SafetySuite

On February 23, 2010. By Neil, under Executive Desk.

In the last couple of years I have personally seen an epidemic of disasters befalling customers’ EDI systems. What I call a disaster does not have to be a fire or flood but rather anything that causes the loss of the use of an EDI system for an extended period. Anybody with a modest volume of EDI orders knows that it is like personally going without oxygen for an extended period – if the loss continues for too long, it can be fatal.

Not to date myself, but I have been an IT professional since the PC was a toy and I have seen more than my share of unexpected circumstances causing the loss of data.  When that happens, and you go to your backup library for that critically needed data, it can be at least inconvenient and at most disastrous if that backup is not usable.

Anyone living with us here in NYC or in a hurricane or earthquake prone area does not need a reminder of how the unexpected can occur any time. But it does not take a catastrophe to trigger the need for recovery. Everyone thinks of the worst possible situation, but anything that keeps you from your premises or makes your EDI system crash or become unusable can cause a business interruption.

In the last couple of years we have seen customers kept from their EDI systems due to a fire in adjacent space, due to corrupted backup media, due to a scheduled backup that did not work on schedule and even due to operator error that restored instead of backed up a working system. Often, simple human errors or unusual circumstances can cause huge headaches.

When customers come to us for recovery help we use every trick to get them back up and running but that is often not from the most current set of data can be pieced together from the fragments of data that we can recover from the network or from old copies of systems.

After this recent spate of disasters, we decided to be reactive no more and to offer a proactive solution for protection to customers. We combined a strong, reliable core backup and recovery process bundled with the same monitored security structure that we use to safeguard our own systems.

So starting in 2010, EDI Options is offering the EDI SafetySuite to our customers. Not designed to replace a regular backup processes but rather to secure just the EDI environment by combining a specially configured offsite hosted backup/recovery solution with management by our own highly trained security team. Using the SafetySuite our customers can rest easy knowing that their working EDI environment is being silently protected every minute of every day.

Click here to go to the EDI Options SafetySuite product page on our web site.

Neil Abbruzzese
President
EDI Options, Inc.
www.edioptions.com
516-741-2032 x11

Compliance Complacence

On December 11, 2008. By Neil, under Executive Desk, Tech Talk.

When I speak to company owners that are being asked to enter into an EDI relationship for the first time many times their attitude is to limit the EDI operation to provide simple compliance.

“Just tell me what I need for WalMart, Kmart, JC Penney or whoever to be satisfied so that I can get these initial EDI orders in house and start shipping”

This feeling is more than understandable when the EDI process is seen as hurdle that has to be passed in order to be approved as a vendor. Like some kind of final exam, if I answer all the questions carefully and fulfill enough of the requirements to get a passing grade I can advance to the status of preferred supplier. That level of EDI compliance will indeed satisfy your customer and solidify your relationship as a vendor but will it give you any value? Is it enough for you to just be compliant?

EDI compliance satisfies your customers because the EDI information that you exchange with them feeds their logistics process. EDI data is the life’s blood of modern retail logistics. Automated distribution centers scan and route your packages without any human handling. If your packages arrive without bar codes or associated shipping details those packages are forced to be manually handled or worse yet, rejected and returned. Like any operation that is automated, quickly the old manual methods are forgotten causing significant delay.

How automated are your shipping logistics? EDI information is tailor made for sharing with accounting, shipping, warehouse, and other logistics systems.

Companies that view the EDI process as an opportunity for their own business process improvement have the right idea by keeping in mind the fact that the EDI process in one that will be repeated time and again with new orders and shipments in increasing volume as the retailer relationship matures. Any manual handling in that process becomes a clog in the fulfillment pipeline keeping your goods from the shelves and keeping your operation from being as efficient as possible not to mention the inevitable manual errors that will occur.

As the volume of EDI orders and shipping goes up manual EDI processing brings more costs while automated EDI processing brings more value.

There is no secret formula for success since everyone’s fulfillment process is unique. Off the shelf EDI solutions can give you quick compliance with an inexpensive start up but what are the long term costs? At least 50% of our business is done with companies that are switching their EDI solutions because they are bogged down in manual EDI processing or have a competing EDI solution that is not efficient or automated.

Sometimes a lot of money spent by companies without a lot of forethought results in a lot of time and money wasted. That same time and money spent with a little consultation and consideration beforehand can result in more highly automated, efficient fulfillment operations.

Intergration

On November 25, 2008. By Neil, under Executive Desk, Tech Talk.

Integrating or sharing EDI information with your business systems is a decision most EDI users face at one time or another. When a business system like ACCPAC, AccountMate, or Great Plains/Dynamics is integrated with EDI information sales orders are uploaded and invoices are downloaded to save the time of manual data entry, to speed the time of processing and to reduce operator error in entering orders.

“Nobody wants an order for 1000 pieces to be entered as 100 – particularly if the material has a significant lead time. Sales can and have been lost due to a simple error like this.”

Through experiences with our customers we have found that enormous value can be derived from integrating EDI information with business systems. But is it a no-brainer to decide to integrate? – not exactly.

The start-up costs for EDI integration can be significant. These one-time costs are weighted against the ongoing cost of labor to manually integrate and the inefficiencies of labor that could be used more fruitfully for customer service or order fulfillment.

“Integration software never takes a vacation or a sick day and the costs of integration are borne only once while the benefits live on.”

It all comes down to volume and it’s a pretty simple calculation. A couple of orders a week or even per day might not present a significant manual effort. Manual practices can be put into place to avoid errors and the labor expended is minimal. When the volume of orders increase the burden and costs of the manual process also increases, sometimes quite suddenly.

A good rule of thumb when manually integrating is to review the costs in dollars and time spent every couple of months to see if it passes the threshold that makes integration viable.