We’re halfway through 2021 – it’s time to start looking at the goals you set for your business at the beginning of the year. Did you want to be more efficient, profitable, or seize new opportunities? If you haven’t, what’s holding you back?
In this article, we’ll look at how managed integration services help your company achieve greater efficiency, higher growth, and innovate.
What Are Managed Integration Services?
To start, let’s define the term “managed integration services.”
Remedi has its own definition of managed integration services. We describe “managed integration services” as “co-sourcing,” not outsourcing. Here’s the difference: within a traditional outsourcing arrangement, a business turns overall control of the integration solution (from software hosting to management and everything in between) to a third party. The Remedi managed integration services model gives companies more flexibility and control.
“Remedi defines ‘managed integration services’ as co-sourcing, not outsourcing.”
Managed integration services mean your business owns or rents your B2B integration solution. It resides on-premises, on a public/private cloud, or is delivered through an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS). Remedi manages and monitors the B2B integration solution.
Who Needs Managed Integration Services?
Now that it’s clear what managed integration services are let’s talk about who needs them.
This might surprise you, but there isn’t a specific vertical or industry that’s a good fit for managed integration services. Rather, the companies that need these services the most are the ones that have a particular mindset. These businesses have invested in integration modernization yet need assistance in seeing ROI.
“Who’s the best fit for managed IT services? Those who modernized integration architecture, yet need help achieving ROI.”
Their IT departments don’t have the resources or time (or perhaps neither of those things) to get the most out of modern B2B integration architecture. Today’s IT departments deal with myriad challenges: they’re contending with new applications, maintaining legacy IT assets, and figuring out how to integrate new information streams like blockchain and APIs.
Managed IT services help in this situation by removing the burden of managing an integration solution from IT. Under a managed IT services model, the company saves money on the cost of finding IT talent, training them, and paying salaries and benefits. Yet, they also have control of the IT environment, which minimizes security risks.
What Are the Benefits of Managed Integration Services?
There are several benefits of managed IT services:
- Eliminate onboarding backlogs
- End process errors
- Rid yourself of delays and fines
- Upgrade successfully and migrate without a hassle
Eliminate Onboarding Backlogs
How long does it take you to onboard new trading partners? At many large firms, the process can take between three to six months. Onboarding new partners can be fraught with risk – multiple internal teams (Procurement, Legal, Compliance) get involved in reducing those risks.
Yet, the business relationship between your company and the trading partner has been paused in the meantime. If you’re a customer, you can’t order; if you’re a supplier, you can’t sell. A managed IT services team can speed up the partner onboarding process without exposing your company to more risk.
End Process Errors
A B2B integration solution makes an excellent investment…if it works properly. As we mentioned earlier, your IT department has enough on its plate without dealing with process errors. If your IT team doesn’t have the manpower to deal with these errors, bottlenecks form (which we’ll discuss more in the next section).
This is where managed IT services come into play. They’re specialists in B2B integration solutions, and they can manage the technology so that errors don’t arise. As a result, your IT team will no longer have to deal with those headaches and can focus on its core work.
Rid Yourself of Delays and Fines
Have you accepted chargebacks as a part of doing business? Chargebacks don’t have to be a fact of life. You’re overpaying thousands of dollars per year as a result of avoidable errors.
Chargebacks lead to delays when customers return the products they purchased from you. Your warehouse staff now has to take the time and effort to reship the correct order. It’s a waste of time and money.
“Chargebacks and delays waste time and money.”
An EDI managed services team helps you get rid of chargebacks and delays. They analyze where problems are cropping up and put a strategy in place to eliminate those problems. You’ll save money and run your business more efficiently.
Upgrade Successfully and Migrate without a Hassle
When your IT team needs to install upgrades or migrate to a new solution, how long does that take? Generally, upgrades and migration are lengthy, laborious processes that involve costly downtime.
Utilizing managed IT services frees up IT resources. The managed services team takes care of the upgrades and migration to minimize downtime and other inconveniences to the greatest extent possible.
Case Study: How an Intermodal Logistics Provider Benefited from Managed Integration Services
To illustrate how companies can benefit from managed IT services, we’ll use the example of a Remedi customer. The customer, an intermodal logistics provider, migrated to Cleo Clarify from an EDI system that didn’t provide the scalability or functionality they needed. However, the customer discovered that day-to-day EDI tasks were limiting the team’s ability to take advantage of all of Clarify’s features.
The customer chose Remedi to provide a Cleo-trained consultant to assist them. The consultant trained the customer’s IT team within the production environment. Also, Remedi’s consultant helped the team become more comfortable with certain mission-critical processes to make the company more efficient.
“The Remedi consultant helped the team become more comfortable with certain mission-critical processes.”
Thanks to the training, the customer’s IT team learned how to use Clarify features to provide an immediate benefit to their clients. Now, the company can offer real-time visibility of truck locations, providing a competitive advantage.
Let 2021 be the year you reap the advantages of B2B modernization. Integration. Your Way. Choose the delivery model that works for you.
