ec-bp.com

  • ec-bp.org's New Look and Content

    ec-bp.orgWe've made a few changes with the ec-bp.org site, and we hope you've noticed them. I'll recap a few of them here, but whether you love them or hate them, we would love to hear from you. Let us know how we're doing and what else we should be doing. What's changed?...
  • Using Irrational Behavior to Your Advantage

    irrationalIt’s the start of a new year and once again, I set goals for the year. These are different than “resolutions” as I fully intend on meeting them. Some of these goals are the same from year to year: get in better shape, spend more time with my family, work smarter (not necessarily harder), decrease expenses, increase revenue,  be the change I want to see in the world,  end world hunger, get a super power... and this year I added a new goal to the list. I will walk 1,000 miles in 2011. Instead of approaching this goal rationally, like I’m prone to do for any project, I wanted to apply the ideas in the book Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, by Ori and Rom Brafum. If I behave irrationally naturally, as the authors point out, I may as well behave irrationally in a way that helps achieve my objectives.

  • What Does Sustainability Have to Do with You?

    Like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Sim needs an...
    Sustainability is one of the “buzz words” du jour.  You can’t pick up an article or turn on the news without hearing it.  So, I got to thinking about what sustainability means on an individual level – not from a purely ecological perspective but from a humanistic perspective.
  • WAL*MART Strengthens its Supply Chain

    wal-mart-logoI read with interest where Wal*Mart is changing its philosophy on receiving product from their suppliers. Wal*Mart hasn’t said anything more than announcing a new trucking plan. They say it’s all about squeezing out costs by keeping Wal*Mart’s own trucks busy and by accepting delivery of merchandise at the supplier’s loading dock instead of at a Wal*Mart distribution center. Wal-Mart figures it can cut wholesale prices by 6 percent if it hauls the merchandise itself. The company is also telling their suppliers they can concentrate on what they do best: manufacturing product for Wal*Mart.
  • What’s on Your Horizon?

    sign-right-curve-ahead1How do you stay ahead of the curve? Make the right investment in a system that’ll meet your needs into the future? Hire the right analyst? Decide what classes to take to keep your skills fresh? Since the only real constant in eCommerce is ‘change’, you need to keep your eyes open to identify the big things coming your way.
  • Special U Connect offer from ec-bp.org

    10This June in Orlando ec-bp.org will (once again) be exhibiting in a booth during the exhibits at U Connect LIVE. We are also scheduling interviews during the event. We hope and expect to see you there, but just in case you are not yet registered, we have a little extra incentive for you by way of a discount coupon that will take 10% off your registration fees.

     

  • Connections that Might Be

    adapterWhen Scott gave us a heads-up about this month’s topic- projects involving the connection of EDI translators to ERP systems, I thought I’d have a lot to contribute. However, as I thought about it, I realized there are several variations of that type of project, and that would limit my input since I hadn’t experienced all of them. I can make some generalizations, though based on what we went through.

  • The Case for EDI ROI - It Depends

    martz-ROIthLet’s face it: the more money you want to spend, the more likely it is that a solid ROI will be needed by the business to provide funding. If you’re talking about spending a million dollars implementing EDI software and building an EDI team, trust me, you’ll need one. It’s more of a grey area when you’re planning to do the bare minimum to satisfy a customer EDI mandate or even to implement additional partners onto an existing platform.  I think there are a limited number of scenarios you should consider when looking at ROI requirements, including:

  • Get Out There!

    cheetah811thumbA serious condition is spreading like fireweed across corporate America. The symptoms include glazed-over eyes, droopy shoulders, cramped hands, aversion to natural lighting, and a permanent butt print in your office chair. This condition is called Corporate Zombie Syndrome.  It can strike when one spends far more time looking at a computer than not, or hasn’t talked to a real coworker—except through WebEx meetings—in months. But don’t worry, there is a simple cure that can alleviate these symptoms and get you out of your Corporate Zombie state. That cure is to Get Out There!

  • Middleman is Out, Cloud is In

    The IT shakeup rumbling out of the Great Recession overshadows even the dotcom bust for sheer effect on all things tech in the enterprise. Nothing in IT is as it was, nor will it ever be again. It comes as no surprise then that EDI is undergoing a disruptive transformation too.
  • Analyzing Your Trade

    SAS_PortalLast week we asked you (via a quick survey) about your experience with analytics, and analytics derived from EDI transaction data in particular. The topic of analytics in general has become a widely discussed area, and I thought I'd provide a little perspective both on the comments we received in our survey, and on just exactly what analytics are.
  • How Business Analytics is Being Delivered in the EDI World

    businessanalyticsBusiness intelligence / analytics coupled with data aggregation are not new terms. They have depended directly on the business system (like SAP) hence indirectly on the EDI system. They go back before EDI: a lot of them were once called “Decision Support Systems”. I wanted to find one that did all this and was directly tied into an EDI system, but I didn't have one in mind. Then I “ran into” one in a “Webinar” sponsored by Loren Data.

  • Outsource Your EDI?

    Ultimate Outsourcing

    Thinking of moving from your in-house proprietary EDI solution to  an outsourced Internet-based or even Web-based infrastructure? Your company has two strategic implementation options:

    • Establish and maintain and in-house EDI solution

    • Engage a hosted EDI service provider

  • Another Year Closing for ec-bp

    Much has happened in 2010, but I don't need to tell you that, nor can I possibly give you a year end wrap-up that would cover event the most important parts. So I'll just say that 2010 has been a wonderful year, while it's also been a very trying year. Being the eternal optimist, I'll only point out those things that have been great for ec-bp. Feel free to add your own list of items to the comments below.

  • XML is Dead - Long Live XML

    xml_kills_ediThe old debate about XML replacing EDI as a format for transacting global business has all but faded from conversation. But that doesn't mean that the format itself is gone. The use of XML as a transfer medium between applications has become a default because of its flexibility and its ease of configuration. But the bigger question is, "Does the format of the data actually matter?"

  • Is EDI A Social Media?

    If we define Social Media as "Digital communication between multiple individuals or organizations in an effort to further the personal and professional endeavors of each," then the answer is "Yes." But there's certainly more to the story.
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