GXS Managed Services for Financial Institutions

Overview
Features

Benefits

Overview

GXS Managed Services provides you with a wide range of services for B2B integration including map development, new implementations, program management, systems integration and call center support. Managed Services free you from the constant concern and risk of configuring, monitoring and managing the electronic transactions with external entities. The B2B experts at GXS have been providing e-commerce management for 25 years and bring best practice business processes to your company and to your business partners.

File & Messaging Services

The foundation to the GXS solution is a suite of file and messaging services.  The messaging services enable you to exchange information associated with banking, insurance or securities transactions with your clients, partners and suppliers.  GXS gives you the flexibility to exchange information in a variety of file format, network protocols, and security standards.

  • Network Protocol Mediation—GXS supports a wide variety of network protocols including Internet protocols such as SMTP, FTP/S, HTTP/S, AS2 and AS3; proprietary middleware and application formats such as SAP ALE and IBM MQ Series; and legacy mainframe or dial-up protocols such as SNA, Async and Bisync.
  • File and Message Transmission—GXS can transmit information to your business partners in any file format.  Data can simply pass-through the GXS infrastructure unchanged or files can be translated from external file formats to your in-house application file structures. 
  • File Types—GXS can process both structured and unstructured data files.  Structured data such as payment instructions, account statements, insurance claims and securities orders can be transmitted in SWIFT, ACORD, FIX, EDI, XML, SAP, Oracle or other formats.  Unstructured documents such as images of cleared checks or health care explanations of benefits can be transmitted as TIFF, GIF, ZIP, TAR or other file formats.
  • Corporate Security Standards—GXS supports a variety of popular B2B security standards.  As a result you will be able to comply with your corporate clients' preferred security model.  Supported standards include Entrust, PGP, Compress, and AUTACK.

GXS has undertaken a multi-million dollar project to improve the reliability, performance and scalability of its infrastructure.  Advantages of the new technical architecture include:

  • Reliability—GXS maintains a leading edge business continuity program that ensures resiliency in the event of an application, system or hardware failure. Three world-class data centers are the foundation of a redundant global infrastructure that includes Linux-based blade servers, mirrored RAID disk drives, clustered database systems, and uninterruptible power systems. GXS utilizes multi-data center failover connections to provide you and your clients the highest levels of business continuity.  As a result, you can satisfy regulatory requirements for continuity of operations in periods of four hours, two hours or less.
  • Scalability—GXS provides a robust global B2B integration platform that supports over four billion transactions exchanged between over 200,000 businesses around the world annually.  The GXS architecture is built upon utility computing principles.  Additional capacity can be provisioned rapidly to meet growing transaction volumes.
  • Performance—GXS utilizes best-of-breed, service-oriented technology to deliver high performance capabilities to you and your clients around the world. Compared to legacy mainframe applications, GXS file and messaging services offer substantially higher capacity and throughput.  As a result, you can satisfy the most demanding service level agreements.

Implementation Services

GXS has the skills and resources to on-board your clients, partners and suppliers regardless of their size, location or technology proficiency.  B2B implementations are a core competency at GXS.  We conduct approximately 10,000 customer migrations and implementations annually all over the world.  Advantages of GXS approach to new client implementations include:

  • Trading Grid Network —GXS is a leading provider of B2B e-commerce to both small and large businesses.  Corporations in the financial services, automotive, high tech, consumer products, pharmaceutical and retail sectors use our Trading Grid every day to exchange thousands of electronic documents.  GXS Managed Services is integrated with the Trading Grid, providing you with immediate electronic access to a global network of businesses around the world.  Because over 75% of Fortune 500 corporations are on the Trading Grid already, chances are high that your clients are already connected to GXS. 
  • Local Implementation and Support— GXS has operations in 18 different countries as well as joint ventures or distributors in another 15 regions.  As a result, GXS can help you implement a new customer nearly anywhere in the world. GXS provides technical support in 20 languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

 

GXS takes a multi-phased approach to each implementation consisting of three primary steps:

  • Requirements Gathering—As part of the pre-sales process, GXS will help your company outline the components, requirements and timing for your B2B program. Scoping efforts include process and support, technical design, and complete project requirements.
  • Technical Configuration—Based upon business requirements captured, GXS will design, develop and test the necessary data translation maps, file transfer scripts and data enrichment services to support your B2B program.
  • Production Deployment—Each customer deployment is conducted via a well-defined change control process. Functional verification is ensured through a battery of unit and system level tests. Once deployed, GXS continually monitors the environment during a stabilization period to ensure success.

Map Development Services

GXS can map client file formats to and from your in-house proprietary banking applications.  GXS has a Mapping Center of Excellence with over 175 mapping professionals. GXS can quickly and effectively deliver high quality maps to ensure you exceed your client requirements.

Advantages of GXS mapping services include:

  • Breadth of Formats—GXS supports a wide variety of e-commerce formats and protocols. Supported EDI formats include regional standards such as EDIFACT, ANSI X.12, EAIJ and Tradacoms. GXS can map to and from vertical industry specific XML standards such as RosettaNet, VDA, CIDX, PIDX and ebXML. GXS also has extensive experience mapping file formats for popular ERP systems such as SAP, Microsoft and Oracle (including Peoplesoft, Retek and JD Edwards).  GXS can map into the file formats of your in-house product applications or to popular financial formats such as SWIFT, BAI, ACH or other local financial standards.
  • Complex Mapping—GXS supports a variety of complex mapping scenarios including merging of information from multiple electronic documents into one; splitting of content from one file into multiple documents and reorganizing content within one file.  Additionally, data can be modified, augmented or omitted using conditional logic, database inquiry or external application interface.
  • Mapping Technology—GXS mapping services are based upon our award winning, any-to-any mapping and translation server, Application Integrator™ (AI). AI delivers world-class translation performance through an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface. GXS has used this technology to put over 200 different document types into production, across a broad range of B2B formats and protocols.

GXS follows a well-defined, multi-phase process for developing maps.  The two primary phases are:

  • Map Development— GXS will gather requirements by outlining and documenting business needs directly related to your e-commerce environment.  Based upon the unique business requirements of your business process and application data structures, map specifications are designed and developed.
  • Testing and Deployment—After development, all maps are put through unit and system testing for quality assurance. Maps are tested using sample data to ensure proper functionality.  Once maps are in production, GXS will perform on-going change management based on new business requirements.

Benefits of Managed Services

GXS Managed Services can enable you to differentiate the quality of service provided to your clients, channels and partners through improved:

  • Flexibility of Delivery—GXS can increase the level of flexibility you can offer business partners for integration. Through GXS you can offer your partners the freedom to use their preferred data network protocols, security standards, and file formats.
  • Speed of Delivery—GXS can accelerate timeframes for new B2B projects. Rapid implementation enables you to quickly migrate off more expensive, legacy platforms with faster access to new capabilities.
  • Quality of Delivery—Through best practices and deep expertise, GXS can reduce the number of setup and post-implementation challenges you will experience.
  • Performance and Capacity—GXS best-in-class technical infrastructure enables much faster throughput and higher capacity than typical in-house systems.  As a result, you have the flexibility to meet even the most demanding service level agreements.

GXS Managed Services offers advantages to your organization:

  • Cost Advantages—Leveraging a hosted solution managed by GXS can enable you to retire expensive legacy systems such as mainframe-based client file gateways and modem-based dial-up telecommunications infrastructure.  In you are running multiple B2B gateways the cost advantages may be even more significant as duplicate systems can be consolidated onto the GXS infrastructure.  Lower operating costs enable more competitive pricing and higher gross margins for your product line.
  • Focus on Core Competencies—GXS Managed Services can simplify the day-to-day operations of groups across the organization including product management, client delivery and information technology.  Offloading non-core functions enables you to redeploy resources on higher value business projects.
  • Extensibility to other Product Lines—The GXS Managed Services solution can be extended to other business units or product lines.  GXS can be used as a shared service model that the cash management, insurance, trade, lending, cards, securities and foreign exchange divisions within your institution can leverage.