RL - Retail

axway.com 3 Examining the Varner ecosystem, Holt-Jacobsen said, "We have 30 external partners — all of them quite large — and about 30 internal stakeholders. From the B2Bi perspective, all our legal entities are internal partners." To ensure a smooth transition, Varner worked closely with Axway Global Customer Services prior to, and during, the migration to Axway B2Bi. "We are quite satisfied with both the support and follow-up from Axway," said Holt-Jacobsen. For Varner, Axway B2Bi automates and integrates the physical distribution of its goods, and facilitates the entire order-to-cash process, functions essential to its growth and to the overall health of the business. Governing the flow of data — and merchandise Managing time-critical processes Asked whether Varner has service level agreements with its suppliers, Holt-Jacobsen replied: "No, we don't have SLAs with our partners, but we are a typical retailer in that our organization demands that everything work all the time, every time, and that problems be resolved as soon as they arise." "Take the example of our outbound logistics flow," said Holt-Jacobsen. "That's the most time-critical process we handle through Axway B2Bi. Outbound logistics is time-critical not only for delivery to stores, but is particularly vital for sorting. Since we are a very big organization, we have a production slot just for sorting goods at our transporters' sites. It takes six hours a day just to sort our goods." "The sorting is done at two sorting facilities in Sweden and Norway, at our third-party transporters' locations. When EDI transport bookings are sent in a timely way, the goods are sorted automatically," said Holt-Jacobsen. "But if our transport bookings are delayed, the warehouse staff has to sort the goods manually, causing major delays down the line." And, as every retailer knows, delays are costly — and impact the bottom line. "To monitor this time-critical data flow, we set up email alerts in Axway B2Bi to warn us if a problem occurs that needs immediate attention. Axway B2Bi enables us to govern all of our EDI data streams, which is critical for our business," said Holt-Jacobsen. Value to Varner Enabling growth through modernization and efficiency With the migration complete and Axway B2Bi now handling all of Varner's EDI processes, many key benefits are already evident. According to Holt- Jacobsen, the Axway solution: • Automates Varner's business processes. "The ability to automate our processes is probably the biggest benefit for Varner," said Holt-Jacobsen. "Automating our data interactions and communications with third-party suppliers and service providers has been invaluable for Varner, first with Axway's earlier product and now with Axway B2Bi." Axway B2Bi enables us to govern all of our EDI data streams, which is critical for our business.

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