Kitchen Food Company

See how B2BGateway.Net helped Kitchen Foood Company to fully integrate EDI with their new NetSuite ERP system for seamless communications with customers such as Coles, General Mills and Woolworths Supermarkets https://goo.gl/91zsqY

MYOB appoints JCurve Solutions to sell and implement MYOB Advanced ERP in Australia.

Sydney's JCurve Solutions has partnered with MYOB to sell, implement and support the Australian accounting software vendor's MYOB Advanced cloud ERP software for large businesses.

MYOB Advanced offers clients control over inventory, sales, distribution, CRM, finance and payroll.

JCurve chief executive Stephen Canning said Advanced would offer new opportunities for tailored customer solutions.

"With Advanced we now feel JCS is better placed to provide customers with a choice of their preferred cloud ERP platform to best suit their specific business requirements," he said.

Carolyn Luey, MYOB's general manager of enterprise solutions, added: "MYOB is delighted to have JCurve Solutions working with us to distribute MYOB Advanced. JCurve Solutions is one of the most experienced implementers of cloud ERP solutions in the market today and will make a valuable addition to MYOB's network of local business partners in the mid-market."

JCurve is also a 5-star NetSuite solution provider and has implemented 550 ERP solutions across Australian businesses.

B2BGateway, which has partnerships with both MYOB and JCurve Solutions to deliver cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions to their clients, is delighted with this latest announcement. According to Dante Dell’Agnese, Director of Sales APAC at B2BGateway, “Up to now B2BGateway has been supporting both MYOB and JCurve Solutions over different channels and ERP solutions, now with this agreement between MYOB and JCurve we will be able to support the end users EDI needs all from the one ERP platform.”

You can learn more about EDI and how it can improve the MYOB Advanced users supply chain processes here B2BGateway EDI for MYOB Advanced.

B2BGateway to be Gold Sponsor at Acumatica Summit

B2BGateway, a leading global EDI solution provider and Acumatica certified partner, announced today that it will be a gold sponsor of Acumatica Summit 2017 which takes place January 29 – February 03, 2017 in San Diego, CA.

The Acumatica Summit is the premier invitation-only event where the entire Acumatica partner and customer ecosystem gathers to hear the latest about Acumatica’s products and solutions, get product certifications, and collaborate on accelerating success in the cloud.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has become best business practice in the transfer of standard electronic business documents such as Purchase Orders, Invoices, Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs), Inventory updates etc., between trading partners and is highly popular in market verticals such as Wholesale Distribution, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Automotive and Finance.

By integrating with B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI solution the Acumatica user can be compliant in all internationally recognized EDI standards and communication protocols such as ANSI X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, oioUBL, PEPPOL, VAN, AS2, etc. Full integration also removes the need for the Acumatica user to re-key data when exchanging electronic business documents with trading partners, leading to greater accuracy, increased labor efficiencies and expediting the order-to-payment cash cycle with customers.

At this year’s Acumatica Summit, B2BGateway will also demonstrate how they are part of Acumatica’s ‘Modern Distribution Solution’ – a grouping together of Acumatica’s leading add-on WD partners to give customers in Wholesale Distribution verticals a cutting edge in dominating their fields. By combining the strengths of B2BGateway (EDI), Kensium (eCommerce), Savant (WMS), Aaeon (Mobile Hardware Devices) with Acumatica ERP, the Acumatica client can get a certified one-stop solution that will help them fully automate their solutions, reduce errors and lower ongoing costs.

According to Norman Bentley, Manager of Information Systems at Soundcast, LLC, “Soundcast needed to setup newer technology to be more competitive, we looked at several EDI solutions, and after careful decisions we decided to go with B2BGateway.  B2BGateway EDI runs flawlessly with Acumatica, the implementation was quick and painless, we haven’t had any problems. B2BGateway and Acumatica are our founding stepping stones for success.”

“B2BGateway is excited to be a gold sponsor of Acumatica Summit 2017 in San Diego”, states Roger Leyden, Director of Global Business Development at B2BGateway, “At the Summit we will demonstrate to Acumatica end users and partners how B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI for Acumatica can tighten and improve the Acumatica users supply chain by reducing errors, cutting costs and improving overall efficiencies.”

B2BGateway to sponsor NetSuite SuiteConnect EMEA in London

B2BGateway will be sponsoring SuiteConnect EMEA which takes place on October 11^th in the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel in London.

SuiteConnect EMEA is a NetSuite conference for clients and partners located in the European, Middle East and African regions. The conference promises to give attendees insights from NetSuite’s seventeen years of delivering cloud solutions to over 30,000 organizations globally, learn how to stay current with new trends and findings from Frost & Sullivan and to network with over 800 attendees. Guests will also be able to attend dedicated industry vertical breakout sessions as well as visit the exhibition hall to meet with NetSuite partners and their solutions. The keynote address will be delivered by NetSuite CEO, Zach Nelson, who will speak on how modern global companies are thriving in the cloud economy.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has become best business practice in the transfer of electronic business documents such as Purchase Orders, Invoices, Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs), Inventory Updates, etc., between trading partners and is highly popular in market verticals such as Wholesale Distribution, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Automotive and Finance.

By integrating with B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI solution the NetSuite user can be compliant in all internationally recognized EDI standards and communication protocols such as EDIFACT, Eancom, Tradacoms, ANSI X12, oioUBL, PEPPOL, VAN, AS2, etc. The B2BGateway EDI solution is built into the NetSuite dashboard and full integration removes the need for the user to re-key data when exchanging electronic business documents with trading partners, leading to greater accuracy, increased labour efficiencies and expediting the ‘order-to-payment’ cash cycle with customers.

For further information on B2BGateway's cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions for NetSuite please visit https://www.b2bgateway.net/edi-for-netsuite/

B2BGateway EDI Application Certified By Acumatica

B2BGateway's cloud based, fully integrated EDI solution is now an Acumatica Certified and Customer Validated Application. You can read the full press release here http://bit.ly/2crSRns

B2BGateway to sponsor launch of Acumatica 6

B2BGateway, the leading global EDI solution provider and Acumatica partner, will be sponsoring the launch of Acumatica 6 in Boston on September 8^th, 2016.

Acumatica 6 is the latest version of the award winning cloud based Acumatica ERP software suite. During the launch, John Roskill, CEO and Ali Jani, VP Partner Strategy, Product Management & Services at Acumatica will demonstrate to attendees how Acumatica 6 will help increase productivity and accelerate growth with new enhancements like the Universal Outlook Add-In, Dashboard and KPI widgets, greater drill down across generic inquiries, and so much more! There will also be a special guest attendance by Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher, Bill Lee and a partner expo.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has become best business practice in the transfer of electronic business documents such as Purchase Orders, Invoices, Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs), Inventory updates etc., between trading partners and is highly popular in market verticals such as Wholesale Distribution, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Automotive and Finance.

By integrating with B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI solution the Acumatica user can be compliant in all internationally recognized EDI standards and communication protocols such as ANSI X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, oioUBL, PEPPOL, VAN, AS2, etc. Full integration also removes the need for the Acumatica user to re-key data when exchanging electronic business documents with trading partners, leading to greater accuracy, increased labor efficiencies and expediting the order-to-payment cash cycle with customers.

According to Eugene Chang, Acumatica user and Head of Logistics at the gamers provider company NZXT, “B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solution for Acumatica provides the communications, data translation and mapping functionality required by NZXT to comply with all our trading partners’ EDI requirements. Taking into consideration that Acumatica is a relatively new product and the short time frame required for our EDI implementation, B2BGateway did a great job! Within a month we experienced the many benefits of a seamless, fully integrated EDI solution.”

“B2BGateway is excited to be sponsoring the launch of Acumatica 6 in Boston, states Louisa Gooding, Director of Sales & Strategic Relationships at B2BGateway, “At the launch we will demonstrate to Acumatica end users and partners how B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI for Acumatica can tighten and improve the Acumatica users supply chain by reducing errors, cutting costs and improving overall efficiencies. I’m also personally excited to meet with Bill Lee, being originally from the Boston area and huge Red Sox fan, Bill is one of my all-time favorites.”

To Move, or Not To Move (Your ERP to the Cloud)........That is the Question!

According to a recent article by Forbes, PwC is predicting that by 2016, investment in SaaS or Cloud Based ERP solutions will more than double to $78 billion while investment in traditional on premise ERP systems will decline over 30% to less than $15 billion. Their recent analysis of Cloud ERP adoption shows that net new license revenues for traditional ERP systems have been declining since 2013 to a level that has already been surpassed by global revenue from cloud-based SaaS ERP solutions.

The report by PwC, Beyond ERP: New technology, New Options also states that Leading Cloud ERP providers including Acumatica, FinancialForce, Intacct, Kenandy, NetSuite, Plex Systems, Workday are all increasingly being integrated into Hybrid ERP and two-tier ERP system architectures as their customers shift gears into new business models. To support new business models, enterprises are integrating cloud-based and legacy ERP applications, creating Hybrid ERP systems that can scale to new customer demands.

PwC is seeing enterprises opt for Cloud-based ERP systems and applications that can scale across human resources, supplier management, e-commerce, customer relationship management, selling, service and many other areas. Hybrid ERP systems are enabling enterprises to make the most of their legacy, on premise ERP systems while scaling their IT strategies to align with and accelerate current and future customer-driven business models. Hybrid ERP systems are especially valuable for manufacturers who rely on diverse sourcing, supply chain, production and service operations as they can unify a company across diverse locations. Multisite ERP support has challenged legacy on premise ERP providers in the past, yet the current generation of Cloud ERP providers are looking to capitalize on this requirement.

Another report by Hitachi Solutions Europe has found that over 31% of organizations have already moved part or all of their ERP solutions to the cloud. Looking at the responses from larger organizations (those with over 500 employees) suggests that it is no longer just smaller organizations taking a Cloud-based approach to ERP. In fact, almost a third of larger organizations surveyed said they have moved all or part of their ERP to the Cloud, or are in the process.

Those who have moved say the main benefits include easier access to information, reduced operating cost and ERP performance. Eighty per cent rated their experience of using cloud-based ERP as excellent or good.

B2BGateway has been providing cloud-based, fully integrated EDI solutions to ERP users across the globe since 1999. For further details on B2BGateway's fully integrated EDI solutions for cloud based ERP systems please visit http://www.b2bgateway.net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

Will we see you at SuiteWorld 16?

B2BGateway is yet again a proud sponsor of this year’s SuiteWorld conference taking place in San Jose, CA, May 16-19. SuiteWorld is NetSuite’s annual user and partner conference and has rapidly become the world’s number 1 conference on Cloud ERP.

B2BGateway has been NetSuite’s EDI partner since 2001 and provides NetSuite users with cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions. EDI can be defined as the structured transmission of electronic business data such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, inventory updates, etc., between organizations and removes the need to re-key data.

If you are attending SuiteWorld this May, make sure to drop by booth #305 and say hello to the B2BGateway team. Alternatively, you can attend the B2BGateway presentation on how to use EDI to improve your organization’s supply chain efficiencies in the Expo Hall on Tuesday May 17 at 4.15pm.

For further information on B2BGateway’s EDI solutions for NetSuite please visit http://b2bgateway.net/EDI-for-NetSuite.asp or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

B2BGateway and NetSuite: Conquering the Wholesale Distribution Marketplace

By Kevin Hoyle, CEO, B2BGateway.

B2BGateway and NetSuite first partnered way back in 2001, back when NetSuite was known as NetLedger and the term ‘cloud computing’ was not yet invented. Back then we just referred to the cloud as plain and simple, doing business over the internet! In the intervening 15+ years, the world of EDI and ERP has changed a great deal; many integrations now use web-services and CFO’s are actively seeking cloud based ERP systems such as NetSuite. These solutions provide instant anywhere ERP access, along with fully integrated EDI solutions, through cloud technology and they are both affordable and available to the masses.

Since B2BGateway became NetSuite’s EDI partner in 2001, the Wholesale Distribution market has evolved significantly. The traditional supply chain route of; manufacturer to wholesaler to box store retailer has been altered. Now, we have online shopping carts, multi-layered e-commerce stores and drop shipping where the retailer may never handle the goods. EDI technology has played a major part in automating and simplifying all e-commerce solutions. Take for example the EDI 846 transaction set or inventory inquiry document. The EDI 846 is used by Wholesale Distributors to communicate inventory levels to their trading partners. It has become particularly important for online retailers such as Amazon to have this information at hand, especially when drop shipping. Online retailers cannot reliably offer goods to consumers without having up to date inventory information from their distributors. Cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions can solve this problem by instantly sending electronic inventory updates from NetSuite to the trading partners.

Furthermore, many Wholesale Distributors are now outsourcing their warehouse and transportation needs to Third Party Logistics Providers (3PLs). By using the EDI 900 transaction set series, Wholesale Distributors can automate and communicate electronically with their 3PLs. Going beyond conventional EDI, NetSuite users can have their EDI 945 transaction sets (warehouse ship advice), received from the 3PL fulfill their transactions in NetSuite.

In Wholesale Distribution, margins are tight and getting tighter every day. Customers have choices of where they can purchase their products and the competition is always out there. Through better management of the warehouse, dead stock can be eliminated, items can be purchased that have better turn rates, and long lead time items can be better forecast. Wholesale Distributors can use EDI to optimize order entry, but they can also use EDI for Advanced Ship Notifications (ASNs), invoicing, creation of shipping labels and in some cases for ‘Just In Time’ (JIT) inventory processing and ‘Vendor Managed Inventory’ (VMI).

As we start 2016, more and more distributors are beginning to sell directly to consumers through e-commerce solutions such as NetSuite’s SuiteCommerce platform, Magento, Shopify, etc., and see it as an important driver for growth. Wholesale Distributors, whether they are very mature commodity businesses or young technology distributors, are facing the same challenges with respect to e-commerce. Essentially, an e-commerce company relies on a virtual storefront to sell goods and the distributor to fulfill the orders. In the past, Wholesale Distributors shipped to a B2B world of brick and mortar organizations. Generally, goods would be packaged in lots of dozens or grosses. Now with e-commerce the Wholesale Distribution business is beginning to cover both B2B and B2C (business to consumer) marketplaces, where the customer is buying in quantities of one or two. As such, product packaging has had to change and the methods of handling items are different for these reduced quantities.  

Further, e-commerce has substantially changed retail. In a Wall Street Journal article, Sarah Nasshauer describes that retail now has between 13 and 20 different seasons. We all know about Christmas, Halloween, Spring DIY season, but there are seasons like Storage and Organization in January, Allergy Season in late spring and Fall Gatherings (rakes and sweaters) in early October.  Wholesale Distribution needs to fulfill orders for these new seasonal demands, so they need technology to better manage their inventory and to be able to quickly handle orders and order changes. Wholesale Distributors need to be more nimble than ever in order to meet the changing needs of their customers.

NetSuite is a great product to use for managing a Wholesale Distribution organization. NetSuite has fantastic inbuilt functionality, but it also supports a complete eco-system of third party add-ons, such as B2BGateway’s fully integrated EDI (which can be found on the NetSuite SuiteApp platform). By continuously adding or improving third party applications and verifying their quality through verification processes such as ‘Built For NetSuite’, NetSuite can be assured their customers are getting the very best integrated cloud technology and market leading solutions.   

Read the full CIO Review magazine article here

B2BGateway offers organizations complete integration for all their communication needs.

B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI and automated supply chain solutions offer organizations complete integration with all their trading partners and business tools, regardless of market vertical served. Using B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI and data exchange technologies provides growing organizations with a complete ‘one stop shop’ approach to fulfilling all their communication needs.

B2BGateway offers complete supply chain automation solutions by providing full integration from the customers’ ERP solutions to Online Shopping Carts (Magento, Bigcommerce, 3dcart…), 3PL’s (Third Party Logistics), Online Marketplace (Amazon, Rakuten, Zappos...), Box Store Retailers (Walmart, CVS, Target…), Inventory Software Solutions (ACCTivate, Numbercruncher, Fishbowl), Manufacturers (Apple, Ford, Caterpillar…), Government and Financial Institutions.

To learn more about how B2BGateway’s complete communications solution removes the need for today’s modern organizations to have many, many separate solutions and touch points, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net    

B2BGateway helps gamers delight NZXT implement EDI for Acumatica

Company built upon gamer’s dreams implements international EDI provider solution to integrate with ERP system and exchange business documents electronically with trading partners. Read more here...

Dreamforce 2015: Dream or Nightmare?

I must admit, that being a Dreamforce virgin, I was quite apprehensive about attending this year’s Dreamforce show in San Francisco. To the uninitiated, Dreamforce is the annual Salesforce user and partner conference and this year over 170,000 people were registered to attend in downtown San Francisco. I have been to large shows many times before with up to 12,000-15,000 attendees, but Dreamforce is over tenfold this number. So much so that all hotels downtown were completely booked out and Salesforce had to hire a cruise ship to dock at one of the San Francisco piers for the week to provide additional accommodation to attendees.

With these kind of mind blowing numbers: How would we literally walk the floor? Is it possible to get lunch with so many people? Would the afterhours social scene, where we tend to do a lot of business, be impossible? Will it be possible to speak to anyone at their booths?

Unfortunately form the moment we signed up to attend, the signs seemed ominous – not a hotel room downtown to be had for love nor money. We ended up getting a hotel in Milbrae out by the airport. Next problem – how to get in and out of downtown from Milbrae? We hired a car but traffic on the 101 and the cost of parking was becoming a nightmare. However, once we landed and took up residency at our hotel we quickly realized that the car was superfluous to our needs and that the BART rail system would be more than adequate at a fraction of the cost of car hire and parking charges.

With the car dilemma over, things were quickly picking up. The BART system worked a dream for early morning starts and late night returns, the queues for practical functions such as registration, demonstrations and lunch were very comfortable. It was also a plus that the exhibition room floors were well laid out and extremely easy to follow with a lot of booths having their own private meeting rooms for more in-depth discussions.

At B2BGateway, due to the nature of our EDI solution which is predominantly used in Wholesale Distribution and Manufacturing markets, we found it more beneficial to meet the ERP and OMS partners that built their products on the Salesforce platform. It was wonderful to meet with such great organizations as FinancialForce.com, Rootstock, Ascent ERP, Kenandy, Sage and Accounting Seed.

Over the course of the week I must say our nightmare premonitions never came to fruition. The whole show for us was a complete dream and finishing it out with live performances by The Killers and The Foo Fighters was the icing on the cake. Here’s to Dreamforce 2016, hope to see you there!

If you would like to know more about how B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions can work with any ERP system built on the Salesforce platform please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net   

MYOB launches cloud based ERP system MYOB Advanced Down Under.

MYOB has leaped into cloud-based ERP with the launch of MYOB Advanced, a powerful business suite for mid to large sized companies.

MYOB Advanced is based on the US ERP Acumatica for which MYOB obtained an exclusive Asia Pacific license about a year and a half ago. In the meantime a team of developers in Auckland has localised the software’s tax module for GST and changing spelling to Australian English throughout.

MYOB Advanced sits above the AccountRight range and is intended as a cloud alternative to MYOB Exo. These two products are suited to companies with 30-250+ employees, according to the MYOB product chart.

MYOB Advanced is relatively affordable given the number of features at A$99 per user per month (NZ$109) for the entry-level Standard edition.

The Standard edition gives users access to all functions, while Plus (A$139) and Enterprise (A$179) add greater numbers of workflows and more licence types such as sales, warehouse, projects and finance.

Unlike cloud accounting software in the small business end of the spectrum, the Acumatica program makes no sacrifices in function. It has complex inventory management including multiple warehouses, sales and purchasing, accounting and general ledger and a CRM.

The platform is also highly customisable, best demonstrated by its mobile app which MYOB describes as a “player”. A company can decide which data from the ERP it wants to display in the mobile app and can tailor it to its own needs.

As with Acumatica, B2BGateway is a MYOB Advanced partner, offering users cloud based, fully integrated EDI and automated supply chain solutions. B2BGateway’s MYOB Advanced solutions allow users to communicate electronically with their trading partners and remove the need to key data, in turn reducing errors and hastening the ‘order to payment’ cash cycle. To find out more about B2BGateway’s EDI solutions for MYOB Advanced please email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Safety in the Cloud!

 

By Steve Kohler, VP Systems Development at B2BGateway

When our Director of Sales and Marketing asked me how one goes about Securing the Cloud, I thought it was an interesting subject, for certainly that depends on who you ask, what we mean by security, not to mention what you mean by “Cloud”.  In today’s rapidly evolving IT environment, Cloud security is something we should all be concerned with.  Organizations need to make sure their customer data is safe in the cloud, and end users (consumers) should be aware of what the cloud is and how it affects the assets they wish to protect.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology defines cloud computing as:
“Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”

The NIST also defines five essential characteristics that compose the Cloud model, three separate service models, and four deployment models.  The essential characteristics are On-demand self-service, Broad network access, Resource pooling, Rapid elasticity, and Measured service.  While the use of virtualization is not a specific requirement for the Cloud, it typically plays a key role in facilitating cloud offerings.  Multi-tenancy is another aspect of the cloud that is often treated as an integral component, although not part of the formal definition.

The Service Models

Software as a Service (SaaS). - Provides consumers with access to some service or application running on a cloud infrastructure.  The customer does not manage or control the underlying infrastructure such as network, servers, operating systems, or storage.  The customer has the ability to manage customized settings within the application only.

Platform as a Service (PaaS). – Consumers are granted access to an application hosting environment where they have the ability to deploy custom applications they create/acquire using tools/platforms supported by the provider. The customer does not manage or control the underlying infrastructure such as servers, operating systems, network, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and custom settings within those applications.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).  The consumer is able to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources.  This allows the customer the ability to deploy custom software such as operating systems and applications.  The customer does not manage or control the underlying infrastructure but can have access to networking interfaces such as firewalls.

The Deployment Models

Private cloud - The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization.  It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization or a third party, and it may exist on or off premises.

Community cloud - is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns. It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community or a third party, and it may exist on or off premises.

Public cloud - is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.

Hybrid cloud - is composed of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.

When we discuss security, we are usually concerned with Logical security and Physical security. 

Logical security protects data by utilizing software safeguards such as authentication methods, authorization, and ensuring user permission levels.  Common examples of this layer are:

·         A username and password combination that was assigned to access a network or shared resource.

·         Token based authentication - a user is able to generate a token such as a cryptographic hash that identifies the user and no password is actually shared as part of the authentication scheme. 

·         Two-way authentication - In addition to providing credentials or a token, the user must respond to a challenge presented by the system before gaining access to resources.  An example would be for the system to present a security question when the user is logging in from a new device or network.

Physical security is responsible for securing access to the infrastructure, datacenters, buildings, and other assets such as employees.  In addition to protecting against unauthorized access or damage by individuals, physical security should also address withstanding natural disasters, climate control and preventing accidental damage.

As you move down the cloud stack, the consumer becomes more responsible for implementing and managing security measures.  For example, an IaaS provider will secure the infrastructure, but it is up to the consumer to implement proper security measures in the operating systems and software they choose to host on the providers system.  At the top of the stack, Saas providers are responsible for the most as they must secure the infrastructure, as well as their networks and applications and provide strong logical security measures to protect customer data.  Regulatory compliance also comes into play, especially when dealing with credit card, healthcare, and financial data (PCI, HIPAA, SOX).

When assets or infrastructure are moved off premise into the cloud, the consumer must make sure that their Cloud Service Provider has adequate Physical controls in place, as well as logical controls to mitigate potential threats that might emerge.  Monitoring of Logs for example, becomes difficult if not impossible when using a Saas provider since the server logs will most likely not be available to the consumer, and contain information for multiple customers. 

Some potential threats present in a cloud environment not found in a traditional datacenter have to do with Virtualization and Multi-Tenancy.  Resource pooling on a virtual machine host increases the risk for noisy neighbors and resource contention.  A guest OS handling high I/O and CPU workload for one Customer could result in poor performance for other guest OS’s, creating a denial of service scenario for the affected Customers.  Attacks against the hypervisor are also on the rise, if a guest OS maliciously attacks and compromises the Host, the other resident guests are now at risk of being compromised.  It is critical to make sure the Cloud Service Provider has adequate security zones (virtual networks, vlans) configured per Tenant and that they adhere to best practices when updating their virtual infrastructure to ensure a secure environment. 

As companies move their data to the cloud to take advantage of the time and cost savings, a comprehensive risk assessment should be made on the assets being moved so that proper Monitoring and Incident response plans can be crafted to deal with potential breaches.  Encryption of data at Rest (at the cloud provider site) and in Motion (data travelling to and from the CSP) are also key elements that can increase a Secure Posture when dealing with a Cloud Provider.  SLA’s should address what logs consumers will have access to in the event of a compromise, as well as detail specific counter measures being taken to mitigate threats to the data.  Cloud offerings hold tremendous reward for Companies in terms of reducing overall expenditures and time savings , but there is also risk as control over assets is passed on to another organization and out of immediate physical control.  Proper vetting of Service providers and adherence to Industry standards are crucial to maximize return.

To learn more about B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI solutions, and how we protect your data in the cloud please call +1 401 491 9595 / +353 61 708533 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

B2BGateway and Acumatica partner to deliver best of breed cloud based EDI and supply chain solutions to Acumatica users.

B2BGateway, a leading global EDI and automated supply chain solution provider, and Acumatica, the cloud ERP, have partnered to deliver Acumatica users the best in breed in cloud based EDI technology.
 
Acumatica is a leading provider of cloud ERP applications that empower SMBs to stay competitive. Born in the cloud, Acumatica’s browser-based Cloud ERP software offers many choices in deployment, licensing, integration, and customization.
 
Today EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has become a standard business requirement in wholesale distribution, manufacturing, retail, automotive and ecommerce industries. By having B2BGateway’s fully integrated EDI solution, Acumatica users can now connect seamlessly with online retailers such as Amazon, eCommerce platforms such as Magento, box store retailers such as Walmart and third party logistics providers (3PL). In essence B2BGateway provides a ‘one stop’ solution that can cater for any organizations omni channel logistical and supply chain needs.

For further information on how B2BGateway can further help you automate your organizations supply chain processes with Acumatica call +1 401 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Will EDI work with 'Cloud' based ERP systems?

Question: Roger, we are considering switching our current on-premise ERP solution to a new cloud-based ERP solution. Will this affect our capabilities to continue doing EDI with our trading partners?

Answer: The short answer is no, it should not. At B2BGateway we have been providing fully-integrated EDI solutions for the leading cloud-based ERP providers such as NetSuite and Sage ERP X3 for over a decade. However, like everything else, you will need to do your homework to see if the new cloud-based ERP system you are considering is EDI capable. I would advise finding out the following:

·         Is the new ERP system fully cloud-based, or is it a hosted online version of a current on-premises ERP product?

·         Does the ERP system have both import and export functionality?

·         Will you need to purchase additional EDI modules/connectors from the cloud ERP vendor?

·         Is your current EDI provider capable of working with and integrating the new cloud based ERP solution? If not, are there other third party EDI providers on the market who can work with the new product?

·         Does the cloud-based ERP vendor currently have clients and partners using EDI with their system and can you get references?

I would also go to online sites such as LinkedIn to see are there any user groups for the new ERP system. You could post a question amongst users to see if any are currently using EDI and to get their recommendations. For further information on B2BGateway’s EDI solutions, including solutions for cloud-based ERP systems, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Roger Leyden is the European Sales & Marketing Director with B2BGateway