As an electronic data interchange professional, you have valuable skills and knowledge. Make the most of them by getting into EDI consulting, which offers numerous advantages over full-time employment. Below, we lay out the how and why.
What Responsibilities come with an EDI Consulting Job?
In an EDI consulting role, you implement EDI at your client organizations and then work to keep the systems functioning correctly. Your clients may be in any one of an array of industries, from health care to logistics, but they all share a common goal: to quickly and seamlessly exchange critical business documents with trading partners, helping speed all other processes.
Your responsibilities as an EDI consultant will include but not necessarily be limited to:
- Designing and developing an EDI system for each client
- Monitoring electronic transactions
- Setting up additional systems for each of your client’s new trading partners
- Continually improving and updating existing trading partner processes and interactions
- Using EDI mapping and cross-referencing tools
- Designing, coding, debugging and testing programs
- Maintaining scheduled services
- Managing change-control processes
- Working with application programming interfaces and the applications using them
- Ideating and proposing IT solutions
- Keeping accurate transaction records
- Monitoring daily exchanges for errors and other issues
- Troubleshooting and fixing any system failures
- Reducing system-error risk
Because many companies and other entities use EDI to access their providers’ ordering databases, keeping your clients’ EDI systems running smoothly is imperative to their business.
Consultant vs. Employee
Many of your duties in an EDI consulting job will be the same as those you had as an EDI employee. However, there will be some important differences.
When you were a full-time EDI staffer, your employer likely issued you a W-2 tax form each year and took out all necessary federal and state taxes. The organization probably employed other specialists to handle this task as well as compliance and office-related processes.
As an EDI consultant, however, you will be responsible for determining your tax own withholdings (and paying them). You will also need to supply your own insurance, likely of the professional liability, or “errors and omissions,” variety, helpful in the event a client sues for errors or misinformation. Many prospective clients, in fact, will ask to see proof of such coverage before taking you on to do EDI work.
As a consultant, you’ll also need to handle your own back-end office work. This includes invoicing, mailings and the provision of your own office supplies. As a 9-to-5er, the business you worked for supplied you with office equipment, such as a computer, monitors, a printer and more. It may also have given you monthly internet and cell phone stipends. When you become a hired consultant, expect to use your own equipment and cell phone. If you’re working offsite, you will need to also pay for your own high-speed internet.
When you were an employee, your company probably had an office or other space where you and other staff members went to work every day. Once you make the switch to EDI consulting, though, your work location may be largely up to you (unless the terms of a particular contract dictate otherwise). Working from anywhere you like means you’re responsible for all overhead incurred, including lease or rent costs, utilities, office furniture and more.
Then there’s your business classification. Will you be a sole proprietor or a limited liability corporation? There are benefits to each, but you will need to decide and then take the steps required by your state.
How can you Become an EDI Consultant
To work in EDI consulting, you will need the right expertise and experience. Many organizations seeking EDI consultants will also require a certain level of education, which will generally be a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in information technology or a related field. Other potential clients may well be willing to accept experience in lieu of specific degrees.
But whether you have a degree or not, your resume will need to showcase know-how in working with EDIs. You may also need to have proven experience developing or improving various IT methods and processes.
In terms of technical skills, you will also need:
- Familiarity with EDI solutions
- Understanding of the common catalog of management formats, including Gs1, BME Cat, Excel and XML
- A strong grasp of technical processes that deal with ERP systems
- A cross-divisional understanding of IT and relevant, various business units
- A working knowledge of EDI translation software
- A good understanding of EDI transaction sets, standards and practices
- Knowledge of web architecture and networking protocols
- Expertise in data mapping and organization
- Basic knowledge of Oracle, SQL, PERL, REST API, UNIX shell scripting and Linux
- Proficiency in the full Microsoft Office suite
There are also some personality traits and tendencies that will hold you in good stead as an EDI consultant. These include good communication skills, being a self starter who is comfortable taking initiative to get things done and having the ability to work independently.
EDI Consulting vs. your Current Job
With the EDI market set to more than double to over $4 billion by 2029, there is ample opportunity for qualified EDI consultants who want to create rewarding careers for themselves.
Unlike employees, consultants are not limited by income caps. That means when you become one, you can take on and reap the financial benefits from as many clients as you can handle. The average annual earnings of an EDI consultant is far above that for other jobs, too, at more than $167,000, according to ZipRecruiter.
If you want a bit more free time, you can simply take on fewer projects. Just try doing that when you’re an employee!
Another can’t-be-beaten perk of EDI consulting: the ability, as mentioned above, to work from anywhere you like. As a consultant, you’re usually not beholden to any employer’s stringent rules about being in your cubicle eight hours a day or taking vacation time to go to the doctor. That freedom enables you to schedule your work around your life, not the other way around.
Make the Transition
Are you ready to take the leap from worker bee to self-employed entrepreneur? Remedi’s done some of the work for you – check out top consulting listings here. If you’re an organization looking for top EDI talent, we have it here.
Ready for your integration consulting skills to be appreciated? 
