Totally Satisfied?
crossgate surveys suppliers and Suzuki dealers
Starnberg on 21 November 2007
For many years now, some of the giants of the automotive industry have been using the eInvoicing service developed by crossgate AG, the specialist in B2B integration and cross-company automation. Since the end of 2006 Suzuki International Europe has also been benefiting from the advantages of sending invoices and other documents electronically via B.I.P., crossgate’s electronic transaction platform. This has been used as an opportunity to carry out a customer satisfaction survey amongst suppliers and Suzuki dealers. The frequency with which the invoice portal was used, the number of users, improvements in the invoicing procedure, satisfaction with customer support, ease of use and system stability were the aspects that were evaluated.
This was a representative survey of suppliers of every size. In total, just under 400 suppliers were invited to take part and more than a quarter of them subsequently participated in the survey. The following conclusions were arrived at. Almost two thirds of the suppliers use the portal very frequently or frequently. 96 per cent found it improved their invoicing process overall compared with sending paper invoices. 95 per cent of the respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the support they received and with the ease with which the eInvoicing portal can be used. The same percentage felt well informed about the overall process.
“The survey shows us that the continual focus of the process on suppliers as users has been worthwhile,” says Uwe Weiss, Chairman of the Board at crossgate and the person responsible for the solution. “It’s a win-win situation for all participants. Both parties benefit from the eSign process – the car manufacturer as the OEM and the supplier as the user. Benefits are being demonstrated which are clearly noticeable and also verifiable with the survey.”
Altogether just under 1,000 businesses were invited to take part in the Suzuki survey. Almost 200 took part in the study. The results are similar here, too. More than half of the dealers surveyed use the document portal very frequently or frequently. 56.14 per cent feel the electronic invoicing process and the use of the portal is an improvement or even a great improvement. Only around one in ten dealers felt it necessary to call up the support feature, but they were then extremely satisfied with the resulting help they received, said 97 per cent. The vast majority felt the ease of use was good (89 per cent). The stability and performance of the system also delighted 98 per cent of all dealers.
“The survey shows once again that our customers are very satisfied with the process optimisation and that we’re on the right path,” Weiss summarises. “With our technology to help, their daily workload is greatly eased. Digital signatures and the electronic transfer of data mean an enormous saving of time for the individual businesses. We’re very pleased that the suppliers and dealers see this in exactly the same way. It’s precisely in the area of eInvoicing that we’re recording an enormous increase in the number of customers. We’re very satisfied with our market-leading solution.”
eInvoicing at crossgate AG in brief
The eInvoicing/eSign field is one of the fastest-growing areas of crossgate’s European business activities.
As well as customers in the automotive industry such as Audi, VW and Suzuki, many other companies are using the solution in sectors like the chemical industry, the telecommunications sector and in many other industries.
crossgate AG:
The crossgate AG is specialized in B2B-Integration and Cross Automation – the intermedia automation of business processes in and between companies. The core is the biggest B2B transaction platform (B.I.P.): More than 34,000 companies change data and documents via the B.I.P. already – independently of format and through all limits. The new B2B 360° Services “powered by SAP®“ enable all customers to immediately access all Business Partners integrated in the platform directly out of their SAP® System.
The transaction-based Business model has been established in the automotive-, logistic-, trade, chemistry- and industrial-division. crossgate was founded in 2001 in Starnberg nearby Munich. The principal shareholders of crossgate are the family of SAP founder Dietmar Hopp, the Otto Wolff Industrieberatung und Beteiligungen GmbH and the Al-Jomaih Group. Beside its head office in Starnberg, crossgate is represented in five other locations all over Germany, e.g. in Berlin, Cologne and Walldorf.
Furthermore, the company operates overseas branches in Atlanta, London, Milan and Paris. The Cross Automation expert has currently more than 200 employees. The founder and CEO of crossgate is Stefan Tittel. More information at www.crossgate.de
