B2B Data Integration and Transformation Blog

Last week, we shared with subscribers a fuller discussion around one of the five enduring lessons for the future of supply chain management post Covid-19 in Time To Fix What’s Broken. Where the previous installment in our series explored the pain and risks of relying on last century’s EDI and integration tools, this post will explain strategies and tools built for commerce in a century marked by sudden, sweeping disruption and changing demand patterns that demand agility and speed from companies who want to remain relevant.

Half a century ago, manufacturers could rely on a few certainties. For a start, their suppliers were fairly local. Second, their customers were close by, too. Today, that’s no longer the case; as a manufacturer, you know that your trading partners could be scattered across the globe.

It makes sense to tackle large projects in-house and culturally this approach is often the only way IT projects get completed in some organizations. These DIY situations might include bench marking your B2B integration capabilities or considering new integration delivery mechanisms. At times it sounds daunting to some firms, but it is doable.

However, just because you are taking the DIY approach does not mean you have to handle every single aspect of an initiative on your own. There are certain challenges that might arise which require outside help. Read on to learn when it makes sense to take on a B2B integration project on your own, when to ask for help, and to whom you should turn.