As companies worldwide emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain leaders are rethinking their supply chain infrastructure. This is the time to build back better. And supply chain leaders are evaluating top electronic data interchange (EDI) providers that can offer customized solutions with resilience and agility in mind.
For some, this might mean outsourcing a time-consuming segment of their B2B program. For others, it might mean consolidating a patchwork of existing EDI value-added networks (VANs) that have accumulated over time through mergers and acquisitions. In this post, I look at the five essential components of a modern EDI VAN that can help supply chain organizations simplify their B2B and prosper in 2021 and beyond.
Future-proofing supply chains post-pandemic requires them to become PURE, according to Howard Grimes, a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and CEO of the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII):
- Pandemic adaptive – including new operating models for adaptive production and remote working
- Usable and accessible to everyone – including customers, suppliers and partners
- Resilient, agile and able to withstand disruptions
- Economical – so small and medium sized companies can participate
Grimes’ PURE acronym corresponds well to the features and capabilities of the OpenText EDI VAN. OpenText is unique in maintaining strong investments in infrastructure and innovative capabilities for our Trading Grid platform, which is the foundation of our EDI VAN. We also ensure responsive and personalized customer support to increase the EDI VAN’s strategic value beyond simple document and transaction exchange.
What are the key elements you should look for? This short video covers the five essentials of a modern EDI VAN. How does your EDI VAN compare?
1. Global reach
For every business that wants to build a resilient and agile supply chain, it’s incredibly important to have access to a global network of trading partners – ideally, through a provider that supports virtually any communication protocol or document format.
2. Pre-connected community
Your EDI VAN provider’s pre-connected community should offer tools that make it easy to search, find and onboard new partners quickly. The OpenText EDI VAN is connected to 1.2 million partners. And it offers customers access to the OpenText™ Global Partner Directory, which lists company profiles and information such as ethical sourcing and sustainability metrics. This helps you to find the right kind of partners and quickly connect with them.
3. Security & compliance
Security should be the key concern for any EDI VAN provider, and it’s a top priority for OpenText. In addition to having the important accredited certifications for security, our global data center infrastructure allows organizations to manage information use and privacy to ensure data is transferred and stored in line with local regulations. A modern global EDI VAN service should help simplify the process of industry and regulatory compliance in the markets and countries where you trade.
4. High availability
IDC identified the ability to minimize downtime as a key challenge for supply chain resilience. COVID-19 and recent weather disasters show just how quickly and easily parts of a global supply chain can be disrupted. What sets OpenText apart is that we host our own global data center infrastructure, allowing us to keep a tight hold on the security of our services. It also means we can seamlessly switch operations to other data centers, if necessary, to ensure availability.
5. Intelligent monitoring
In the past, EDI VANs have been criticized for a lack of data visibility and analytics capabilities. Today, leading EDI VAN providers have visibility and analytics embedded in the network. The OpenText EDI VAN includes best-in-class, real-time visibility tools with data visualization, drill-down capabilities, the ability to manage by exception and configurable dashboards to quickly surface actionable insights and deliver them to the people who need them.
OpenText – the world’s leading EDI VAN
OpenText™ Trading Grid™ Messaging Service connects organizations with their entire trading community so they can exchange business documents quickly and reliably over the largest e-commerce network in the world. Our EDI VAN service goes beyond digital document exchange to offer organizations more sophisticated B2B integration capabilities in areas such as process improvement, community engagement and supply chain process optimization.
You can learn more about OpenText’s EDI solutions by visiting our website.
