ec-bp Bloggers |
Jul 09
2009
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Decade of ChangePosted by Ken Kinlock in Untagged   |
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What happened in the World of EDI in the last decade?
Well, at the end of the 1990's there was a lot of talk about “Is EDI Dead?” It was going to be replaced by XML. VANs were going to be replaced by AS2. Everybody can do EDI over the WEB! At the end of the decade, we were all tied up with Y2K (gee! I was even an AIAG-certified inspector!). In 2000, the “bubble burst” on a lot of the “go-go” Internet companies. Some lasted a year or two until their venture capital $$$ ran out.
Some even survived. We thought it would be a transition to a perfect World where everyone communicated together in a paperless environment. But we thought that too when we went from the 1980's to the 1990's. Some things did get better then. Anybody remember when they had to recompile an entire EDI COBOL program everyime you added a partner or even changed the specs?
COMPANIES
I have had a look around and many of the companies I knew have disappeared . even some of the big players seem to have gone. Who are the current big players? Harbinger was merged away as was Supply Tech into something called Inovis. Gentran got bigger. Where did Seeburger come from? GEIS became something else called GXS. EDICT Systems is still around and got better.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Has there neen any real change to the impact on EDI on an organization. Is the market all matured now? Did everyone who was going to get EDI, get EDI?
Has the internet and XML made an impact? In what way? Once I heard that XML was going to replace EDI though I never believed that. What about WEB-EDI? Yes, EDI over the Internet is all over the place. They even have “open source” translators.
At the beginning of this decade, we sort of knew what AS2 was; we didn't know who Drummond was (unless it was this guy who used to speak at EDI conferences). Bi-sync is used much less, and other web-based communications protocols are used more: FTP, SMTP/POP3, and HTTP are on the rise, including their ASx-secured versions.
I am not very sure if EDI is hot or not, but with the more and more companies who are using EDI related technology, even today in the bad economy; EDI is here to stay.
TECHNOLOGY
Web technology has made it possible for small players to provide EDI connectivity to their customers or suppliers without investing in EDI themselves. True, nearly all the advantages of EDI are lost to users of web EDI, because they must still manually enter data into web forms, but at least they are no longer excluded from doing business with EDI-only players.
COSTS
Prices per KC seems to have dropped a bit (!?).. Are there new charging models? In some ways, per KC charges have come down as the VANS and hubs find other ways to make money and keep the data flowing. AS2 and secure FTP and secure HTTP and other forms of communcations have replaced a lot of the bisync "dial up" connectivity, but it still remains; and there are still companies that use "EDI to FAX and FAX to EDI" programs to comply with customer EDI requirements.
IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation is the same bear it always was. Yes, there are more “tools”: cute little programs that track your progress and your partner's progress (or you can just use something like SalesForce because it is a great communications tool too). I recently wrote a two-part series about implementation on EC-BP (http://ec-bp.biz/). My tried-and-true implementation guidelines are basically unchanged from the 1990's and can be found in my EDI Tool Box (www.ominousweather.com/EDIToolBox/). You will conclude correctly that EDI implementation is really a “Project Management” exercise. Conclusion: nobody has yet to find a magic way (although having an 800-pounf gorilla on your team does help).
INDUSTRIES
Like in the 1990's, new industries began to be served by EDI as “niche” standards were developed. Trend-wise, healthcare “grew up” in this decade. In the early 1990's it was going to be a “dramatic” implementation as national healthcare became a reality. Wow! I was spending $70K:year to have an EDI healthcare guy on my staff. We didn't get healthcare, but the industry grew up anyway.
STANDARDS
Actually, to begin with, before that, I would like to see ONE agreed-upon Standard for anything... then there will be no need to make changes...
And as far as standards are concerned, if we didn't have them, Henry Ford couldn't have automated building the first automobile (standardized parts) and we wouldn't have computers because we wouldn't have a standard electrical outlet, much less a standardized electrical supply (but lots of varieties: US, UK EU, etc).
Language Standards: still basically X12, EDIFACT, TRADACOMM (the ones I know) plus about the same number of smaller, more focused ones.
CONCLUSIONS
EDI has changed a lot in the last 10 years... and EDI has changed very little in the last 10 years.
As for the "broad direction" EDI seems to be going, one merely needs to search the web for the myriad of sites dedicated to discussing EDI – past, present and future... From Blogs (www.editalk. com) to user groups (such as
EDI-L on Yahoo and others) and sites dedicated to bringing you all the news of EDI (such as EC-BP.org) - you can find all sorts of directions and stories and concepts and thoughts and ideas and all the rest on where EDI
has been, where EDI is and where EDI is going....
At least now when you are at a cocktail party and mention you work in EDI, people have some idea what you do (and don't ask you to fix their son's game computer because they think you know something about computers)
Wish list: I would like to live in a world where one computer can negotiate changes with the other computer and both implement the changes with no human intervention.
Well, at the end of the 1990's there was a lot of talk about “Is EDI Dead?” It was going to be replaced by XML. VANs were going to be replaced by AS2. Everybody can do EDI over the WEB! At the end of the decade, we were all tied up with Y2K (gee! I was even an AIAG-certified inspector!). In 2000, the “bubble burst” on a lot of the “go-go” Internet companies. Some lasted a year or two until their venture capital $$$ ran out.
Some even survived. We thought it would be a transition to a perfect World where everyone communicated together in a paperless environment. But we thought that too when we went from the 1980's to the 1990's. Some things did get better then. Anybody remember when they had to recompile an entire EDI COBOL program everyime you added a partner or even changed the specs?
COMPANIES
I have had a look around and many of the companies I knew have disappeared . even some of the big players seem to have gone. Who are the current big players? Harbinger was merged away as was Supply Tech into something called Inovis. Gentran got bigger. Where did Seeburger come from? GEIS became something else called GXS. EDICT Systems is still around and got better.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Has there neen any real change to the impact on EDI on an organization. Is the market all matured now? Did everyone who was going to get EDI, get EDI?
Has the internet and XML made an impact? In what way? Once I heard that XML was going to replace EDI though I never believed that. What about WEB-EDI? Yes, EDI over the Internet is all over the place. They even have “open source” translators.
At the beginning of this decade, we sort of knew what AS2 was; we didn't know who Drummond was (unless it was this guy who used to speak at EDI conferences). Bi-sync is used much less, and other web-based communications protocols are used more: FTP, SMTP/POP3, and HTTP are on the rise, including their ASx-secured versions.
I am not very sure if EDI is hot or not, but with the more and more companies who are using EDI related technology, even today in the bad economy; EDI is here to stay.
TECHNOLOGY
Web technology has made it possible for small players to provide EDI connectivity to their customers or suppliers without investing in EDI themselves. True, nearly all the advantages of EDI are lost to users of web EDI, because they must still manually enter data into web forms, but at least they are no longer excluded from doing business with EDI-only players.
COSTS
Prices per KC seems to have dropped a bit (!?).. Are there new charging models? In some ways, per KC charges have come down as the VANS and hubs find other ways to make money and keep the data flowing. AS2 and secure FTP and secure HTTP and other forms of communcations have replaced a lot of the bisync "dial up" connectivity, but it still remains; and there are still companies that use "EDI to FAX and FAX to EDI" programs to comply with customer EDI requirements.
IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation is the same bear it always was. Yes, there are more “tools”: cute little programs that track your progress and your partner's progress (or you can just use something like SalesForce because it is a great communications tool too). I recently wrote a two-part series about implementation on EC-BP (http://ec-bp.biz/). My tried-and-true implementation guidelines are basically unchanged from the 1990's and can be found in my EDI Tool Box (www.ominousweather.com/EDIToolBox/). You will conclude correctly that EDI implementation is really a “Project Management” exercise. Conclusion: nobody has yet to find a magic way (although having an 800-pounf gorilla on your team does help).
INDUSTRIES
Like in the 1990's, new industries began to be served by EDI as “niche” standards were developed. Trend-wise, healthcare “grew up” in this decade. In the early 1990's it was going to be a “dramatic” implementation as national healthcare became a reality. Wow! I was spending $70K:year to have an EDI healthcare guy on my staff. We didn't get healthcare, but the industry grew up anyway.
STANDARDS
Actually, to begin with, before that, I would like to see ONE agreed-upon Standard for anything... then there will be no need to make changes...
And as far as standards are concerned, if we didn't have them, Henry Ford couldn't have automated building the first automobile (standardized parts) and we wouldn't have computers because we wouldn't have a standard electrical outlet, much less a standardized electrical supply (but lots of varieties: US, UK EU, etc).
Language Standards: still basically X12, EDIFACT, TRADACOMM (the ones I know) plus about the same number of smaller, more focused ones.
CONCLUSIONS
EDI has changed a lot in the last 10 years... and EDI has changed very little in the last 10 years.
As for the "broad direction" EDI seems to be going, one merely needs to search the web for the myriad of sites dedicated to discussing EDI – past, present and future... From Blogs (www.editalk. com) to user groups (such as
EDI-L on Yahoo and others) and sites dedicated to bringing you all the news of EDI (such as EC-BP.org) - you can find all sorts of directions and stories and concepts and thoughts and ideas and all the rest on where EDI
has been, where EDI is and where EDI is going....
At least now when you are at a cocktail party and mention you work in EDI, people have some idea what you do (and don't ask you to fix their son's game computer because they think you know something about computers)
Wish list: I would like to live in a world where one computer can negotiate changes with the other computer and both implement the changes with no human intervention.