IBS has announced that two of its customers picked up first prize at the IT Europa European IT Excellence Awards held in Frankfurt on February 7, 2008. IBS scooped both the Software as a Service (SaaS) category and the e-business category.
Susanne Åsander, business product manager at IBS, who collected the awards on behalf of IBS comments, “This is a real achievement for IBS. We were the only company to achieve more than one award, which is testimony to the quality of our solutions and the real benefit we provide to our customers.
"We are particularly pleased to have won an award for our SaaS solution, because this is a hot industry topic that not many companies can actually deliver on. This award shows we are very much up and running with successful SaaS customers and have been for some time.”
The IT Europa European IT Excellence Awards recognise best practices in customer solutions by IT channels across Europe and encourage channel partnerships and relationships across IT, convergence and internet industries.
They are pan-European awards that recognise real-world solutions as well as channel partnerships. The awards are given for real business solutions, not just providing products and judges put particular emphasis on dedication to customers, the impact on customers’ business, the delivery of good business practices and the provision of a successful configuration, installation and on-going service.
Category winner: Software as a Service (SaaS)
The SaaS category award winner was IBS, with a solution for its customer, SKF, a leading global supplier of products, solutions and services comprising rolling bearings, seals mechatronics, services and lubrication systems.
SKF uses IBS Web Supply Manager, a web-based EDI application that improves supplier communications, cuts costs and streamlines processes. IBS Web Supply Manager is SOA-designed and delivered to SKF as a SaaS solution, meaning that IBS hosts the system and SKF pays a monthly fee
This methodology allows IBS Web Supply Manager to enable all SKF manufacturing units to collaborate effectively and efficiently with their entire worldwide supplier network. It also extends SKF’s procurement capabilities for all its suppliers, large and small, and provides multi-lingual and Vendor Managed Integration (VMI) support.
The solution works well using the SaaS model and allows SKF to enjoy all the benefits of a major multi-national implementation, without the capital outlay and long-term hardware investment and maintenance costs.
Category winner: E-Business
IBS also picked up the main award in the e-business category due to its implementation at Royal Arctic Line, a shipping company based in Greenland. Royal Arctic Line and IBS collaborated on an integrated solution that speeds up freight bookings and services to Greenland.
The solution is based on the Enterprise Application Integration software, IBS Integrator and the Royal Artic Line freight system. It can use Web Services as communications. XML and other components allow Royal Arctic Line customers to create sales orders in their native systems while transparently creating bookings automatically in Royal Arctic Line’s freight system.
The solution is fast, transparent and seamless, and places no additional demands on customer users.
Due to IBS, Royal Arctic Line’s customers can create shipment bookings directly through their sales orders – without added overhead. The order/booking process is streamlined, saving time and costs.
The solution also helps Royal Arctic Line and its customers save more than time and costs. It also allows for better planning and shipping, which translates into more efficient business and shipping and perhaps to saving Greenland and the planet.