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You are probably familiar with this ‘BIG VAN’ claim repeated early and often by the …

Are Value-Added Networks the Way to go for B2B Communication? Read More »

As we put the highly turbulent past year behind us, there is one lesson that businesses will take with them into 2021: be prepared for the unexpected. The chain of events which will forever define 2020 impacted businesses across industries and around the world. The pandemic took nearly every business by surprise, regardless of scale, sending waves of disruption across many supply chains. Supply chain in general nearly came to a grinding halt due to global lockdowns and subsequent changes in consumer behavior and demand. This consequently impacted factory output with nearly every warehousing and transportation company finding their operation, their business, themselves and their families, at risk.

Dynamics AX is a legacy ERP solution that was offered by Microsoft for mid-sized to large organizations beginning in 2008. Mainstream support for Dynamics AX 2009, 2012, and 2012 R2 ended in 2018, and mainstream support for Dynamics AX 2012 R3 will end in 2021. When mainstream support ends, Microsoft will no longer accept support tickets or release feature updates. Once extended support ends in 2021, Microsoft will no longer release bug fixes or security patches! Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 appears to be the best course of action for businesses that still use Dynamics AX.

An EDI-automated procure-to-pay cycle requires much less human intervention, works extremely efficiently, and is much less susceptible to human error. The total processing time is 1-3 days compared to 7-10 days for the manual P2P cycle.

On the surface, this statement seems to make sense of the eternal value-added network (VAN) claim that the advantage of their network is their network. While stated as fact, “the advantage of the network is the network” is only relatively true, depending on who you’re connecting with and whether the network is where you can find your trading partners (or at least some of them). What does that mean for the rest of your trading partners?

Independence Day is now behind us and summer is nearing its end. The 4th of July holiday encourages reflections, reflections that include independence and country. It also includes independence in financial, personal, and business matters. Returning to work following the mid-summer holiday this year, I began to think about systemic independence, specifically the independence of trading partners now more willing than ever to declare themselves independent from the VAN.

Businesses turn to EDI solutions because EDI has proven to improve business efficiency and reduce costs. Compared to manual business processes, EDI helps reduce costs and inefficiencies up to 35%.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) enables the smooth, rapid, and structured exchange of important data between businesses. However, businesses have come to realize that manually entering data to be sent via a third-party EDI solution is still fairly time and labor-intensive. To further enhance business growth, companies that use EDI solutions can automatically synchronize all inbound and outbound partner data with their ERP system.

EDI is the most widely used structured electronic data exchange between organizations. However, not all EDI solutions are created equal. Instead of operating as stand-alone applications that require manual entry and their own maintenance regime, leading EDI platforms integrate seamlessly with ERP software and other business applications to eliminate manual rekeying and duplication of business information.