Dollars, Nickels and Dimes! What do you really save with EDI?

In 2010, GS1 UK commissioned Professor Richard Wilding of the Cranfield School of Business Management to carry out a report on EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) with regard to the UK retail sector. Professor Wilding and his team performed exhaustive research and highlighted in great detail all the advantages that are normally associated with EDI: It's faster, data is more accurate, improved process efficiencies, cost savings and it eliminates paper. He also went one step further; he put the savings associated with switching from manual, paper-based processing to EDI processing into a monetary format (and even broke it down into separate sectors - Order, Invoice, ASN). For the purpose of ease and accuracy I have converted the reports Stg£ values into US$. These are the savings Professor Wilding and his team at Cranfield School of Business Management calculated:

·         Orders:                                            $23.00

·         Invoices:                                          $14.00

·         Despatch Advice (ASN)                 $19.00

Total                                                  $56.00

As can be seen from the above, by switching from a manual paper based transaction to EDI you can save your organization $56.00 per transaction in dollars, nickel and dimes. To put this in real terms, if your organization was processing 50 orders per month, and with each order a matching invoice and ASN was required, your organization would be making savings of $2,800 per month by switching from paper to EDI. Obviously the savings are much greater the more transactions your organization makes.

If you would like to read Professor Wildings full report please click here.  Alternatively, please visit one of our global offices on www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net to see how B2BGateway can make your transition from paper to EDI seamless today.

Roger Leyden is Director of European Sales & Marketing with B2BGateway

Cloud Computing delivers SMART results for SME’s!

According to Forbes.com, small and medium sized enterprises who adopt cloud computing solutions in 2013 will see the following SMART results:

 S: Sales Increases – less time dealing with administrative matters means more time selling and servicing customers.

M: More Control, Less Surprises – key business stats and metrics are available in real time; small businesses can make more informed decisions faster and never be out of touch with the most important business data.

A: Accelerated Profits – real-time information means better and more profitable decisions.

R: Real-time information means key business management data is only seconds away, whenever and wherever the business operator is.

T: Technology Enhancements — leads to decreased cost and expense of an IT department — everything is in the Cloud.

B2BGateway have been delivering cloud-based EDI solutions globally since 1999, contact one of our global offices today at www.B2BGateway.Net to see how we can help your organization make your supply chain SMART for 2013.

'A B2BGateway Christmas Carol - The Ghost of EDI Future'

Happy Holidays from all at B2BGateway.

Please click here to view our award winning take on Dickens's classic 'A Christmas Carol'. Starring Brian Alty as Ebenezer Scrooge (a natural fit - no acting was required); Jess Pagano as The Ghost of Christmas Past; Brian Horton as The Ghost of Christmas Present; Greg Webber as The Ghost of Christmas Future and Justin Gabriel as Tiny Tim, B2BGateway's adaptation brings Scrooge from 1843 to present day and introduces him to the new wonderful world of EDI! Oh and by the way this excellent piece of cinematogrpahy was narrated by Riona Sutton and shot by Jon Bellemore, please enjoy!

3PL's: Automate, Automate, Automate.....

 

In Real Estate we are always told the key to success is all about Location, Location, Location! I would like to try and bring this maxim to the world of Third Party Logistics (3PL), where I believe the key to success should be Automate, Automate, Automate! Having a smooth, successful supply chain operation can be achieved by automating as many tasks as possible. At B2BGateway we can help 3PL's achieve this by automating the entire business document flow between the 3PL, their clients and their trading partners. By introducing B2BGateway’s cloud-based EDI solutions, 3PL's can eliminate the need to re-key data into their ERP/WMS systems, giving seamless communication between all trading parties. Eliminating the need to re-key data will increase efficiencies, dramatically decrease errors and help contribute to a greater overall bottom line.

 

B2BGateway has been providing cloud-based, fully integrated EDI solutions since 1999 and we are highly proficient in the EDI X12 200 and 900 transaction sets. As a global organization we can also handle all international recognized data standards (X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, Eancom, Odette, XML, etc.) and all communication protocols (VAN, FTP, FTPs, AS2, etc.). For further details on B2BGateway's EDI solutions and services for 3PL’s please visit http://www.b2bgateway.net/flipbook/3pl/3pl_prospectus.html

Will EDI work with 'Cloud' based ERP systems?

Question: Roger, we are considering switching our current on-premise ERP solution to a new cloud-based ERP solution. Will this affect our capabilities to continue doing EDI with our trading partners?

Answer: The short answer is no, it should not. At B2BGateway we have been providing fully-integrated EDI solutions for the leading cloud-based ERP providers such as NetSuite and Sage ERP X3 for over a decade. However, like everything else, you will need to do your homework to see if the new cloud-based ERP system you are considering is EDI capable. I would advise finding out the following:

·         Is the new ERP system fully cloud-based, or is it a hosted online version of a current on-premises ERP product?

·         Does the ERP system have both import and export functionality?

·         Will you need to purchase additional EDI modules/connectors from the cloud ERP vendor?

·         Is your current EDI provider capable of working with and integrating the new cloud based ERP solution? If not, are there other third party EDI providers on the market who can work with the new product?

·         Does the cloud-based ERP vendor currently have clients and partners using EDI with their system and can you get references?

I would also go to online sites such as LinkedIn to see are there any user groups for the new ERP system. You could post a question amongst users to see if any are currently using EDI and to get their recommendations. For further information on B2BGateway’s EDI solutions, including solutions for cloud-based ERP systems, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Roger Leyden is the European Sales & Marketing Director with B2BGateway