Crossgate pioneered a cloud-based solution for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), transforming traditional, high-cost integration methods that required individual configurations for each supplier, especially within SAP systems. This innovative approach streamlined operations and significantly reduced costs.
As part of the leadership team expanding Crossgate's footprint in the U.S., I joined as Interactive Marketing Director to modernize the company's digital presence and marketing assets. My role quickly evolved to focus on global marketing strategy, where I aligned Crossgate’s brand and messaging to appeal to an international audience, culminating in my promotion to Marketing Director.
In 2011, Crossgate’s innovative solutions and strong market positioning led to its acquisition by SAP.
With the company’s headquarters in Germany, much of the marketing was initially tailored for the German market. As Crossgate expanded across Europe and the U.S., it became clear that the brand needed a cohesive global strategy. This required not just a visual refresh but a strategic alignment to appeal across cultures and markets.
I spearheaded the effort to redefine Crossgate's brand identity, taking into account the broader SAP ecosystem we were targeting. By introducing a unified, modernized visual language—colors, imagery, and messaging—we created a more universal appeal. Though the website was built on Typo3, I leveraged the existing platform for efficiency while focusing on delivering strategic updates that aligned the company with its international growth objectives.
Global Marketing Strategy: Led the development and execution of a global marketing strategy, ensuring Crossgate’s brand messaging resonated across diverse international markets, including the U.S., UK, France, and Italy.
Website and Collateral Modernization: Directed the redesign of Crossgate’s website and marketing collateral, giving the company a modern, cohesive visual identity to support its global expansion efforts.
Brand Positioning: Aligned Crossgate’s brand positioning to appeal to both existing SAP clients and new markets, focusing on Crossgate’s innovative approach to cloud-based EDI solutions.
Stakeholder Communication: Simplified complex technical messages for broader market appeal, working closely with internal teams and external partners to ensure consistency in communications.
Post-Acquisition Integration: Played a critical role in aligning Crossgate’s marketing efforts with SAP’s broader corporate strategy after the acquisition, ensuring a smooth transition and continued brand growth.
I was responsible not only for the design of the website, but for the information architecture. The updated website put "Business Value" as its first link on the horizontal menu. Potential customers were always asking us that, so we made it the first link. The German-made website put the explanation of the services first, followed by reference customers. I used customer feedback to arrange and prioritize the links.
Since this was a marketing role, most of my time was spend working with customers. This meant speaking with current customers and setting up inbound marketing programs to acquire new customers. The website was my main tool for generating leads. I had setup funnels and used webinars, download and contact forms to gather potential leads. I connected our lead generation directly to SalesForce for our sales team.
Eventually this growth paid off and Crossgate was acquired by SAP. I was integrated into the SAP marketing team where I helped with the transition and coordination of the Crossgate global marketing teams. Crossgate Business Ready Network became SAP Information Interchange OnDemand.
At SAP my role was split between marketing and sales engineering. Supporting sales and new members of the team who needed to better understand the business. One of the first projects was to coordinate the production of a 2-minute explainer video. The rest is history.
