EDI Consulting

EDI consulting is the use of outside third-party expert staff to help you with the adoption, deployment or use of EDI.  EDI consulting is very popular especially among small businesses or businesses that have only limited use for EDI.  EDI Consulting is an area of EDI that can be difficult to work with due to the varying levels of expertise and knowledge that providers of EDI consulting often have.  As a small business, there are a number of advantages and drawbacks to EDI consulting.  Over time you will find that your need and benefit from EDI consulting diminishes and that you will want to bring the EDI expertise in-house

Benefits of EDI Consulting

The most obvious benefit of EDI consulting is that it provides expert assistance at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated staff member.  EDI consulting is very popular with small businesses that are just getting started with EDI due to the technically complex nature of EDI.  As a business looking to hire EDI consulting you should consider a number of factors.  First, how much EDI do you plan to use in the near future.  If the answer is "limited," then using EDI consulting is the right answer.  Even if you decide that EDI consulting is for you, you should treat the process of finding the right EDI consulting professional in the same way as hiring a top executive.  You should carefully screen your EDI consulting professionals and determine their level of expertise to try and ensure that you are getting the level of help you need.  Be also careful to ensure that you can change your EDI consulting provider easily if your first choice should fail to prove out.

Drawbacks of EDI Consulting

The most serious drawback of using EDI consulting is that you do not build your in-house knowledge of EDI.  EDI consulting professionals tend to be very guarded with their information and are often not willing to train or teach their clients to ensure that they can be retained for their EDI consulting services.  Because of this tendency your business should make a roadmap for its use of EDI consulting.  You will quickly find that as your use of EDI increases, your EDI consulting expenses will increase accordingly.

Does Your Business Need EDI Consulting?

The easiest way to answer this question is to look at your use of EDI.  How many trading partners require you to use EDI? How many of them will you implement right away?  The lower the numbers to those two questions, the higher the benefit from EDI consulting.  Regardless of whether you determine that EDI consulting is for you, over time you will outgrow it.  Setting a strategy for migrating away from EDI consulting is your best insurance for long-term benefit.

When Should You Transition from EDI Consulting to In-House?

As a growing business you will find that as you increasingly use EDI, the costs associated with EDI consulting will increase accordingly.  Over time you might spend as much on EDI consulting as you would on a dedicated in-house expert.  In order to ensure a smooth transition to an in-house expert you should demand from the very beginning that your EDI consulting professional document all their EDI related work and that they agree to help transition when the time is right.  With a little bit of planning and care you will be able to get the most benefit out of EDI consulting while also achieving a long-term strategy that is beneficial to your business.

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