EDI Service
An EDI service can describe any thing that
an outside organization does for your company with
regards to EDI. Generally an EDI service refers to:
- EDI service bureau
- EDI implementation consultants
- EDI service VAN
EDI Service Bureaus usually work with very small companies
or companies who have a need to do business with a larger
company via EDI but whose trading volumes are too small
to justify investment in EDI software. EDI service bureaus
are common in the retail value chain where suppliers
to retailers are mandated to do EDI. Since many suppliers
are small, they turn to EDI service bureaus to satisfy
this requirement. Essentially, the small supplier desires
an EDI service so they can focus on the business at hand
and not build knowledge around a non-core process. EDI
service bureaus can be expensive and cumbersome as EDI
volumes increase, but they are a good initial option
for companies unfamiliar with EDI and that have a low
transaction volume.
When a company outgrows the EDI service bureau, or when
it decides to purchase EDI software, it may be advisable
to employ EDI service consultants to implement the EDI
software. EDI service as discussed here is essentially
EDI implementation. EDI service can be viewed from two
perspectives – a technical perspective or an organizational
EDI service perspective.
EDI service from the technical perspective
is focused on EDI mapping where different segments and
fields of the EDI message is “mapped” to
the database where the EDI data should reside. This is
the most important task of the EDI service consultant.
To carry out effective EDI service, the EDI service consultant
should have an understanding of the business processes
the EDI service supports in a particular organization.
To do this EDI service, organizational and cultural issues
particular to the organization should be understood.
An EDI Service VAN is an electronic network set up to facilitate
sending EDI transactions between
several parties. An EDI Service VAN is a service that traditionally
anyone doing EDI used to subscribe to, but with the advent
of the Internet, EDI service VANs are not as necessary
to facilitate business to business ecommerce. Today EDI
service VANs have enhanced their services to survive, and
they have become significantly more customer friendly and
less expensive than before. EDI service VANs are beginning
to be able to compete from a perspective of value added
services and not only the technical infrastructure for
the EDI service.
Choosing an EDI Service can be as daunting as choosing
EDI Software. There are many EDI Service providers
who are capable of performing various services and who
charge varying rates. For the small business, a
key aspect of selecting an EDI Service is determining
what services will be needed from the EDI Service, initially
and in the future, for implementing and managing their
EDI. Specifically, will the EDI Service be involved
with your company only during the implementation
phase of the project? Or,
will you choose to continue to use the EDI Service to help manage and process
the EDI data? The answers to these questions will help determine the type of
EDI Service provider that is right for your business now and in the future.
If the type of EDI Service you plan to use is a VAN
or EDI Service Bureau, one important consideration in
selecting the EDI Service would be that of maintaining
a reasonable level of cost. As soon as the EDI
Service begins to cost upwards of $2,500 to $3,000 per
year, any small business might want to consider switching
from the EDI Service to an in-house solution. That’s
because the EDI Service, which charges based on
a variable pricing plan, often becomes prohibitively
expensive as usage increases. The EDI Service,
in this case, is a viable option only for starting out
with EDI. Once your EDI volume has ramped up enough to
increase your monthly EDI Service costs significantly, switching
from the EDI Service to an in-house EDI solution would
probably be more advantageous.
When you have selected your EDI Service, it’s
critical to establish which responsibilities the EDI
Service will have and which responsibilities the EDI
Service will pass on to you. As your business grows, you
will probably want to decrease your reliance on the EDI
Service and begin to do much of the work yourself. The
selection of an EDI Service, therefore, should be based
not just on the prices charged by the EDI Service or
the type of work the EDI Service is capable of performing. Another
gauge of how valuable an EDI Service would be to your
business is the question of how quickly the EDI Service
can make you self-reliant. Whatever type of EDI
Service your business ends up selecting, it will be critical
to ensure that the EDI Service is aligned with your goals
and objectives. |