What does Quyntess do?
Quyntess helps companies simplify collaboration with their external business partners. We all live in a world where we have our own systems and processes. The same applies to our business partners. If you don't address this, you risk that the complexity increases with every new relationship. We help you simplify and manage relationships through a central network.

How did the idea for founding the company come about?
The idea for founding Quyntess arose from our experiences in supply chain planning and advanced planning/scheduling. We observed that customers were losing much of their potential savings due to challenges in implementing their plans within the supply chain. This frustration motivated us to start the company.

We also observed that companies struggled to reconcile different approaches in dealing with their external partners, a challenge we termed “externally induced waste.” We realized that we could eliminate much of this waste by providing them with a central platform for collaboration with external partners.

What types of companies do you typically work with?
We typically work with large manufacturing companies that have multiple factories across different countries and work with hundreds or even thousands of suppliers. These organizations often have a highly heterogeneous IT landscape with multiple ERP systems and various warehouse management solutions. Our role is to simplify collaboration within this ecosystem.

Why was it beneficial for Quyntess to develop applications on Tradeshift?
When we founded Quyntess, our solution was based on a portal concept, which effectively meant developing for a single enterprise customer. This approach presented several challenges, especially with onboarding so-called long-tail suppliers. By migrating Quyntess to the Tradeshift platform and leveraging the Tradeshift network, we significantly increased both the speed and depth of supplier onboarding processes for our customers. We are also excited about the potential of the partnership between Tradeshift and HSBC. Looking ahead, there is a real opportunity to eliminate friction in payment and getting paid by offering payment services through the Tradeshift platform.

How aware are companies of the problems Quyntess addressess with its solutions?
Companies are aware of the challenges they face when collaborating with their supply chain partners. However, many have been dealing with these issues for so long that they have come to accept them as an unchangeable fact of doing business.

Many have also had negative experiences with failed EDI integration projects or low supplier onboarding rates on supplier portals. It takes time for them to fully understand the value of a network and platform as a solution to this problem. Finally, some companies may feel that increased transparency in these matters is too much like airing their “dirty laundry” in public.

What risks do companies face if they do not address these problems directly?
The risk lies in disruptions to supply chain operations. This can include delayed deliveries, last-minute searches for transportation, and numerous ad-hoc actions to keep operations running. Companies often try to hedge this risk by extending lead times or increasing inventory levels. However, due to rising interest rates, this strategy has become increasingly costly. In addition, companies face the risk of their products becoming obsolete.

Volatility has been a major issue in supply chains in recent years. Is that still the case today?
During the pandemic, we saw about three times as many change orders as usual. Although the number has decreased since then, volatility has not yet returned to normal. Currently, about 10% of orders are changed by the buyer and 30% by the seller. Our customers do not expect these figures to drop significantly in the near future. Typically, the solutions companies use to manage volatility require significant manual effort and are not scalable. One of the key advantages companies gain from the Tradeshift network effect is the ability to cover their entire supply chain—not just 20% of their strategic suppliers, which is usually the upper limit with most other approaches.

Which factors, such as cost savings and efficiency gains, play a role in your conversations with customers?
Kunden schauen zunächst oft auf potenzielle Effizienzsteigerungen und administrative Kosteneinsparungen, die relativ gut dokumentiert und vorhersehbar sind. Zusammen mit der Tradeshift-Plattform können wir unseren Kunden eine Rendite ihrer Investitionen innerhalb von sechs bis neun Monaten garantieren.
Das Wertversprechen geht jedoch viel tiefer und umfasst auch qualitativere Aspekte des Procure-to-Pay-Prozesses. Zu diesen Maßnahmen gehören beispielsweise die Steigerung der Kundenzufriedenheit und -bindung oder die Reduzierung der Anzahl von Qualitätsbeanstandungen. Dies sind oft sehr sensible Themen, die daher selten im ersten Business Case für die Lösung auftauchen, aber nach der Einführung der Lösung regelmäßig in den kontinuierlichen Verbesserungszyklen eine Rolle spielen.

A word that keeps coming up in our conversations is 'change'. Can you explain what you mean by that?
The fundamental changes we are referring to are fluctuations at the line-item level of orders. These changes generally occur in three forms: delivery dates, quantities, and prices. Approximately 10% of these changes originate from the buyer. On average, suppliers actively respond to about 30% of these change requests—the remaining 70% are simply ignored. So if you need a new delivery date from a supplier, in three out of four cases you are essentially left in the dark.

We also regularly observe that companies operate using outdated pricing data. This can cause chaos and a lot of extra work when an invoice arrives with a price you did not expect.

What is the typical journey companies take with Quyntess?
To respond to changing circumstances, companies follow the “Crawl, Walk, Run” principle. In the Crawl phase, they gain an overview of changes and unexpected events in their supply chain. In the Walk phase, they analyze these occurrences and work to prevent disruptions from happening again. This might mean looking for ways to re-engage suppliers or identifying a master data issue that is causing disruptions. From here, you can start to truly improve the process and make it more resilient. In the Run phase, companies leverage what they have learned to set themselves apart from their competitors.

How do you see your offering evolving in the future? What excites you about it?
We have access to a large dataset containing millions of historical exceptions. In addition, we know whether the decisions made were successful, since we also know their outcomes. We are exploring how AI can assist employees managing these exceptions, enabling them to make decisions in real time. We believe AI has the potential to automate around 90% of these decisions, making the process significantly more efficient and accurate.