B2B Data Integration and Transformation Blog

Past articles from Remedi, Valuable Relationships in Tough Times and RDBMS Versus Real Relationships detail the candidate supply and demand pendulum that confronts EDI hiring managers and integration managers when staffing contract and full-time hire needs in varying economic conditions. These articles outline in each economic circumstance how hiring managers can best engage the sourcing pros of professional services firms to derive value in the search for resources.

We have received positive feedback from hiring managers on these articles, and somewhat surprisingly, from Integration candidates as well. The article Interviewing your Recruiter takes a reciprocal approach, providing guidance for integration professionals in terms of how to best select and engage with a recruiter. Hopefully hiring managers will find this view of the recruiting process valuable as well.

With a look at both sides of the integration talent equation let’s move on to the CareerBuilder 2015 job forecast.  The first 1/3 of the year seems to be unfolding along the lines of this report at least from our observations.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “I’m going to do it!”  Recently, I turned 50 and I’m now saying “When am I am going to do it”?  The "it" can be different for each one of us.  Well, this year I decided I was going to discuss taking a Hot-Air-Balloon ride with my husband to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary.  I’ve wanted to take a Hot-Air-Balloon ride for many years and I’ve talked about taking a Hot-Air-Balloon ride with my friends and family for many years.  I even have Hot-Air-Ballooning pictures all over my office and I look at them every day.  I shared the idea with my husband and he loved it.  The difference this year is that my husband and I have been taking action on our goal.  We’ve discussed it with a couple that have been friends with us for years and they are going to join us on our adventure this Spring!  We have made some calls and started to research different companies that offer flights in our area and are now looking at dates that the four of us can put on our calendars.  Look for pictures in my next blog!

If you’re like me, you too have many things you have been wanting to accomplish or experience, both in your business and in your personal life.  So, what’s holding you back or delaying those things from happening on a more regular basis?  Perhaps you’re bogged down with a laundry list of day to day things that seem to be more of a priority or you’re putting out fires within your EDI department and you can’t see the bottom of your desk.  So, what happens is the bigger EDI goals get put aside for the more immediate and urgent tasks.  We find ourselves not accomplishing those bigger goals and being disappointed.

There are many factors that drive companies to take on a B2B integration project.  Below, I outline the major factors that our customers have told us over the past year.

ERP Implementation

A company's ERP system is the core of their business processes.   In order to utilize the investment, it only makes sense to extend its value by interfacing with internal and external systems and partners.  Maybe your company converted from an existing ERP, which will require new interfaces to the EDI or integration platform or you just implemented an ERP system and you need to start from scratch. 

In a previous blog, (It's Almost Black Friday, Do You Have Visibility?) we discussed the importance of visibility in the supply chain and the desire that we as consumers have to “know where our stuff is”.  Data visibility is one of the most common requirements I hear about when discussing B2B integration solutions with a customer.  Not only are companies required to provide visibility to their customers, but it’s increasingly becoming a requirement of line of business users within organizations. 

Two Quick Thoughts

The Issue

A popular air freshener company is moving lots of product these days by asking if we have become “Noseblind”.   Noseblindness is the phenomenon where humans become accustomed to the odors around us until we no longer recognize them, while our guests are overwhelmed by the cat’s litter box or the fish we cooked for dinner last night.     

Since none of us want to offend the sensibilities of those who visit our homes and offices, we purchase the latest plug in fragrance or aerosol freshener out of fear that others will detect the offensive odors to which we have become immune.   After all, who has the time to constantly search for things we no longer realize exist?