Lets recall the goal of EDI. What is it again? Cost savings. The way people
are describing the benefits of the VAN to me, it is just an excuse for not
doing a good job building their system, and it diverts them from the
original goal of EDI.
The way I approach EDI is - build a good system to start with and enjoy huge
cost savings in the long run.
I've used VANs plenty. I find that a system is a chain - the less links you
have, the less places there are for it to break. I have caught Sterling
screwing up my data, and I have heard of problems with other VANs from other
associates.
That which you have control of, you have a better chance of fixing. When you
have a problem with the VAN and you are dependant on them, you are at their
mercy.
Anthony
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve X Lee SL [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 4:12 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Internet vs VAN vs capabilit
Doesn't anybody realize this scenario has been played out before in
different
industries at different times?
VAN (aka Home improvement contractor, Publishing firm) outsources a
purpose
for you freeing you to concentrate on other things.
A novel new idea lowers your cost of entry for do it yourself.
Internet (aka
Home Depot, Desktop Publishing) with promises for riches.
They both have their pro's and con's.
Regards,
-Steve
------------------------
Now, now...VANs do provide services which may be benficial to many.
Using a VAN, you only connect to one place...whether using the internet or a
modem. If you did not use a VAN, you would have to keep up with all of the
sites and logins used in your ftp's or the phone numbers and logins used in
your modem dial-ups. That would be multiple connections your system had to
make versus one each time.
Using a VAN, you are provided with reports summarizing your traffic. If you
do not use a VAN, you must make sure you have your own logging capability
and that your partner has logging capability so you have some sort of audit
trail.
Some companies may be limited by the security built into their network
relative to the location of their EDI server on the network.
Some simply may not have the expertise to support it.
Some may have very litmied resources and do not have the time to
maintain/support the various connections.
We all know modems are moody and each new connection brings more wonderful
challenges (ugh!).
To summarize, I beleive the IT choices we all make probably mostly come down
to cost whether we like it or not, but there are other issues that should be
taken into account and may then limit the choices a particular organization
has.
By the way, we do both...our customer is always right!
Catie Freres
Programmer/Analyst
Smith & Nephew
001-901-399-5507
=======================================================================
To contact the list owner: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/edi-l%40listserv.ucop.edu/
=======================================================================
To contact the list owner: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/edi-l%40listserv.ucop.edu/
