GXS acquires Rollstream for human side of supply chain

GXS CEO Bob Segert says the acquisition "accelerates GXS's strategy to speed and simplify the integration of global business communities". He indicates that, by combining RollStream's solution with its existing Trading Grid, GXS expects to further improve the performance of global business and supply chain operations, by bringing together information flows and information workers that have hitherto acted as barriers. "Our customers realise they need a balance of people, process and technology to compete on a global scale, and they know that the human side of B2B integration matters," states Segert. "RollStream is one of the more innovative start-ups to enter the B2B integration market in recent years. At GXS, we are firm believers that integration belongs in the cloud and the RollStream acquisition enables us to accelerate this vision." He makes the point that, for many organisations, integrating business communities is getting more complex. What's more, transactions are expected to double by 2014 across Global 2,000 organisations and the lines are blurring between traditional B2B e-commerce transactions and cloud integration. One of the problems, he explains, is that supply networks are still often bogged down with out-of-date contact lists, hard-to-share supplier certificates and a reliance on faxes, email and spreadsheets. "Using RollStream, procurement teams … are simplifying the human side of B2B integration, minimising supplier compliance risk and improving supplier time-to-market by up to 60%," says Segert.