Providence, New York,

Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore

and Atlanta, as well as online at citysports.

com. City Sports caters to the athletic

adult who lives, works or studies in the

city. Its product assortment focuses on

high-performance footwear, clothing and

TIEs support is frst class.

They are easy to work with,

know their stu really well,

and get excited about the

product. This makes the

programme an overwhelm-

ing success in my eyes.

data experience focused

on improving the strain

on internal resources. Cit

Sports was able to make a

seamless transition both

internally and externally

its vendors. TIE consult-

ants worked on site to

make the B2B Managed

Services installation and

management as discreet

as possible to City Sports

trading partners.

TIEs Managed Service

expertise takes the respon

sibility of supply chain an

maintenance, updates and

vendor issues out of City

Sports hands and allows

the company to focus on

what matters: growing it

business. TIEs Man-

aged Service helps us to

be proactive, efcient and

compliant. Vendors com

plaints arent my problem

anymore.

Managing Your Business Needs



13/28

TIE~ 2/2010~ P13

City Sports

City Sports stores have a neighborhood

eel. The website oers another way or

customers to access that same City Sports

experience rom their own computer.


14/28

Jolleincomesof age


15/28

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P15

BUSINESS INTEGRATIONText Cees Steijger ~ PhotographyJollein and Marcel R. Bakker

Pick iT Last year, Smits Assen opted for TIEs

EDI approach. Smits Assen started to auto-

mate in a big way in 2004, says Karen Woud,

who manages the ICT department at Smits As-

sen. We use Exacts Pick IT to automate our

goods ow. We work with a barcode systemfor the storage and order picking processes.

Articles are scanned on entry, the data is fed

straight into the system and is sent on to the

warehouse via an RF system. We follow devel-

opments in RFID very closely. In time were

also going to adapt the labels to the articles and

introduce central scanning to get a better view

of the logistics. Some of our customers in the

Far East are doing this already and, of course,

were going to follow the demand.

SPeed Ideally wed like to have all of our

customers on the TIE Kinetix EDI system,

shown itself to be true once

again. Anyhow, its nice

to be able to progress in

such a positive way, adds

Karen. Were simply doing

great work, at every level.

Were young, dynamic and

innovative. And then you

get things done quickly.

Smits Assen has now

made a start on electronic

messaging with large retail

chains in the Netherlands

and Austria. Are theysatised? If everything

is well synchronised and

TIE sees to the translation,

it will work just ne,

says Karen.

Speedis the

winnerevery-

where.

Hofwegen have succeeded in obtaining EDI

certication for SSCC labelling, implementing

everything at Smits Assen, and integrating

it into the Pick I T environment. This usu-

ally takes much longer. Speed is the winner

everywhere, says Wim Smits, and this has

Smits Assen started in 1973, literally

in Wim Smits seniors attic. The

inventor of the successful Jollein

formula sourced quality fabrics from

the textiles industry in Twente and had

the nished baby-bed textiles made bycontractors in Friesland. The Jollein brand

name rapidly acquired a strong national

position and, in recent years, has also

become a household name throughout

the world. And to serve their customers

worldwide even better, Smits Assen has

recently opened an ofce in Hong Kong

under the name Smits Hong Kong Ltd.

duTch The Dutch provincial capital of

Assen, which in 2009 drew international

attention as the starting-point of the Span-

ish Vuelta cycling race (literally from the

front door of Smits Assen) and is knownfrom the Grand Prix TT Assen motorsports

event, supplies the latest collections of

nursery textiles to retail partners through-

out the world. We have a 5,000m2 ware-

house where we have about 1,500 different

products in stock, says Wim Smits, the

son of the founder. We spoke to him in his

trendy ofce. Minimalistic, functional, with

art upon the walls and quiet save for the

hum of the air-conditioning, everything in

his ofce exudes the atmosphere of a multi-

national company. On a table lies the latest

brochure for the 2010 collections. Its in

French and Dutch but its also available in

Spanish and Portuguese and in German and

English. This colourful brochure affords

us a preview of the Jollein collections that

will soon nd their way to the consumer.

Dutch is a product line that catches our

eye straight away, with its simple Dutch

design based on the Delft Blue theme, with

red accents. This does very well abroad,

says Smits. We get orders from Tokyo. In

fact we even got orders from Tirol recently.

Its caught on in a big w ay and I expect it to

become an evergreen that well enjoy for a

long time to come.

The South China Morning Post recently praised Jollein Smits Assens Oeko-Tex environmen-

tal policy. The Italian press has written fattering reviews. And this opinion has been sharedby customers rom Norway to New Caledonia and all countries between, not to mention

trade airs in Hong Kong, Cologne and Tokyo. Were talking about Smits Assen, a company

that has occupied a leading position in nursery textiles and accessories or 35 years

says Wim Smits, because that provides the greatest ef-ciency. But in practice it appears that its mostly the major

players who are making the switch with us. At any rate,

they are progressing at a rapid pace because in the pretty

short time of only 2 months, Karin and her team and con-

sultant Gosling Mast from the Dutch IT consultancy rm

Wim Smits


16/28

Content Syndication Platform Business Integration Platform E-commerce Platform

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to the bottom line of our customers.

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Consistent and controlled branded content throughout your channel! Real time! For more information:

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Nowyoucan!


17/28

Text Cees Steijger ~ Illustration Remco Baars

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P17

Behind thebutton

eCOMMERCE

whether a transaction

can take place and can be

successully concluded.

Finally success is not

about getting the order butabout being able to deliver

right across the chain, han-

dle returned goods, know

the stock status... in short

an entire fow comes into

operation ater the double-

click, says Frank. Success

in sales happens beore the

button the buyer doesnt

see what happens behind

the button. But this is what

syndication. The second phase is about the

website: its look and eel, how it operates

and its intuitive layout. This is where we

nd the buy button. Ater the click, we

enter the third phase: payment, the e-mailconrmation, ater-care and actual deliv-

ery o the product or service.

Successmeans

deliveringthe order

E-commerce is growing. Thousands o webshops appear

worldwide every day. Global economic developments

have even had a positive eect on e-commerce: the

traditional costs o marketing can be more eective and take

a dierent orm online, and thus lead to more sales. But only

determines satisaction and whether the cus-

tomer will ever return. Success is not about

having an order but in delivering it within the

stated period at the price that has been quoted

to the customer. This is all inormation that

has to come rom the underlying systems.

PhasesFrank identies three phases in the

sales process, which TIE MamboFive eCom-

merce enables him to exploit. First, theres

the orientation phase. This is a dynamic

process that is approached as a multichannel

activity in e-commerce, online or in combina-

tion with ofine activities. In this phase, we

encounter the AdWords aliation market-

ing as well as white labelling and content

proessional webshops have a chance o

success because, in the orientation phase,

the consumer is sensitive to issues such as

appearance and operation. This is why its

important to gain the tr ust o the consum-

er with a proessional webshop.

CommuniCation A webshop is also

all about communication, says Frank van

Doorn, general manager o e-commerce

at TIE Kinetix. What inormation does

the consumer get in the orientation phase?

What impression does the website make

in terms o presentation and operation?

What inormation do you get ater making

a purchase? These are three phases that call

or clear, user-riendly, proessional web-

shops. Total Integration the logical inte-

gration o the dierent purchasing phases

is the new buzzword in e-commerce.

Central Frank explains that the web-

shop literally occupies a central role in

the total e-commerce process. Ater all,

the proverbial buy button is central to the

webshop: beore and ater it is hidden the

world o e-commerce, which determines

CommerceSuiteThe MamboFive Commerce Suite -

TIE Kinetix e-commerce platform

is a complete, scalable, proven so-

lution for e-commerce that can take

companies online easily and profes-

sionally. This may be B2B, B2C or

a combination of both. With this

platform, the transition to doing

business on the Internet with full

control is absolutely no problem. Its

also possible to integrate seamlessly

with existing ERP systems (Exact,

Unit4, BaaN, Oracle, SAP WMS and

many others). The Suite enables or-

ganisations to achieve high sales on

the Internet fast and without drastic

changes and gives them more control

over the entire e-commerce process.

Modern webshops are more than just online stores.

Theres a lot more involved than simply placing

articles or sale on the Internet. For example,

theres attracting trafc, optimising navigation,

intuitive procedures, inormation that really is

inormative, and easy methods o payment.

Behind the scenes o e-Commerce. PART 1


18/28

Globa

An interview with Epicors CMO John Hiraoka

Epicors Executive Vice President and Chie

Marketing Ofcer John Hiraoka recent

took the time to outline the scope o h

companys business sotware solutions or th

manuacturing, distribution, retail, hospitalit

and service industries


19/28

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P19

BUSINESS INTEGRATIONTextJim Larkin ~Photography Epicor

solutions

Epicor 9

is integrated

with TIE

solutions,

helping us

to market

in tandem

with other

products

that the

customer

may have

Epicors global reach is built on collaboration and provid-

ing efciency-optimisation solutions or more than

20,000 customers in over 150 countries. T IEs EDI and

Data Synchronization is a major component o Epicors broadportolio o business sotware solutions, which includes inte-

grated enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relation-

ship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM),

and enterprise retail sotware solutions.

Epicor is currently seeing a return to

growth in spite o the challenges presented

by a struggling economy, and has been po-

sitioned as a Visionary in the Gartner Magic

Quadrant or Midmarket and Tier 2-Ori-

ented ERP or Product-Centric Companies.

This honour showcases the strength o Epi-

cors advanced business technology and the

importance o its newest release, Epicor 9.

TIE: John, can you tell me about your

newest offering, Epicor 9, and its role

in enabling business on a global scale?

Epicor 9 is a revolutionary, next-genera-

tion ERP solution. Its a brand-new platorm

that allows us to provide manuacturers and

distributors with a solution that is world-

class in terms o unctionality and technol-

ogy. Although evolutionary, it is eectively

an all-new product: very much what we

would call a game-changer. The industry

analysts also saw it as a game-changer in the

market, with Gartner positioning Epicor as a

visionary in its Magic Quadrant, largely due

to the architecture and technology.

Aside rom its technology and unc-

tionality, Epicor 9 is a truly global solution,

currently shipping to almost 50 countries in

approximately 20 languages. It is designed

to support many dierent languages across

many dierent localities, and in acili-

ties, plants and sales ofces that may span

many dierent countries. Epicor 9 ulfls

a need or a sotware solution that can run

businesses end-to-end and help them

grow as they move into new and emerging

markets.

TIE: Where in the

marketplace is Epicor 9

particularly resonating,

and how do you see theTIE partnership as a

part of that?

Because o Epicor 9, we

have experienced strength

in several key and emerging

markets in what has obvi-

ously been a very difcult

market or everyone. We

had great momentum at

the end o the year, and in

the ourth quarter o 2009

in particular. We closed the

year with strength across all

geographies, and across allproduct lines and verticals

manuacturing, distribu-

tion, proessional services

and business-services-o-

cused solutions, as well as in

our retail ocused oer-

ings that serve some o the

worlds largest retailers.

Epicor 9 is integrated

with TIE solutions, helping

us to market in tandem

with other products that the

customer may have. This

helps them integrate to their

own customers, and enables

them to do business more

eectively.

A signifcant part o our

region or locality, but also what it takes to be

able do business globally. We want to part-

ner with companies strategically so that we

can oer a solution that will work anywhere

in the world. TIE fts into that strategy very

well because o the global nature o its cus-

tomer base, its development ocus and its

desire to increase its business in these areas.

Our strategies are well aligned.

TIE: How do you see the future of pro-

viding enhanced global supply-chain

capabilities to industry leaders in

North America and internationally?

We have a long relationship with TIE that

dates back to 1998. We realized early on

that TIE could be a global partner, enabling

a large part o our supply-chain efciency

and ocus on collaboration. We certainly

want to continue our partnership and help

our joint customers to be more successul.

We think there are additional opportuni-

ties or both o us as we continue to expand

urther into global markets. We appreciate

the successul partnership between TIE and

Epicor.

solutions and our partnership with TIE ocuses

on providing collaborative tools - tools that

provide increased supply-chain efciency,

so that customers can react more quickly to

market conditions, and meet the needs o their

customers.

One o the keys to our partnerships is a o-

cus on global partners that not only understand

the pressures and requirements o a particular

John Hiraoka, CMO Epicor.


20/28

P20~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

TextJim Larkin

97.8Satisfaction rate forTIEs Customer Care

Ibegan my career managing large call

centres, says Jeanne Hentges, TIE

Customer Relations Director. Man-

aging such sizeable departments with

considerable volumes o incoming calls,

e-mails and customer communications,

not only showed me the value o smooth

support, but also the pitalls o call centre

agents who are orced to ocus on a

number o calls per hour, and extreme pro-

ductivity requirements. At TIE, we ensure

that every call is answered by a person, not

Since 1987, the St. Paul ofce o TIE Kinetix has been con-

ducting customer support, incident management, implemen-

tation and Managed Services or over 600 TIE customers per

year. With a handul o dedicated employees, this tremendous

undertaking is overseen by a sot-spoken support expert who is

keen to keep both customers and employees content.

by voicemail. There is no queue, no time

limits on calls or quotas to achieve. Every

incoming ticket gets addressed quickly and

comprehensively. We take a personalised

approach and work hard to partner with

our clients to fx any data transmission is-

sues as best we can.

A big advantage at this branch is the

close proximity o our interconnected

departments. Much o what TIE does is tai-

lored specifcally to our clients, and thats

shown in the act that development, pro-

duction, and service departments all work

together to service our customers many

needs. We all constantly make recommen

dations to each other to make the product

better. It doubles as market R&D and kee

our products up-to-date and nimble. This

is true or many o the departments at T IE

and its a huge advantage o working or

a smaller company. Wearing many hats

becomes part o your day-to-day work.

Happy EmployEEs mEans

Happy CustomErs As an industry,

customer support centres have had high

burnout rates and even higher turnover.

Troubleshooting, problem-solving and

managing the expectations o an upset

customer can be very demanding on a da

to day basis. This was not what I ound

when I moved to TIEs Service depart-

ment, says Hentges. What I ound was

that theres a deeper value in working

with people who know their product, an


21/28

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P21


had a hand in building and rebuilding it.

Lets ace it, our sta has been here a long

time, laughs Hentges. Gerry - 17 years,

Robert- 11 years, David - 10 years and so

on. This is a prized management situation

where we have a great technical support

sta that are excited about what they do,

have an excellent understanding o the

product and push ever urther to meet the

needs o the customers. They truly love

it. This is the secret to their success and

longevity here, as opposed to other service

departments in this industry. Its a great

crew weve got here.

partnErsHip In many ways, TIEs

Business Integration Platorm serves as an

extension to our clients EDI department.

And thats the eeling you get in much othe interaction between TIE customers

and their support representatives. This

also eects the interaction, trust and de-

pendency between TIE and its customers

year ater year. TIEs constant commit-

ment to this partnership keeps customers

EDI data and order processing secure and

is reected in the thousands o customers

that have trusted in TIE since 1987.

In an eort to gain an overview o how

TIE was perorming in the eyes o its

clients, a survey was sent to any customer

that had dealt with support within that

previous week. These results supportedmuch o the teams mentality and said a lot

about the training and proessionalism in

the support department.

94% o customers were satisfed or

extremely satisfed with TIEs support

technicians knowledge o TIE Products.

97.8% o customers were satisfed or

extremely satisfed with their interaction

with the TIE support technician (proes-

sionalism, politeness).

93.2% o customers had their issue solved

with the inormation/recommendations

provided by TIEs support.

These numbers reafrmed the ocus

on customer ser vice and the commit-

ment to making it better. Jeanne promptly

addressed any specifc concerns raised by

customers personally, proactively ensuring

that TIE was doing the right thing.

EVou In line with the evolving commit-

ment to bringing more improvements to

TIE customers, the eVision Optimization

Utility (EVOU) was created. This provides

additional diagnostic unctionality to help

them get the most rom their TIE Busi-

ness Integration system. Running the new

eVision Optimization Utility will give TIE

customers the inormation they need to

reduce operating costs as well as providing

improved responsiveness rom T IE, better-

optimised EDI processes and time saved on

recurring errors. Working with TIEs cus-

tomer care team will help customers avoid

costly inefciencies and time spent on

addressing the costs o repetitive errors in

researching, correcting and sending. TIEs

support is very proud o this new initiative.

tHE Jim HEnslEy award On 24th

January 2005, TI E suered a deeply per-

sonal loss when TIE support representa-

tive Jim Hensley passed away. To keep his

memory alive and to promote his belies

and values regarding customer service andTIE Kinetix, the Jim Hensley Proes-

sional Excellence award was created. This

award is given annually on the anniversary

o Jims death to a TIE employee who

demonstrates and practices the belies and

Youre stillthe best technica

support lineIve ever had

to call.

Actual Customer Quotes

Keep up the excellent support. Its nice

to talk to a person as opposed to being

routed through a phone system.

Im not sure when I last contacted

Technical Support, however the response

time and the service provided is always

excellent. Thank you!

The assistance rom your technical sup-

port was an immense help in getting the

job done!

Quick and perect answer to my concern.

TIE Customer

portal

Over the last year, TIE has made many

improvements to the ever-changing cus-

tomer portal. These updates include ash

video tutorials, support incident creation,

email and incident ollow-up orms as

well as a restructured look and eel. Many

more customers now use the portal. I

you do not currently have a portal login

and would like one, please request one

at: [email protected]

great job with implementing and train-

ing. Cheryl has a natural ability to walk

into a new customers site and walk out

with another happy Customer. Shes

demonstrated this time and again as our

lead trainer or Epicor implementations,

and has been instrumental in consist-

ently producing satisfed customers (who,

as a result, have served as reerences or

other prospects). Cheryls team members

in Consulting, Sales, and Customer Care

look to her or advice and eedback when

it comes to technical and process-related

questions. She has an innate ability to

assess issues quickly and comprehend the

customers implementation and training

needs. Historically, weve received ex-

tremely positive eedback on her abilities

as a trainer and consultant. Her easy-going,down-to-earth style, coupled with her

thorough expertise put both novice and

experienced EDI trainees at ease, provid-

ing the customer with confdence that

their needs will be met.

values demonstrated by Jim.

Jim would look at things rom the point

o view o the customer, and would as k

what we could do to make the product bet-

ter. This award reects his dedication. For

this award, TIE selects an employee who

goes the extra mile or our customers, who

works to deliver a better product, who goes

above and beyond their job description.The Jim Hensley award goes to a person

who strives to make TIE or any o our

products better.

tHis yEars award winnEr:

CHEryl tHEisEn In the words o TIEs

Vice President o Proessional Services,

Eric Hutchinson: Were happy to an-

nounce that this years winner is Cheryl

Theisen. Year ater year, she has done a


22/28

Text Cees Steijger

Leatherfactory.nl factsFounded Started in 2009 by Leder International

Market share the only professional B2C online solution for

specialist leatherwear shops in the Netherlands

Forecast Further growth and market share in Europe

through white labelling.


23/28

TIE~ 1/2010 ~ P23

eCOMMERCE

Haute Content

Selling clothes on the Internet requires its own solution

webshop solution for the ready-to-wear trade.

Leatherfactory.nl is a unique webshop that is fullydevoted to the online sale of top-quality leather

jackets for women, men and children. What makes

web shops that sell clothing so special is that the

correct size is all-important in ready-to-wear

clothes. So a lot of information has to be provided

in order to avert returns as much as possible.

Leder International offers its customers

the specialist clothing shops with threeoptions. The rst option is Stock Access,

the B2B option that provides access to the

collection. This enables retailers to order

products for the physical shop. The second

option is the Whitelabel B2C option for

retailers that have their own web shop

the option used by LeatherFactory.nl. This

option provides all the functionality for

extra sales without purchases. Thirdly,

there is the Stock Online B2B option

for retailers without a webshop that still

want to benet from the advantages of the

Internet. Examples of this include online

ordering in the physical shop. Severalspecialist leather shops have now chosen

one or more options.

FlexibilityAnd, of course, every

combination of options is possible, adds

Andre. Because the bottom line is to

make it easy for our retailers and their cus-

tomers. We want to provide them with a

very professional extra service without any

fuss so that the maximum result in terms

of sales and customer satisfaction can be

achieved. And Andre is already looking to

the future. After the Netherlands, we are

going to roll this approach out in Germany

and Austria and after that were going

further. The advantage of the TIE Kinetix

e-commerce approach is its exibility and

their international experience so we dont

With ourweb shop,we mustbe able to

provide theconsumerwith thetools for

experienc-ing the

product

Leatherfactory is a customer of the

wholesaler Leder International, whichis based in Venlo. This town in Lim-

burg is a logistical hub close to Germany

and with excellent connections to the Euro-

pean hinterland. Leder Internationals dis-

tribution centre is located nearby in Reuver,

from where this specialist in leather cloth-

ing distributes its products to the European

countries and to the Middle East and Africa

(EMEA). Leder International is a major

international player and Leatherfactory is

now the market leader in online leather

clothing. The company has its own design-

ers and outsources production to countries

such as China, Pakistan and India. Whenwe visited the companys headquarters

we could not fail to notice the enormous

number of leather swatches, neatly grouped

according to colour and type. Weve just

launched our 2010/2011 winter collec-

tion, explained Andre Kuijpers, manager

of Leder International. For us this means

the end of a busy period during which we

developed and manufactured the new col-

lections and showed them to our customers

at various international trade fairs. We used

the opportunity of the trade fairs such as

the recent one in Dsseldorf - to disc uss

our online vision and approach with our

distributors and retail partners.

The talks revealed that existing cus-

tomers have a great need of supporting

online services from Leder International.

The next logical step was to create a web

platform for retailers that could be used for

such things as White Labelling. Because of

the enormous growth in us e of the Inter-

net, existing customers also needed Leder

International to add an online sales channel

as an extra service for its customers.

Leatherfactory opted for the advanced

TIE Kinetix MamboFive Commerce Suite

SimplicityA primary

requirement is that the web

shop is easy to use, so that

you can proceed to the buy

button in three steps, for

instance, but it must also be

easy to pay and there mustbe bullet-proof procedures

for returning goods, says

Rob Westerhof of Leather-

factory.nl. For us theres

an extra challenge and that

is the product experience.

How do you add that? With

our webshop, we must be

able to provide the consum-

er with tools for experienc-

ing the product the leather

jacket of your choice and

so this means excellent

photographic material with

a zoom-in capability that

goes down to stitch-level

and a real catwalk where the

consumer can see a model

wearing the jacket. The re-

tailers that we do business

with are particularly im-

pressed with this so-called

haute content, and all the

more so because they can

implement this webshop in

their own house style as a

white label.

Theres something special about web shops that offer clothing for sale.

After all, when it comes to ready-to-wear clothing, aspects such as size

and the customers experience of the goods are all-important.

need to concern ourselves about using it locally or regionally.

We can continue to focus on our core business: offering fash-

ionable leather clothes in the EMEA. Fine. So what trends

can we expect to see next winter? I predict that tight lambs-

leather womens trousers will be a hit, says Rob Westerhof.

Although, surprisingly, warm cow-leather jackets will do

very well in the Middle East. Weve just received a large order

from Jordan. Clearly Leder International also has a large

amount of exibility in its collection.


24/28

xxx

P24~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

BUSINESS INTEGRATIONTextCees Steijg

Champagne!Successful EDI roll-out in France

saging Portal from internal and externallocations in order to complete their task

IntegratIonAfter William Grant &Sons and Rmy Cointreau entered into

their joint venture in 2008, the need

arose to approach automation more ef-

ciently. They were working with SAP an

TIE Kinetix was given the job of admini

tering EDI between the existing SAP ER

environment and the systems of retail

partners. Furthermore, the EDI system

would have to rationalise messaging in

the supply chain. Whats more, in Janu

ary 2010 we started a new project focus

ing on the secure electronic processing

of invoices. One of our biggest retail

customers is also involved in this. In thi

way, we will improve our own efciency

and also help the customer to shorten

processing time. And our invoices will

be paid quicker. In the future, Lixir, sup

ported by TIE France, will connect mos

of its customers and suppliers to the TIE

Messaging Portal to create a B2B enviro

ment that fully meets all of the require-

ments that Lixirs business partners hav

set for messaging.

We use the

TIE Kinetix

MessagingPortal to

efciently

handle

about 5,000

messages

per month.

BusIness transactIonsWe spoke toAurlien Caulem, IT Director at Lixir, about

the opportunities provided by electronic data

interchange (EDI). Weve been working with

TIE France on automating our messaging since

2009, says Aurlien. We use the TIE Kinetix

Messaging Portal to efciently handle about

5,000 messages per month. These are mostly

messages between our partners and custom-

L

ixir is a joint venture between the

independent family-run companies

William Grant & Sons and Rmy

Cointreau. Lixirs headquarters is in Paris,

on the Avenue du Capitaine Glarner in the

suburb of Saint-Ouen. In this industrial

area between the Zone Industrielle Des

Dock and the Boulevard Priphrique,

Lixir rubs shoulders with some other

big names that have their French head-

quarters here, including Nokia, Danone,

Citron and Alstom. With a turnover of

192 million, Lixir occupies a strong po-

sition in the spirits market. Famous Lixir

brands include Grants, Glenddich, Piper

Heidsieck, Cointreau, and a lot more.

ers, as well as orders,

order documents, packing

notes and invoices. The

TIE Messaging Portal is,

exactly as its name sug-

gests, a corporate portal

for business transactions

with the outside world. All

internal applications can

be integrated with the TIE

Messaging Portal in order

to continue to effectively

control the transaction

processes. Externally,

all standards and com-

munication protocols are

supported by one and the

same application. Users

can log in to the TIE Mes-

Lixir is a major supplier ofchampagne and spirits in

France. For Lixir, electronic

messaging is of major im-

portance in its daily opera-

tions and communication

with its trading partners


25/28

NEWS

TIE~ 2/2010 ~ P25

TIE has released verion 4.0 of the Translator. The Translator is TIEs any-

to-any translation program for business documents. Using the TIE Trans-

lator, businesses can translate their electronic documents to any type or

layout irrespective of the original (any-to-any). This not only optimises

ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning) business applications

but also improves integration with the software systems of customers,

suppliers and other partners.

New Translator

This event gathers the top IT &Consumer Electronics vendors

and distributors from more

than 80 countries in EMEA. The

regions largest e-tailers also at-

tended the event, reecting the

growing importance of online

sales within the EMEA channel.

DISTREE XXL is based on one

simple but powerful concept:

it brings high-level buyers into

productive contact with vendors

via 1:1 meetings.

This event turned out to be verysuccessful for TIE. We were able

to further strengthen our relation-

ship with CBS interactive during

the event by having joint meetings

to pitch the combination of CNET

content and the TIE Content Syn-

dication Platform, says Emile van

de Klok, managing director of TIE

International. The combined pitch

generated the interest of more

than 50 prospective vendors and

distributors at EMEA level.

TIE successful atMonaco channel event

Together with partner CNET Content Solutions (CBS Interactive)

TIE took part in the DISTREE XXL 2010 event in Monaco

(08-11 February 2010). DISTREE XXL is the premier event for

senior channel executives from across the EMEA region.

e-solution forthe clothing trade

Siebe van Ineveld has been appointed as a Senior Con-

sultant for TIE International. Siebe has come from ECi

(formerly e-Buzz) where he was responsible for Europe-

an e-Business projects. At TIE, he will strengthen the TIE

Kinetix reseller channel, focusing on the E-commerce

Platform and the Content Syndication Platform.

Siebe van Ineveld helps to

develop EMEA business

TIE has launched an advanced webshop solution for

the clothing trade. Leatherfactory.nl is the launching

customer for this new application of the successful TIE

MamboFive Commerce Suite. Selling clothing through

the Internet calls for its own solution. What makes web-

shops that sell clothing so special is that the correct size

is all-important. A lot of information has to be provided

in order to avoid returns as much as possible.


26/28

P26~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

GADGETS

Behindthe cloud

Smart waveMean green performance

Plug-in

Apples iPad looks like a crossbetween an iPhone and a

Macbook. There is no physical

keyboard but the iPad does have

a virtual keyboard on the touch

screen. This is a handy feature

enabling users to run a modied

version of Apples iWork ofce

software package on the iPad.

The iPad is available as Wi-Fi

model and as model with

Wi-Fi + 3G.

With its SR1 concept car, Peugeot has decided to take a drastically

different course that represents the direction that Peugeots design

will take in the future. With its Hybrid4 technology which consists of

a 1.6L THP gasoline engine that sits at the front helping it produce

218-hp. The engine is mated to a rear electric-motor that produces an

additional 95-hp for a total combined output of 313-hp. With 4-wheel

drive and steering, this GT roadster is a foretaste of things to come

from the French company.

Kia has presented a concept for a plug-in hybrid. The Kia Ray

uses the lightest possible materials, good aerodynamics and is

powered by a small 4-cylinder1.4 petrol and 78kW electric en-

gine. Together, the electric motor and the petrol engine provide

an action radius of 1,200 km.

How did Salesforce.com

develop from a start-up in

a rented at to become the

fastest-growing software

company in less than ten

years? In Behind the Cloud,

Marc Benioff reveals the un-

told story of how Salesforce.

com went from an idea to

a billion-dollar business and

brought about an evolution

in the industry on the way.

Samsung has launched the Wave S8500

the rst telephone to feature its

Bada operating system and a brighter

super-AMOLED screen. This is the rst

cell phone to use the super-AMOLED

system which provides much better

readability in sunlight.

Sony Ericsson is releasing its Vivaz smartphone in a new pro-

version with slide-out QWERTY keypad. The built-in camera

can shoot HD movies at 720p and take 5.1 megapixel photos

Features also include UMTS/HSPDA, WiFi and GPS.

Vivazony

Touch me


27/28

who owns who?

Drive d Ct t acieve Ttal oerip f yur ERP.

The promise of your ERP solution was that it would keep you in the black. Instead, escalating

maintenance and licensing fees may mean youre seeing nothing but red. Demand more. Spend

less. And change the balance of ownership in your ERP relationship.

o yur ERP. Dt let it yu.

Lear at EpicrTCo.cm or call 800-997-7528. Get exclusive access to the

Epicor TCO Optimization Kit, featuring the 2009 Garter Magic Quadrat for Midmarket andTier 2-Oriented ERP for Product-Centric Companies report.

Copyright 2009 Epicor Software Corporation. Epicor and the Epicor logo are registeredtrademarks of Epicor Software Corporation. All rights reserved.


28/28

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TIE Kinetix empowers companies to improve their supply chain efficiency.For major processes like orientation, transaction and fulfillment, TIE Kinetix customers can streamline the exchange of

content and commerce with our premiere SaaS platforms-Content Syndication, E-commerce and Business Integration-all with

real-time analytics. By combining the power of the Web and the dynamic force of the TIE Kinetix solution, organizations can

now minimize energy and maximize their results.

About TIE Kinetix: TIE Kinetix provides customers solutions that will give them incremental changes to

enable significant changes in the way they perform their business with partners in the supply chain.

Implementation of the TIE Kinetix solutions will enhance productivity, increase revenue, and add to the

bottom line of our customers

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TIE Kinetix Magazine #2