Coty is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of personal fragrances, including Stetson, Jennifer Lopez and the new Celine Dion line. Although its products center around beauty, its EDI network was less than pretty.

Coty had been relying on private dial-up connections to its value-added network (VAN) service for electronically communicating purchase orders, invoices and EDI documents to its major retail customers. The dial-up links were costly, slow and unreliable. When Wal-Mart, one of Coty’s prime customers, adopted AS2-compliant EDI and said its suppliers had six weeks to follow suit, the company knew it was time to upgrade and fast.

AS2, developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is an industry-standard specification for securely exchanging electronic documents between businesses over the Internet using the hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP). The AS2 interoperability specification defines the use of recognized security standards, such as HTTP/S, PKI encryption technology and digital certificates, to connect, deliver and validate information exchanges. With AS2, organizations can confidently send their secure EDI transactions over the Internet, enabling them to drop costly VANs and private networks.

In addition to Wal-Mart, Coty had four other high-volume customers interested in electronically communicating using the AS2 standard. After reviewing the alternatives, Coty chose the iSoft Commerce Suite solution as its AS2 EDI foundation.

"With flawless information flow required on transaction volumes of over one million per year, we required a high-performance solution with proven reliability and robust management capabilities," said Bob Beachler, manager of logistics technology at Coty. "When making a buying decision, we chose a solution we could trust with our best customers." The fact that Wal-Mart was also using iSoft further cemented the deal, he said.

In less than a month, Coty had implemented the new EDI network, tested it and gone into production mode with its five major customers. Now, a year later, the company is processing between 40% and 45% of its EDI volume – about 1.5 million transactions a year – over the Internet.

Beachler estimated that the new EDI network has reduced communications costs by about 10% to 20% per month and said the system has nearly paid for itself. Coty has also realized other benefits including shortened cycle times through real-time transmission of documents, immediate notification of receipt, earlier receipt of orders and an increase in forecasting frequency.

For more information on iSoft Commerce Suite, visit iSoft here.