Monday, October 19, 2009

Switching from Traditional EDI and Going Green

It appears I am not the only one talking about how EDI helps companies go green. Several weeks back I wrote the article called Going Green with SAP EDI and e-Invoicing, and today I read this announcement, Moving towards a Green Future - SANYO Switches to EDI On-Demand.

SANYO Component Europe GmbH, the leading supplier of industrial batteries for hybrid vehicles and other electronic automotive components, is switching its EDI communications with business partners to an on-demand EDI service (using a cloud computing model) that is "powered by SAP" which is fully in line with its green "Think GAIA" corporate vision.

It appears that SANYO sees switching from a traditional EDI model to an in the cloud computing model as helping them achieve their goals of accelerating the introduction of innovative and ecologically friendly technologies, and to become a leading supplier of industrial batteries for the automobiles of the future. The previous solution, an in-house EDI middleware solution, was too expensive to maintain and to continue adding new trading partners and complex EDI requirements.

Let's attempt to interpret this announcement. SANYO likely has a new supply chain, new customers and new logistics partners for these products. That means several new EDI implementation projects and EDI/B2B on-boarding initiatives. That translates into lots of expensive work and a long term commitment to the traditional in-house model of EDI if done internally. Many companies pause before starting these kinds of costly initiatives and ask themselves if the traditional approach of running an EDI system and staffing their own internal EDI department is the best strategy for EDI and B2B support in the long term. Obviously SANYO decided that it was a good time to switch to the cloud computing model for EDI/B2B promoted by SAP.

For related articles read:
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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent EDI, B2B and Mobile Computing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://b2b-bpo.blogspot.com
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

I am a loose canon. No individual or company, no matter how much I try, is willing to be responsible for my comments. So alas, they are mine alone.
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