The purpose of this article is to give our customers substance for properly measuring the benefits of the B2B Integration implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This information is useful for fulfilling Return on Investment (ROI) criteria for sponsors or shareholders. Typically a savings must be guaranteed before any investment in EDI can be made and the following will provide a foundation for making such a business case. EDI services require an investment of resources for initial development and configuration as well as continued maintenance and support. These costs must be considered and compared to existing manual processes to determine a rate of return for EDI transactions and, once compared to initial investment and continued maintenance costs, whether a business case can be made for an EDI implementation. Commonly, an existing process is a manual one in which business users input data from paper documents by mail or fax, from information received electronically by email, email attachment or over the Internet, or even from information received directly over the telephone. Any transaction that requires original or subsequent data entry by a business user is considered a manual transaction. Compared to the use of manual transactions EDI easily offers substantial cost savings that are both quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative Benefits

Qualitative benefits are strategic and do not represent an immediately measurable benefit. Whether a case can be made for a documented qualitative benefit is more a judgment call than a financial calculation so a statement made for a qualitative benefit should be convincing and cite potential growth in revenue or make a case for saving existing costs. While a case made for the qualitative benefits of EDI can sound compelling it may not receive the same acceptance that measurable benefits can bring. Consult the list below for examples of qualitative benefits that can be used to make a statement for EDI.

• "Pay to Play" - "Pay to Play" describes a situation in which customers demand EDI before they will even consider establishing a business relationship. This is often the most compelling qualitative benefit.

• Competitive Advantage - Opportunities may exist where a competitor does not offer EDI or a complete EDI solution that is desired by a customer. Establishing EDI with this customer can win business away from a competitor. Having EDI capability generally offers a competitive advantage.

• Entrenchment - Implementation of an automated EDI process with a customer makes it a more difficult for a competitor to steal business. They must first demonstrate an advantage over the automated EDI process and even then a customer will think twice before beginning a new implementation.

Both quantitative and qualitative benefits should be considered when making a business case for EDI. In most cases adding EDI services for your organization will bring considerable improvements and savings in many areas. Ask Shree Consulting for assistance and leverage their host of experts to realize the competitive advantages EDI and B2B integration can bring.