As you’re probably aware, EDI was created by Standards Bodies (such as ANSI
& UN/EDIFACT to name a few) whose charge is the continual change and
expansion of the transactions sets we use every day to accommodate the needs of
global businesses to do business. The nice thing about Standards (in general)
is that they “level the playing field” for any business that needs to send
transactional data electronically between their Trading Partners. In essence,
this means that whether you’re a huge Retailer or small Supplier, the adoption
and use of EDI makes you all equal (at least in the ability to communicate -
ie: speak the same business language). An EDI Order sent by BigBoxMart is
readily received and processed by Bob’s Widget’s on the PC in his garage.
Bottom line, Bob gets the order essentially the same way his “many times
larger” competitor does. And that’s a good thing.
Now, these days, the “paths” taken by these transactions (as they make their
way from the sender to the receiver) are many. Some customers (and their
suppliers) have adopted direct connections between them that, one would hope,
make economic and operational sense for both parties. Traditionally, EDI
documents have been sent and received through “public Value-Added-Networks
(VANS), much the same way as our global telephone system works. When you pick
up the phone and make a call, you don’t question (or care) how many “phone
companies” or “paths” the call needs to take, just that the call goes through
(I know, I sound like a Verizon ad!).
Businesses use these VANs to simplify their own communications infrastructure.
Send all of your data to one place and the VAN will separate it and deliver it
to the intended receiver. Just like the post office. And, just like the post
office, a fee is charged for this service. For its fees, the VAN reduces the
communications workload on each party. And, since I believe there’s “no free
lunch”, you “trade” the VAN cost for the cost of implementing and running your
own internal communications network. Which one works best for either party is
dependant on volume of data, number of “connections”, availability of internal
resources, and many other factors.
What troubles me recently concerns “forced communications relationships”. A
Customer dictates to his vendor the preferred “Routing” the transmission needs
to take, often at the expense of the receiving party (ie, the supplier). This
means that the receiving party needs to “subscribe” to (yet another)
third-party service, and change his internal operations to route traffic for
“just this customer to just this provider”. And, of course, there are extra
charges for this “preferential treatment”, some of which can be substantially.
Now, often times these “relationships” are entered into (by the guy with the
big stick) in a well-meaning way in an attempt to provide “ease of use” or
“improved security” for the delivery of documents. But honestly, today, the
bottom line is that EDI and EDI communications is a mature methodology. All the
VANs that exist do a good job of delivering your data in a timely, secure
fashion. Rarely do we see “dropped transmissions” or data being mis- delivered.
Whether each VAN has a “value-add” that makes the choice of one versus another,
is simply a subjective one. VANs know how to get the document from sender to
receiver, just as the phone companies know how to “route” the call. Plus they
do a better job of not “dropping the call”.
Our strong position is for the continual use of Standards and the freedom of
choice of communications connectivity. Much like each party get to pick their
own telephone or Internet provider, so too should you be able to choose EDI
communications providers. Time, superior service, and attractive pricing will
dictate who survives and who doesn’t. We support your “right to choose” and
will lobby the guy with “the big stick” to see that our position is the right
one, which benefits all parties equally.
In this issue we’re previewing a new Alliance Partner. B to B Visions
(www.btobvisions.com) of Ramsey, New Jersey has partnered with Digital Movers
to provide high-quality VAN connectivity at a lower cost to their customers. B
to B Visions are resellers for, and have expertise in Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS
200 ERP accounting systems, as well as expertise in EDI Integration and
shipping solutions for those software packages. They’ve recognized, as our
customers have, that our solutions provide no- nonsense, industrial-strength
capabilities together with very cost-effective pricing. The market for these
types of services continues to expand and evolve and we, Digital Movers,
continue to be on the leading edge of these Services. Through improved
technologies, we provide high quality EDI services at lower costs to our
customers.
In October we also had yet another reason to celebrate; we just processed our
fourteen millionth transaction!! We want to extend a very large ‘Thank you’ to
our loyal customers, many of whom have been with us for many years. We’ll
continue to earn your business every day and provide you with the best in
E-Commerce services and support.
As always, feel free to email me your comments or thoughts at
kkonikowski@dmovers.com. Thank you again for your business.
Ken Konikowski President & CEO Digital Movers, LLC
