“Knock knock!

Who's There?

Opportunity.

Opportunity Who?

Does it Matter? Just Open Up!”

It’s fairly well documented that EDI and automated B2B processes can save money over manual, paper-based transactions. But just how much money are buyers and suppliers paying per EDI transaction, and are there ways to cut costs?

The subject of whether XML will replace EDI was a hot topic a decade or so ago. Although its use has skyrocketed over the years, XML has never supplanted EDI and most likely never will. The question was actually was actually a silly one to begin with, and seems even sillier now that we have the perspective of having used both of them over a number of years. It’s primarily an academic question anyway, since having the opportunity to make a choice between them is relatively rare.

Yes, I have talked about this subject before. Yes, I will talk about it again. WHY! Because a successful EDI program can only happen when EDI,  IT and their stakeholders all are in harmony.

A serious condition is spreading like fireweed across corporate America. The symptoms include glazed-over eyes, droopy shoulders, cramped hands, aversion to natural lighting, and a permanent butt print in your office chair. This condition is called Corporate Zombie Syndrome.  It can strike when one spends far more time looking at a computer than not, or hasn’t talked to a real coworker—except through WebEx meetings—in months. But don’t worry, there is a simple cure that can alleviate these symptoms and get you out of your Corporate Zombie state. That cure is to Get Out There!

Are you proactive or reactive in your work and personal life? Think about your career. Do you jump on tasks as they pop up, putting out fires as you go? Now consider your weekend. Do you wait until plans come to you, or do you make plans to ensure that you are having the kind of free time that you want with family and friends?

Over the last twenty years, gains in technology have allowed many doors to open that were previously impenetrable such as instant worldwide communication, data transfer, and begun the road to a true worldwide marketplace. This explosion has not left the EDI department alone but has instead flung that proverbial door wide open so many different functional areas within an organization are intimately tied to the global EDI process.

Why do some companies outsource their EDI processes? The same question could be asked about HR, payroll, manufacturing, and any other process that’s been shipped elsewhere. The answer you’d probably expect to hear would be ‘cost savings’, but is that the whole story, or do other factors enter into the equation?

How do you like it when the boss let's you know that the EDI team has an important piece of a big, highly visible project that may take up a lot of your time? Do you see it as a major disruption of your work, an inconvenience you'll deal with reluctantly, or as a wonderful opportunity? As someone whose team went through several, I come down firmly on the side of responding to it as a chance to not only show 'em what you've got, but to also learn a little something.

Business intelligence / analytics coupled with data aggregation are not new terms. They have depended directly on the business system (like SAP) hence indirectly on the EDI system. They go back before EDI: a lot of them were once called “Decision Support Systems”. I wanted to find one that did all this and was directly tied into an EDI system, but I didn't have one in mind. Then I “ran into” one in a “Webinar” sponsored by Loren Data.