When GXS asked AMR Research to judge its 2007 Global Customer Awards, we took advantage of the opportunity to get further insight into how companies are implementing their B2B strategies. The criteria used to determine the award winners, detailed below, is a good yardstick for measuring progress.

Global Customer Awards are presented to companies that can demonstrate the best use of GXS technology and services in three areas: increasing the rate of B2B e-commerce automation, enhancing supply chain visibility, and accelerating the growth of multienterprise collaboration in a global supply chain. A fourth award, important to note as companies are increasingly moving to a managed-services model for B2B enablement, recognizes a company that uses outsourced services for competitive advantage.

Finding the best among sophisticated users of enterprise technologies and services is difficult, so it was not without some regret that there could only be four winners among the entrants. These companies all exemplified the significant value that B2B communications, along with close collaborative relationships with trading partners, can bring to the supply chain.

Here's a look at six companies that have made significant progress in their efforts to implement B2B technologies across their trading communities.

Measuring effectiveness, sustainability, and trading community benefits

To pick the top companies, AMR Research analysts used criteria that best reflect the difficulties clients are dealing with as they move forward on their B2B initiatives.

The five areas evaluated were as follows:

    * Value-This area considered the level of quantifiable value received for B2B deployments. Initiatives that drove profitable growth, not just cost reduction, were given special consideration.

    * Scope of the B2B deployment-Scope refers to the level of integration reached within the enterprise and among the trading community.

    * Scale of the B2B deployment-Scale means the geographic reach of the initiative and number of trading partners involved.

    * Value created for the extended trading community-The value area encompasses the extent to which B2B initiatives were designed and implemented to create reciprocal value for all partners participating.

    * Demand driven-The demand-driven criterion measured how B2B technology is used to support demand-driven business models by creating greater transparency of information and speedier, more efficient translation of signals from demand sources to supply.

Based on these criteria, we selected the following four companies as the best in their respective categories:

International Post Corporation-for accelerating the growth of multienterprise collaboration in a global supply chain.

Panasonic-for enhancing supply chain visibility.

Tesco-for increasing B2B automation.

PepsiAmericas-for best use of B2B outsourcing for competitive advantage.

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