Electronic Cash News - Latest Comments

Re: RFID DASH3 - the Catalyst to Move The Tempest Out of the Teapot

mcislog — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:29:24 -0000

Pat - thanks. RFID DASH7 shows a lot of promise to make a significant impact on supply chain operations

Re: Where Does RFID Fit Within the Supply Chain?

mcislog — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:21:22 -0000

Pat - thanks for the comments. Good point on using active RFID tags on high-value perishables and tires. I'll update the posting that there are definitely niche solutions today for using active RFID at box and item level.

Please elaborate on your comment that supply chain visibility is becoming more multi-dimensional. I did not get your meaning.

Re: RFID DASH3 - the Catalyst to Move The Tempest Out of the Teapot

Pat Burns — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:26:32 -0000

delayed response here ... great post!

Re: Where Does RFID Fit Within the Supply Chain?

Pat Burns — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:25:20 -0000

Very thorough piece. I would like to add add that increasingly active RFID is already making its way into smaller conveyances like boxes and cartons, particularly for perishables. Active is already used for pallets. Longer range active RFID like DASH7 (www.dash7.org), with multi-km read ranges, are likely to displace at least some fleet management apps. Items themselves (e.g. tires with TPMS) are increasingly being outfitted with active RFID. One thought: the definition of supply chain visibility is becoming more multi-dimensional.

Re: Situational Awareness Technology for Logistics Operations

mcislog — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:38:16 -0000

Roy,

Thanks for the comments. I'll have to remember the term "spinning baloney". I have always like Green, Yellow, and Red to represent the state against a given metric. The challenge is to identify a metric that really is actionable, and that the decision maker will actually make a decision based on the information.

Re: Situational Awareness Technology for Logistics Operations

royhayward — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:55:03 -0000

The situation that comes about where time and money have been spent by IT to create an information gathering system that is not used by decision makers is all too common. One thing that IT needs to pay attention to is how people are going to use their data or dashboard.

I had a friend who introduced me to a term called "Spinning Baloney" This was representing progress or states with pretty graphics and animations. If your CFO can log into your invoicing system, and see a tiny plane fly up in the sky when things are good. Fly low in the sky when things get bad and crash when... well when things crash. I bet he is looking every day.

Not everyone is excited by a spread sheet of numbers.

Re: B2B eCommerce Implementation Checklist

mcislog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:14:23 -0000

7 Simple Steps of Integration - http://bit.ly/1cvsOF @RoyHayward - another great checklist for B2B eCommerce implementations

Re: B2B - Confusion Over Data Formats and Protocols

Tracey Ganesh — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:05:24 -0000

Here is the link to the webinar on automating faxed-in orders directly into your supply chain mentioned in the comment below: http://www.easylink.com/utility/forms/webinars/...

Re: B2B - Confusion Over Data Formats and Protocols

Tracey Ganesh — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:02:47 -0000

Thanks for the good article. Here's a link to a webinar recording that readers of this article might find interesting. It is about a process for automating faxed-in orders directly into a company's supply chain (i.e. Fax-to-EDI)

Re: What if We Gave All Suppliers Free EDI Software?

Ian Sweeney — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:51:28 -0000

Guys,

I think you've identified the two reasons why EDI does not penetrate the SMB space - there are no user-friendly EDI clients AND even if there were, the small biz has to map it correctly for each of their trading partners.

Our approach is to provide a free, user-friendly client for the SMB to send or receive electronic invoices. We do the leg work of mapping that into a format digestable by their trading partners EDI, Accounting or ERP system. This becomes a one-size-fits all solution for the small business and for the large trading partner.

Ian

Re: What if We Gave All Suppliers Free EDI Software?

mcislog — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:26:32 -0000

Roy,

I always appreciate your comments. I may be an optimist, but I do believe that EDI client software can be developed that could be used by the small "Ma and Pop" suppliers and manufacturers.

I would think that most small suppliers are computer-literate to use QuickBooks and online banking to schedule payments. Why does an EDI client communications software application need to be any more challenging?

The challenge is to get large manufacturers, large retailers, and large service providers to map or provide a map with lookup tables that can link to the same group of data elements. The EDI map can be transparent to the small suppliers where they either enter the data or provide a standard .csv or Excel file as input.

Re: What if We Gave All Suppliers Free EDI Software?

royhayward — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:34:19 -0000

Yup, your dreaming.

On the surface this seems easy. But when you get down to it, there is always a snag. (or at least there seems to be.) The Order, Ship, Invoice set in itself has a variety of data issues that if unplanned will turn your b2b setup into anything but simple or helpful.

Even if the software for EDI and B2B is free, the Mom and Pop will need a supply chain consultant to help them set up or they will end up with a very error prone relationship. (Or should I say, "Exceptional" with the emphasis on "Exception")

Re: Online Social Networking Shift - Relationships to eCommerce

Peter Moore — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:52:01 -0000

Excellent! Great article, I already saved it to my favourite,

Re: B2B eCommerce Implementation Checklist

royhayward — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:59:05 -0000

Ian,

Sorry if my reply was a bit snarky.

I know that invoicing and integrations with AP systems are a major challenge in B2B. It doesn't stop being a challenge just because the company is large. Most of my integration career has been spend integrating with big vendors. And we got much more traction integrating the catalog and supply chain aspects of the relationship.

Invoicing and Remittance work seems to always be more touchy both technically and politically.

----

And thanks, its nice to hear you find value in my blog too.
:)

Re: B2B eCommerce Implementation Checklist

Ian Sweeney — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:21:11 -0000

Roy

You're absolutely right. If the need is for a full b2b suite, you'll need more than e-invoicing.

Where we've chosen to focus is on the invoicing component because SMBs need that resolved first and most businesses are small. If they receive paper invoices it costs time and money as well as slowing payment cycles for their (big) suppliers.

Ian
P.S. theintegrationengineer.com is also one of my regular reads! keep it up!

Re: B2B eCommerce Implementation Checklist

royhayward — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:37:53 -0000

Ian,

Wow, looks like I will be out of a job soon. The career of B2B integrations has just been replaced with billFLO!!!

Seriously, if the only B2B integration challenge someone has is electronic infvoicing, then they should use a product like billFLO, but this product is not a comprehensive B2B integration solution.

A real B2B solution needs to cover multiple transactions like Orders, Acknowledgments, Ship Notices, Invoicing and Remitance. (And this is just for a good and service transaction flow.) And if you are in healthcare or telecom, we have an addtional set of transactions regarding claims and or service.

There is a reason that there are almost 1,000 diferent transaction types in current EDI standards. (I know, you could count more if you look at variations)

I'm sure your product is a good one for business that only have this need. But also know that my job is safe because B2B is more than invoicing. (Much much more.)

Re: B2B eCommerce Implementation Checklist

royhayward — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:11:57 -0000

Looks like it did take my post. I am removing this one as a duplicate of the other.

Oops

Re: B2B eCommerce Implementation Checklist

ian sweeney — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:43:52 -0000

Or they could just decided to implement billFLO and in 5 minutes be up and running. OK, that was a tongue-in-cheek comment :) My point is that a checklist approach is only needed before embarking on a time and resource consuming implementation of a b2b product.

We've taken a different approach with billFLO. We've designed a service that can be deployed in minutes, works equally well for buyer and seller and is priced at a point everyone can afford - free.

Ian Sweeney
CEO billFLO.com

P.S. Nice blog, I've already added it to my morning reading list!

Re: Why Use XML?

royhayward — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:46:40 -0000

You are right on the hype part here. (actually this is another good overview of technology)

I worked for a company a few years back that pushed lots of resources and money and time into developing an XML supply chain solution. Because XML was a hot buzz word, they planned that adopting this would make integrations with new partners fast and easy, and that they would be a more attractive trading partner. (kind of sounds like my teenager)

Well we spend the time and the money, and for a long time we had only one adopter of the XML. (of course they adopted the XML and then converted it back into EDI for their internal system to use.) And they were the most problematic of our partners. After only supporting them for three years, we finally started to see a trickle of new XML integrations. All of them small players that had new processes that came with XML.

The moral of this story is in support of your opening paragraph that states, "The misuse of XML is particularly prevalent when it comes to Business-To-Business (B2B) eCommerce." I have certainly seen this first hand.

When you have to use XML, it is important to start with the basics. I have a post about the basics at http://www.theintegrationengineer.com/what-is-xml/ if you are looking for a place to start understanding what XML is all about.

Re: Advantages of EDI

royhayward — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:36:08 -0000

Nice positive overview of EDI in the B2B space.

One of the major positives that I have encountered is that most of that standard ERP and Materials systems have support for EDI implementations. We are seeing more XML support being added, but when you are making the choice of how you want a standard integration to go, well EDI is a stable standard to go with.

There is a reason that big supply chain players like WalMart and Johnson and Johnson are using EDI. They need their supply chains to work for them, no be a limiting factor for the partners they can integrate with.

EDI is not the most intuitive form of data, but it is for computers to exchange data. I talk spend a good deal of time talking about this in my EDI Primer post series. http://www.theintegrationengineer.com/the-edi-p...

EDI has been around for a long time, and had had many of the "bugs" worked out of it. There is a long history of its implementation, and major players use it. My top three reasons to consider EDI first when implementing a B2B integration.

Re: Enablers of Free Commerce

royhayward — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:29:08 -0000

Sounds like an interesting perspective. I looked the reviews on librarything.com (http://www.librarything.com/work/289029/reviews) and it sounds even better.

I have heard before that (freedom = invention and industry) but hadn't put Christianity into the equation.

I have heard the common wisdom, that American culture is now in decline and that Chinese culture is ascending. (I don't put too much stock in 'common wisdom' most of the time.) I certainly don't feel that I am declining. I wonder if putting this template on the economic and social development time line will yield a different prediction of the future.

Guess I'll have to read the book to find out. :)

Re: How To File a Complaint Using Twitter

twitter-59604752 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:15:45 -0000

I have 3 business accounts with at&t small business, All of my bills have errors and major problems, I have been getting slammed by fake long distance companies who have been switching my service. I was transferred by AT&T 6 times the last time I called. When I needed to put the customer service person on hold he hung up on me. I tried to call this evening at 6pm and they are closed. I can not get a straight answer from AT&T and am beyond frustrated.