B2B Data Integration and Transformation Blog

The COVID-19 outbreak had a profound near-instantaneous impact on business operations globally. Within the weeks that followed, enterprises came to the painful truth that their supply chains were not as reliable as they thought. As a result, buzz words like "just-in-time" and "make-to-order" were quickly thrown off the wagon, with many businesses struggling to stay afloat and some suspending operations altogether.

Traditionally, most companies deployed digital integration solutions in an enterprise-centric manner that prioritized connecting business units to internal applications and business partners through standard EDI technologies. As a result, integration happened from the "inside-out", with internal systems dictating the level and extent of connections with external systems.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been around for more than 60 years. It has faced numerous shake-ups and undergone several notable changes, but it has persevered as the widely accepted standard for multi-enterprise integration.

This is the final article in our series, “The Human Side of Modernization.” This article will focus on the benefits of business automation and detail the mistakes IT leaders need to avoid in order to fully realize them. Previous articles in this series have focused on the technologies that enable business automation, EDI, B2B integration, and ERP solutions; you can find links to them at the end of this article.

This is the third article in our series, “The Human Side of Modernization.” This blog will explain what companies generally get wrong about digital transformation and why we advise companies to hire, dedicate, or contract experienced, business-savvy EDI and integration resources to ensure success with digital transformations. You can find links to the first two installments in the series at the end of this article.