GXS and OB10 Form Strategic Alliance to Bolster Business Process Automation through Regulatory-Compliant e-Invoicing


OB10 e-Invoicing Solution Enables GXS Customers to Comply with EU and Country- Specific Invoicing Regulations

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 5 / -- GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, and OB10, a real-time leading e-Invoicing network provider, today announced a global alliance aimed at significantly improving and expanding support for electronic invoicing. Through this partnership, GXS is making OB10's unique, tax compliant e-Invoicing solution available as a component of GXS Invoice Delivery Service (IDS). Leveraging GXS Trading Grid®, the combined efforts of the two companies will lower the bar to achieving true global business process automation. Both companies share a common vision to deliver solutions that automate supply chain processes and complement companies' investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, while ensuring high-quality information flows throughout the extended supply chain.

GXS enables businesses to send or receive invoices and other electronic documents without having to agree on formats, file specifications or communication methods, thereby increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the invoice-to-pay process. Leveraging the OB10 service through GXS, customers can conduct e-invoicing that is compliant with international taxation regulations in 24 countries on four continents including in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. For example, the EU DIRECTIVE 2001/115/EC, which governs the electronic invoicing process in Europe, requires any company invoicing companies in the EU to comply with specific e-Invoicing standards, which include definitions of the types of data that invoices must include and storage requirements for auditing purposes. Compounded by country-specific requirements, disparate languages and currency differences, the e-Invoicing process in Europe is highly complex, but the regulations ensure that invoices are appropriately processed and properly stored for future access. Through GXS and OB10, companies can become compliant with global regulations quickly and easily, without having to undertake a costly and time-consuming compliance process themselves, potentially giving subscribers a competitive edge.

"Global e-Invoicing has been a mainstay of GXS' value proposition to customers. By partnering with OB10, GXS is enabling customers to easily adjust to changing regulatory environments while also bringing them one step closer to global business process automation," said Bobby Patrick, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at GXS. "The OB10 service represents the perfect complement to GXS' full suite of e-commerce and B2B integration solutions. Through GXS and OB10, companies around the world are able to reduce errors in the order-to-cash process and speed payment cycles."

With more than 35,000 customers and a global presence, GXS represents a significant expansion opportunity for OB10. The combined offering of OB10's tax compliant service with GXS' full-suite of B2B e-commerce solutions will offer a number of practical benefits to both buyers and suppliers, including the ability to lower accounting costs, improve regulatory compliance and extend the value of existing accounting system and ERP investments. In addition, GXS customers can better integrate their global invoicing processes with other business functions supported by GXS Trading Grid, such as order processing, sales forecasts and managing payments and cash flow.

"From OB10's perspective, this partnership represents a significant growth opportunity for our business and serves as a global route-to-market," said Jamie Gunn, CEO of OB10. "In addition, it represents the coming together of two leading technology companies that advance the automation of the global supply chain, helping it move faster and eliminating costly errors. It also satisfies a need for customers making investments in supply chain outsourcing where the invoice process is just one component of the full order-to-cash process. With OB10's e-Invoicing service, GXS customers will benefit from a high percentage of first time, straight-through, regulatory-compliant, order-to-pay processing."

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. As the world's largest electronic business community, GXS Trading Grid is used by more than 35,000 customers to exchange goods and services, gain visibility into global logistics operations and to synchronize product data. Trading Grid helps customers automate global trading communities by shielding complexity from rapidly changing standards, eliminating manual and duplicative processes and enabling the highest levels of B2B integration and collaboration.

About OB10
OB10 is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network. OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organizations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by typically 60 percent and can deliver an ROI in less than a year if the program follows OB10's best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT, tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 90 countries. To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrolment, each new customer's suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network. For more information please visit www.OB10.com.

About GXS
GXS is a leading global provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration among trading partners. Organizations worldwide, including 75 percent of the Fortune 500, leverage the on-demand services on GXS Trading Grid® to extend supply chain networks, optimize product launches, automate warehouse receiving, manage electronic payments and gain supply chain visibility. GXS Managed Services, GXS' B2B outsourcing solution, empowers customers with the expertise, technical infrastructure and program support to conduct B2B e-commerce with trading partners globally.

Based in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS has an extensive global network and has local offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. GXS can be found on the Web at www.gxs.com.

Source: GXS

CONTACT: Allison Tobin of GXS Global Media Relations, +1-301-340-498, allison.tobin@gxs.com

Web site: www.gxs.com/
http://www.ob10.com/

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