Are you an EDI professional looking for a flexible schedule, more autonomy and uncapped earning potential?
Whether you’ve been working full-time in electronic data interchange for years or have more recently acquired expertise in the field, you should consider EDI consulting. It offers a host of benefits over full-time employment, and we lay these out below.
An EDI consulting job can be a refreshing change from – and a big improvement over – full-time employment at a single organization. This is particularly so for those who have been putting in 40-plus hours a week at the same place for a long time. Here, we outline some of the top perks of being an EDI consultant.
If you’re part of the workforce, you’re most likely a millennial – and yours is a generation that prizes work-life balance and flexibility even higher than it does other, more traditional benefits. Despite this fact, many employers remain unwilling to give an inch when it comes to remote work, flex scheduling and more.
As a consultant, you aren’t beholden to all the rules of stickler employers. You can generally set your own hours and decide on your own work locations, giving you a tremendous amount of professional choice. If you have children, you can plan your workday around school pick-up and drop-off times. If you care for an elderly relative, you can work from home to be nearby in case they need you. The choices and arrangements you can make are numerous – and up to you.
EDI consultants tend to make more than their W-2-filing counterparts. Why? Because when you’re a consultant you can take on as many clients as you can handle, whereas full-time workers are often limited when it comes to outside gigs by their terms of employment. What’s more, EDI consulting lets you bill yourself out at a higher rate if you have particularly sought-after skills or specializations.
If you’re an EDI employee, you probably take for granted that you’ll always have a supervisor looking over your shoulder. Not so for an EDI consultant. Because you’re not an employee and you likely work off-site, most of your clients don’t expect you to be in communication with them eight hours a day. Nor do they expect you to be in daily meetings or on multiple, back-to-back phone or video calls. You’re a contractor, and as long as you deliver your work as promised, you won’t be micromanaged.
EDI consulting is a great way to do your own version of continuing education. As you learn on the job with each new project, you gain knowledge and skills you didn’t have before. That makes you more saleable for future work and better able to solve problems and achieve goals for your current clients.
If you’re an EDI professional who gets bored easily, an EDI consulting job is the ideal position for you. With each new contract comes a new challenge and a new group of people. Even if you do long-term work for a single client, having the freedom to take on more than one account at a time means there’s always variety in your work.
The global EDI market is poised for enormous continued growth: to the tune of more than $4 billion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights. Position yourself to gain from this positive forecast by becoming your own boss through EDI consulting. Here’s how:
You don’t have to have decades of experience in EDI to be successful as a consultant in the field, but you do need to have a solid foundation of know-how. This should include familiarity with basic Microsoft applications and sound problem-solving and communication skills.
You will also want to hone your coding, customer-servicing abilities and business sense, because you will need all three as a top EDI consultant. It’s also a good idea to read about and get a good ‘download’ on the industry and programs in which each client is involved before you dive into projects.
If you’re weighing the benefits of consulting versus full-time EDI employment, it’s important that you consider yourself an analytical and data-driven person. You’ll need these characteristics in your new role. Expect, too, to be well-versed in data flow, familiar with testing practices, and up on operations and inventory management. You’ll also want a sound understanding of databases and data mapping.
Planning to seek out more specialized jobs, in EDI business-analyst consulting? In that case, you’ll also want to have experience in data design, warehousing and models.
As we mentioned earlier, being an EDI consultant comes with a great deal of autonomy – and with it comes the need for self-discipline. Being able to show your clients that you can thrive as an independent worker who doesn’t require constant direction and can deliver on a project as promised will go a long way toward building trust and confidence in potential clients.
To become a preferred EDI consultant and build up your book of business, you will also need to keep abreast of trends and expert forecasts in the industry. Then, be on the lookout for ways to weave this regularly updated knowledge into your work. A few specialties hiring managers often seek out: EDI business-application setup, guided logistics and troubleshooting.
If you’re a competent EDI professional – whether longtime or recent – there’s a place for you in EDI consulting. It’s a professional path that offers scheduling flexibility, autonomy, financial security and more, and the opportunities for it are expected to see explosive growth in coming years, putting you on sound footing for the future.
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Organizations looking to hire best-in-class EDI consultants need look no further than Remedi. We’re an established leader in EDI consulting and B2B integration staffing, and we can help you locate the perfect consultant fit your EDI needs – at a significant cost savings over hiring a full-time employee. See available talent here.
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