What is Internet Based EDI?
For most companies, the world of EDI is one
that they have been exposed to for only the past five to ten years. EDI
itself, however, is significantly older, going back to the days before the
Internet was prevalent as a communication medium between
businesses. During this time, EDI transactions were typically exchanged
using third-party service providers known as Value Added Networks or VANs. Internet-based EDI has begun to grow at significant rates over the past few
years, spurred in large part by the adoption of key Internet-based EDI
technologies by companies like Walmart.
Benefits of Internet-Based EDI
Internet-based EDI can have a number of benefits over
using VANs. The reason is simple - VAN based EDI and other
"aggregators" of EDI data charge based on the amount of data that is
used and transmitted over their lines. By employing Internet-based EDI you
establish a direct link to your trading partners bypassing third parties and
sending and receiving data directly. It was this benefit, coupled with the
low cost of using the Internet, that convinced Wal-Mart to switch their entire
supplier network to Internet-based EDI. While they are the only one to
require the use of Internet-based EDI other retailers have also made this option
available. For businesses that rely on EDI for their operations using Internet-based EDI can save a great deal of money and provide a significant
return on investment.
EDI ADVANTAGES
It should not come
as much of a surprise that there are many advantages to using EDI in your
business.
Cost-effective:
cutting paper waste and all paper processing quickly reduces paper costs
Efficiency:
cloud-computing and machine learning eliminates computational repetition,
redundancies, and errors that would be more common among humans
Speed: the
electronic transfer of data ensures more consistency and accuracy without
sacrificing pace
Accuracy: by using
cloud computing technology, you are able to transfer documents faster than
would have otherwise been possible
Service: faster
processing means better customer service, overall; in turn, helping you to
expand your customer base
EDI DISADVANTAGES
As with all
things, wherever there are advantages they might also be disadvantaged. So,
with that, here are some ways that EDI might not serve your business; which
means you should consider a different way to network and incorporate
information technology.
EDI uses multiple
standards which can often limit how many devices can be connected to the
network. The XML web-text language, for example, does not have strict
standardization and that allows for multiple programmers to contribute to the
coding.
In addition to
rigorous standards, EDI could also have too many rigorous standards bodies with
too many document formats which can malfunction in the face of
cross-compatibility issues, which you will definitely encounter as you continue
to apply more standards
EDI has a higher
price point, which can be a little pricey for new business owners
Large companies
might actually find that EDI can limit the types of partnerships you can
develop with
Limitations of EDI
While countless businesses enjoy the benefits of EDI,
some companies are still cautious to try it out due to the following
limitations of EDI.
- Cost of Implementation.
It is true that EDI provides massive cost
savings benefits but for small businesses re-designing and implementing
software applications to fit in EDI into current applications can be quite
costly. Such limitations of EDI must be considered if you plan on implementing
such a system.
- Electronic System Safety
EDI also necessitates substantial investment in
computer networks and security systems for maximum security. Any EDI system
installed would require protection from hacking, malware, viruses, and other
cybersecurity threats.
- Preliminary Setup Consumes Time
Not only is the implementation of the EDI system expensive
to install, but it also consumes a considerable amount of time to set up the
essential parts. Thus, such limitations of EDI can hinder the fast-tracking of
services if urgently required.
- Several Standards to Maintain.
Numerous businesses looking to implement EDI also
consider the several standards involved. These limitations of EDI do not allow
small businesses to exchange data with larger establishments that make use of
the latest edition of a document standard. Some known measures include ANSI ASC
X12, GS1 EDI, HL7, TRADACOMS, and UN/EDIFACT.
- Suitable Backup System
EDI implementation also requires regular maintenance
as the business functionality is highly dependent on it. Some robust data backup
system is needed in case of a system crash or for statistical purpose. Such
limitations of EDI can cost some substantial amount to implement.
Benefits Of Online Marketing In B2b E-Commerce
The B2B portals of eCommerce offer a
way of increasing reach to customers and making your organization and products
known by more potential customers. There are a lot of business directories all
around the world, Yelp in the US, Akama in Canada
- Streamlining, transparency and efficiency
The B2B eCommerce will streamline your customer
interactions by enabling the process of order to be reliable and efficient.
This is vital in the current climate of commerce where there are high demand
and short time.
Through operation out of the web portal, all ordering
may be merged with the ERP (enterprise resource planning) software so that the
delay time between dispatch and ordering is negligible.
- Better management of suppliers and customers
The concept of B2B eCommerce offers better management
of both the suppliers and customers. Essentially, the whole initiative is a
win-win for both parties.
Your clients will have a custom-made portal for them
that shows their browsing history, all personal details, shipping, and the
tracking data as well as a wish or shopping list.
- More sales
You will not only reach new clients, but eCommerce
will also allow you to quickly implement the automated up-sell and cross-sell
program of recommendation, providing suggestions to clients on your site and
making them buy related products or products containing more functionality and
features.
The web-based portal, similar to a marketplace, that
shows your products and services, saves a lot of overheads which are a
characteristic of the physical storefront or the physical trade show stall and
hence with the reducing overheads, the bottom line grows.
- Analytics
The B2B eCommerce offers the ideal platform for the
business to launch an analytics campaign.
“With the help
of eCommerce, business is able to easily evaluate and measure sales
effectiveness, product mix, marketing campaigns, inventory turns, client
engagement, and client sales effectiveness”.
Google analytics provides eCommerce tracking, however,
integrating analytics with the ERP also offers much more important information
with insights that are actionable.
- Better sales engagement
The physical sales team will as well merit from the
launch of the eCommerce effort. The B2B eCommerce portal or site will boost the
sales teams’ visibility towards the client orders, history and pricing on the
road or working from remote locations. The travelling sales agent show a
lot of carbon mile on the road, this can be reduced via the web portals and the
web-based sites of communication.
Business process re-engineering
Business process
re-engineering (BPR) is a business
management strategy, originally pioneered in the early
1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within
an organization. BPR aimed to help organizations fundamentally
rethink how they do their work in order to improve customer service,
cut operational costs,
and become world-class competitors.
BPR seeks to help
companies radically restructure their organizations by focusing on the
ground-up design of their business processes. According to early BPR
proponent Thomas
H. Davenport (1990), a business process is a set
of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome.
Re-engineering emphasized a holistic focus
on business objectives and how processes related to them, encouraging
a full-scale recreation of processes rather than iterative optimization of
sub-processes.
Business process
reengineering is also known as business process redesign, business
transformation, or business process change management.
Advantage of re-engineering
a. Satisfaction-A
big advantage of reengineering is that the work becomes more satisfying because
the workers get a greater sense of completion, closure, and accomplishment from
their jobs. BPR revolves around customer needs and helps to give an appropriate
focus to the business to improve the satisfaction of the customer, employee and
supplier.
b. Solidarity
to the Company – According to Hammer and Champy 2001, the re-engineered
the process will contribute to the company in focusing matter that is the company can
spend more time on value-adding work and less on the process that adds no value to
the product.
c. Maintain
competitive advantage – Each company will have its own competitive
advantage that able to outperform their rivals, With the BPR implemented, the value-added activity will be given more time.
Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing
Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, also known as
just-in-time production or the Toyota Production System (TPS),
was first developed and perfected within the Toyota manufacturing plants by
Taiichi Ohno is a methodology aimed primarily at reducing cycle times of
various activities within the production system as well as response times from
suppliers and to customers. JIT is a common inventory management technique and
type of lean methodology designed to increase efficiency, cut costs and
decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed. Its origin and
development were in Japan, largely in the 1960s and 1970s.
JIT is seen as a more cost-efficient method
of maintaining stock levels. Its purpose is to minimise the number of goods you
hold at any one time without compromising the production volumes. And this has
numerous advantages such as less space needed, with a faster turnaround
of stock; we don't need as much warehouse or storage space to store
goods. Less stock levels also mean lesser investment.
Many other companies also have been using similar
concepts although with different names. Motorola used the concept of short-cycle-manufacturing
(SCM), IBM used the concepts of continuous-flow manufacturing (CFM) and
demand-flow manufacturing (DFM).
In recent times, JIT has been replaced with the newer
concepts of Lean-Manufacturing which also has come from Toyota. Although it
started from Toyota, but today it is much more widely adopted across companies
worldwide. Some of the leading companies where they use JIT is Dell, HP,
McDonalds to name a few.
JIT is closely associated with other concepts such as
TQM, Kanban and Continuous Process Improvement etc. JIT aims at producing the
exact quantities of items for the exact demand by maintaining just the exact
amount of inventory both on the raw material side as well as on the finished
good side.
Some of the advantages of JIT(Just-in-time):
JIT aims at keeping the stock holding to bare minimum
leading to much lower inventory cost and much lower storage and warehouse cost.
Minimum inventory at all stages of the supply chain means
lesser expiry and lesser wastage for the organization
Lower inventory means lower investment for the same
level of production. This reduces working capital investment to a greater
extent. This, in turn, leads to better ROI and profitability for the organization
JIT manufacturing aims at producing items based on
demand. Hence all items produced will be sold. So no obsolete items in the
finished goods section. It helps the organization to adapt well to any changes
in product specification from the market without the fear of having any kind of
waste and obsolete stocks.
To achieve JIT production, there is a need for very
close communication between all the parties involved in the entire supply
chain. This communication technique is often referred to as “Kanban”.
In JIT, the immense focus is on the quality of the final
product and companies work to achieve “first time right” for all goods.
Disadvantages of JIT (Just-in-time):
JIT production can be very sensitive to any kind of
error. Since bare minimum inventory levels are maintained, there is no room for
any kind of error.
JIT production will not be able to adapt well to
a sudden increase in the volume of demand from the market, since the inventory levels
are maintained at a much lower level.
Just in time manufacturing is a philosophy which is
achieved only when all the parties involved in the whole supply chain will work
in great tandem and coordination. JIT may fail sometime if any of the suppliers
will fail to fulfil their obligations and respond to the requirements in a
timely manner.
JIT focuses on lean inventory; hence there is not much
buffer in stock levels. For any reason, if there is any kind of failure that
happens in the supply chain, that can lead to sudden down time in production
leading to huge losses for the organization.
Online Marketing Issues
The
following are the reasons why current marketing issues are persistent:
1. Misidentification
of problems- Many companies do not grow simply because they employ bad
strategies which are borderline not following proper legal ethics.
2.
Solution Mismatch- A solution to a misidentified problem can mean that the
company is wasting time, money, and effort on the wrong problems. Similarly,
identifying the problem correctly but giving it a different solution can also
affect your sales negatively.
3.
Using Personal Opinion- Opinion invalidates the objectivity of business.
4.
Employing radical solutions- Being innovative is a good practice, but if it's
too abrupt, then it can be unstable.
5.
Competing against giants- Giant companies employ strategic marketing practices
which are formulated by the experts in the field. You can drown in this ocean
of giants.
This blog is very helpful and informative for this particular topic. I appreciate your effort that has been taken to write this blog for us. DP-090T00: Implementing a Machine Learning Solution with Microsoft Azure Databricks
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