Case Anttila_eng.indd

Customer case: Anttila
Safe, familiar EDI handles
Anttila’s orders
The Anttila department store knows that EDI (electronic data
interchange) is still the most reliable way to transmit data when the
company orders larger amounts of products from its suppliers. EDI is
also spreading to other parts of Europe, which is good news for the
future of EDI messaging and for its development.
“Whenever we get a major new
supplier, we check to see if the
company is equipped for EDI”, says
Satu Koskinen, Chief Information
Officer at Anttila. Anttila has used
Tieto’s EDI service since 1994. Order
and invoice messages are sent to
and from suppliers as a matter of
routine with EDI. ”But we still have
potential to expand the use of
EDI, especially with slightly smaller
suppliers”, adds Ms Koskinen.
EDI is used not only for placing
orders but also by return post
for confirmation of orders, and
for delivery note information and
invoices. ”It’s sensible to transmit as
much data as possible between us
and our suppliers along the same
channel”, says Matti Akselin,
Senior Systems Designer at Anttila.
EDI continues to grow
”EDI is going strong today. Food
manufacturers, wholesalers and
logistics companies make extensive
use of EDI. The number of messages
passing through the data service
has exceeded the one billion a year
mark”, says Sales Director Nina
Juneja from Tieto Value Networks
business unit.
”The commissioning of EDI systems
is usually problem free since EDI has
been tested so many times”, adds
Project Manager Sirpa Ahonen
from the same unit. The data
content of EDI messages is regularly
improved, and global versions are
made of the messages, for use
at a company’s units operating in
different countries, for example.
The changes to the data content
are often related to changes in
the processing of payments or to
making additions to the content,
since different suppliers need
different sorts of information on their
orders.
EDI does not usually run
into problems
EDI usually functions without a hitch,
once the connection has been set
up between the customer placing
orders and the supplier.
“Data transfer may slow down a
little when order messages are sent
abroad, but that is not the fault of
EDI”, says Matti Akselin, Senior
Systems Designer, who has been
responsible with Sirpa Ahonen at
Tieto for Anttila’s EDI system since
the 1990s.
”Cooperation has been extremely
smooth. The fact that our EDI
contact at Tieto has been the
same person for many years has
been a real benefit for us. We value
her expertise”, states CIO Satu
Koskinen.
Anttila has mainly used EDI with its
For further information, please contact:
Nina Juneja, [email protected] • www.tieto.com/fvc
CIO Satu Koskinen,
Anttila Oy:
”It’s a good thing that EDI is
developed, but fortunately
new versions aren’t released
too often. EDI’s strong points
are that it is familiar, reliable
and stays the same, and that
commissioning is simple.”
Customer case: Anttila
suppliers in Finland, but nowadays
it sends electronic orders to other
countries as well, in particular
to Sweden and Germany. Sales
figures and volumes sold are
monitored daily. Purchase orders
from Anttila’s department stores, the
Kodin Ykkönen home and interior
décor stores, and online netAnttila,
altogether 40 department stores,
are sent as EDI messages from
a centralised location, to a large
extent automatically. EDI is also
used for data transmission with
other partners: Transport messages
are sent to Itella and information
about forwarding is exchanged with
Keslog.
New logistics centre in
Kerava
Anttila also makes efficient use of
EDI for the reception of invoices.
”We receive genuine e-invoices,
conventional EDI invoices and
e-invoices that have been converted
from EDI. Genuine e-invoices are
forwarded to Tieto’s e-invoice
service, Invoice Center”, states
Mr Akselin and continues: ”Since
switching to e-invoices requires a
relatively small investment and gives
many benefits, suppliers have been
changing over to it at a brisk pace.
E-invoices account for well over 50
per cent of all of Anttila’s invoicing.”
A new logistics centre is being
built for Anttila in Kerava that will
be completed in 2011. ”The new
logistics centre will not alter the
order process. Goods will still be
ordered through EDI”, reveals Ms
Koskinen.
Customer
Anttila has altogether 40 department stores in different parts of
Finland: Anttila department stores, Kodin Ykkönen home and interior
décor stores and netAnttila. Kalle Anttila established his first mail order
company back in 1952. The first discount department store opened
two years later in Sörnäinen, Helsinki. Kesko acquired Anttila in 1996.
The challenge
Huge number of order and invoice messages in Finland and abroad,
changes to data content.
Tieto’s solution
Wide ranging use of EDI, also used for receiving invoices.
Results
EDI functions without a hitch, orders and invoices reach their
destinations.
www.anttila.fi/in_brief.html
For further information, please contact:
Nina Juneja, [email protected] • www.tieto.com/fvc
CIO Satu Koskinen and
Matti Akselin, Senior
Systems Designer, at Anttila are
happy that EDI functions reliably
in data transfer and does not
change too much over the years.