Crossgate Italia: first two years in Italy under the banner of great success!

More than 50 Italian companies have already chosen Crossgate. The innovative concept of its Business-Ready Network adapts perfectly to their requirements.

Milan, 15th September 2008 – Crossgate Italia, the local subsidiary of Crossgate AG, two years from its entrance onto the Italian market boasts a customer portfolio made up of more than 50 companies. Adoption furthers Crossgate’s position as the worldwide expert in the management of Business-to-Business inter-company processes (B2B/EDI).

Crossgate Italia has been able to persuade important representatives of the Italian economy like Brembo, Alessi and Olivetti of the innovativeness of its approach for the migration and centralization of B2B platforms or to start EDI/B2B data interchange with their customers/suppliers throughout the world. Crossgate’s Business-Ready Network, the network of pre-integrated companies, now represents an important alternative to reach the ecosystem of Italian companies in B2B/EDI without the usage of historical VANs.

Crossgate Italia S.p.A. was the first international subsidiary set up by Crossgate and recently positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integration Service Providers. Under the guidance of the Italo-German President Antonio Brissa, it has obtained important results in a short period of time thanks to a very focused approach.

Italy is one of the most important markets in Europe”, explains Stefan Tittel, CEO and founder of Crossgate AG. “ We began a strategic commitment two years ago in Italy , and today our expectations have been over achieved. We have been able to position our BRN in the Italian market , and Crossgate today is one of the leading B2B players in that region”.

The value of the Crossgate offer lies in the fact that the companies are able to integrate with all members of their business network, without running into the problems which until now have hampered the strategic use of B2B. Crossgate provides a turnkey service for activating B2B/EDI message flows and the day-to-day management of these processes. In this way the companies can fully achieve the advantages of a direct integration with their business network while reducing risk and uncertainty which often plagues the daily management of B2B/EDI.

A winning strategy based on the network effect

Crossgate works on the network effect thanks to the large number of business processes with companies already present in the repository. This allows them to take advantage of the network effect, namely benefits for everyone: not only the customers who have already chosen Crossgate but also those who will become users in the future, because the value of the service offered increases with the number of partners in the network.

The strategy for Crossgate’s entrance into the Italian market was focused on the offer of the classic B2B services in outsourcing. These services are very favourable for both companies looking to establish a new B2B environment as well as with organizations with many years of B2B/EDI experience who desire to expand the electronic enablement of global partners and increase competitive advantage. Many business leaders are turning to outsourcing partners to focus on non-core IT activities which support their internal staff and accelerate their ability to support global expansion. These activities which are often time-consuming, require specific skill sets and can expose the company to unforeseen delays and operational risks are assigned to a reliable outsourcing partner who is able to act on an international level. In fact, thanks to globalization, the companies’ logistic chains have now extended in such a way that today the management of B2B interfaces has to take into account the various international specifications, languages and different working hours. In precisely this context, Crossgate differs clearly from the various national EDI/B2B players. As business continues to expand beyond country borders, many executives see the natural economies of scale supplied by a third party expert who can reduce the time and cost of trading partner enablement.

Being in the position to supply companies with a convincing approach to the management of B2B processes, the Crossgate service proposal offers a winning solution for all companies which are currently putting in place a B2B strategy in order to create a competitive edge for their company. In Italy this holds especially true, as many companies that represent the “Made in Italy” brand are increasingly receiving B2B requests from their international customers.

“Companies with a strong track record of managing their B2B/EDI platforms internally, today consider the migration of these platforms to a company like Crossgate. The reason is simple: the operational maintenance of a B2B environment and the growing demand of electronic transactions requires very specific knowledge. Many executives understand that their business is about making or delivering their end products not managing day to day EDI. Going through the learning curve of B2B projects without being able to scale this knowledge is a dead end for them. This is an experience from which all companies now considering a B2B strategy can leverage.” explains Antonio Brissa, President of Crossgate Italia S.p.A..

Additionally, Crossgate in Italy, is building on its successful collaboration with SAP, and offering additional innovative B2B services like electronic invoicing services capable of simplifying the processes for companies which wish to streamline their financial supply chain, with results which can be measured in terms of economic savings, government compliance and environmental safeguards.

“The perseverance and commitment to our work, as well as the belief in the validity of what we are offering, has permitted us to position Crossgate in Italy as a revolutionary and acknowledged player; a thought leader with an innovative business model, a focus on customer service, and most importantly for our end clients, a service without hidden costs,” Brissa concludes.

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