Reiff Selects Poet Software's Supplier eCatalog Solution to Automate B2B Transactions Over the Internet
2 August 2000
Reiff Selects Poet Software's Supplier eCatalog Solution to Automate B2B Transactions Over the Internet
SAN MATEO, Calif., Aug. 2 POET Software
(Neuer Markt: POXA), a pioneer in enabling suppliers for B2B eCommerce,
announced today that Reiff Technische Produkte GmbH has selected POET's
comprehensive catalog management solution, eCatalog Suite (eCS), to create and
distribute customized electronic catalogs over the Internet. POET eCS enables
Reiff, one of Germany's largest distributors of automotive and electrical
engineering products, to increase the accessibility and reach of its more than
35,000 product offerings -- including sealants, adhesives, fittings, and
synchronous belts - by providing vital catalog content directly to the
e-procurement systems of their customers.
Reiff currently serves more than 5,000 German businesses in all
industries, including automotive supply, mechanical engineering, building
machinery and electrical engineering industries. With the steady increase in
eProcurement-enabled buying organizations, and the proliferation of new
buy-side purchasing options, suppliers face an unquenchable demand for the
electronic catalogs required to populate these systems. Using POET eCS, Reiff
will provide their customers with eCatalogs in any exchange format, with
customized content and negotiated pricing, as often or as rarely as needed. By
tailoring each catalog to the unique requirements of each customer, Reiff
expects to increase customer satisfaction and reinforce their competitive
edge.
"More and more sales organizations are demanding electronic product
catalogs, and these certainly come in a multitude of different formats and
standards," according to Stephan Steinmaier, group director for the
engineering products business unit at Reiff. "We chose the POET eCatalog Suite
so we can react more rapidly and efficiently to customer needs, and be less
dependent upon the market. The job of continually having to create new output
interfaces with internal resources was time-consuming and resulted in huge
overhead costs."
Mike Hogan, POET's vice president for supplier enablement, agrees, "it is
not practical for suppliers to become experts on fragmenting standards,
emerging protocols, and the latest dialects of XML. Suppliers should remain
focused on their customers, and not become distracted by the technology. POET
will continue to provide our suppliers with all the commonly used catalog
format adaptors in the eCatalog Suite. Plus, we include the Catalog
Developer's Kit (CDK) for obscure formats and custom requirements."
Targeted specifically for the emerging class of eSuppliers, POET eCatalog
Suite is a comprehensive supply-side solution for creating, managing, and
distributing custom eCatalogs to buyers, eProcurement networks and
eMarketplaces. POET eCS enables suppliers to manage a single collection of
product data. A set of business rules transform this product data into an
electronic catalog that is completely customized for each customer, reflecting
their contract pricing, unique product selection, commodity codification
scheme, data format, delivery mechanism and more. By simply focusing on
assembling their product data using POET eCS, suppliers can work with any
buyer using any eProcurement system or eMarketplace.
"With each new release of eCS, POET delivers new eCatalog formats free of
charge, right to our door. We profit from the POET's experience in this area
and can thus concentrate more on our own core competency, actual
business-to-business electronic commerce with our customers, like Daimler
Chrysler and Behr Stuttgart," Steinmaier added.
About The Reiff Group
The Reiff Group in Reutlingen has been a family-owned company since its
founding in 1910. It is active in two business areas: tires and automotive
engineering and technical products with a concentration in the area of
transmission technology products, and products made of rubber and synthetic
materials. With approximately 1,200 employees, the Reiff Group in 1999 had
sales of approximately DM 480 million at more than 60 locations in Germany.
Additional information about the company can be found at http://www.reiff-gmbh.de.
About POET Software
POET Software, a fast growing international software company with offices
in San Mateo, throughout the US, and Western Europe, is a major player in the
emerging B2B Internet eCommerce market. POET eCatalog Suite (eCS) is a
self-service software solution that empowers supplier organizations to
efficiently create, manage, and distribute customized electronic catalog data
in order to participate in the Internet eProcurement process. POET eCS also
enables Net Marketplaces to assemble high-quality content and build direct
relationships with suppliers. Publicly traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange,
POET Software has partnerships with leading technology companies such as
Adobe, Ariba, Commerce One, Ericsson LM, General Dynamics, Microsoft and SAP.
For more information, visit the company at http://www.poet.com or email info@poet.com
CONTACT: Karin Walsh of Nadel Phelan, Inc., 831-440-2401, or
karin@nadelphelan.com, for POET Software Corporation; or Mike Hogan of POET
Software Corporation, 650-577-2517, or mph@poet.com.