This Week in IDEA | August 15, 2007

Activant Solutions, Inc.: Platinum Sponsor of Electro E-Biz Forum 2007

The Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 Committee would like to thank Activant Solutions, Inc. for their Platinum Level Sponsorship. Activant is a leading technology provider of vertical business management solutions serving small and medium-sized retail and wholesale distribution businesses. The company serves three primary vertical markets: automotive parts aftermarket, hardlines and lumber and wholesale distribution. Activant provides customers with tailored proprietary software, professional services, content, supply chain connectivity, and analytics. Find out more at www.activant.com.

Back To Top

Electro E-Biz Forum Updates: Are You on the eCommerce ‘It’ List?

The Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 event is a month away and excitement is building as the date approaches. Many of your business peers have registered to discover the latest tools and technologies that will reshape the industry. Take a look at the updated registration list to make sure your company is represented at the eBusiness event of the year!

2007 Registration List

Not on the ‘it’ list? Register online now or visit the Electro E-Biz Forum Page for more information!

Technology + Information = POWER
Choose Your Formula at the Electro E-Biz Forum 2007. Check out the updated list of the companies that will share their expertise at the 2007 Tech Center where you will have the chance to learn and win!!

- IDEA
- Full Tilt
- eMobile Cat
- Intuit Eclipse
- Activant
- Taylor Market Media Group
- Computer Pundits
- DATAgility
- Gillani, Inc.
- Billtrust
- BlueVolt
- epaCUBE
- SAP
- Trade Service
- Infor Global Solutions
- Silver Creek Systems, Inc
- Datalliance
- Diamond Mind, Inc.

The Tech Center will be open from 4:30-8:30 September 18 and from 7:00AM – 5:30PM (Closed during General Sessions) September 19 and 20. If you are interested in participating in this event, download the Tech Center Prospectus or contact Mary Dempsey at (703) 562-4632.

Back To Top

Make a Difference in Your Industry: Attend the Next IDEA Standards Committee Meeting

When: September 21, 2007
Where: Vancouver
Venue: Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel

The next IDEA Standards Committee (ISC) Meeting will take place on September 21, 2007 during the Electro E-Biz Forum. It is important that you are there to provide input for the standards that will affect the entire supply network. Everyone involved in the industry including manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers are welcome. Make your reservations today because time is running out! Please contact Mary Shaw, Standards Director, at (647) 722-3406 for details.

Back To Top

IDX: The Best Value in eCommerce

What is IDX?
Industry Data Exchange (IDX) is a business communication service that enables trading partners to exchange documents such as purchase orders, advance ship notices, and invoices securely and cost effectively via the Internet. IDX also enables delivery and access to IDEA's Industry Data Warehouse (IDW). In fact, sending IDW transactions via IDX is free!

IDX not only provides all of the traditional Electronic Data Interchange Value Added Network (EDI VAN) services you’d expect, but it also delivers additional features and services—all at rates that are 30%-40%, and as much as 90% lower than other service providers. Better yet, IDX connects to traditional VANs so you can continue to trade with your partners, including those who use non-traditional exchanges.

Do I need to be EDI enabled to use IDX?
No. If a company is not EDI capable, XML and Flat File formats may be used. In addition, we provide web form templates based on the commonly used ANSI X12 transaction sets. Just enter your information and we’ll map it into EDI and process it.

How do I get connected to IDX?
To use IDX, you need an Internet connection (a direct connection or one provided by an Internet Service Provider) and software that meets AS-1, AS-2 or AS-3 qualifications and is compatible with your backend system, if necessary. Or, if you choose to use our web forms, you just need Internet access and a web browser.

Does IDEA provide client software?
No. To ensure maximum choice and flexibility, you can select AS-1, AS-2, AS-3 or FTP software to connect to IDX. The criterion for IDX is that the software you choose must meet the established requirements and must be configured to communicate with the network. IDEA can suggest software vendors with whom we have special arrangements, but purchasing and licensing those solutions is up to you.

How much will it cost me to use IDX?
IDEA charges a one-time fee to subscribe to our service, and then your cost is based on your monthly traffic volume, ranging from $.03 to $.07 per kilo character. That rate covers both on- and off-network transactions, as well as all other services and capabilities you may use with IDX. There are no hidden charges.

How do I monitor my transactions and traffic?
An IDX Document Tracker is available online. This site allows customers to track documents from end-to-end, on-net or off-net. Once you are configured to communicate on IDX, you will receive a user identification and password to access this secure site.

Back To Top

Focusing on the Customer

Excerpt from The McKinsey Quarterly

Merrill Lynch has combined operations with IT in a single unit. Diane Schueneman, the head of the company’s Global Infrastructure Solutions, explains how she is changing both to focus on the customer.

The Quarterly: You’re in a somewhat unique position, with technology and operations both reporting to you. Why is it better to have technology and operations together than apart? What does this structure enable you to do?
Diane Schueneman: I try to remember that we’re not a technology company; we’re a financial-services company that supplies solutions to our customers around their financial needs—simple as that. Customers don’t say, “You do a really great job creating an equity product.” They ask, “How well do you deliver it to me?” and “Does it meet my needs?”

So the whole reason to combine technology and operations rests on the customer’s needs. And to deliver against those needs requires the best operational processes and the best technology. But you can’t start with one and graft on the other. It’s the integration of technology and operations, from beginning to end, that really allows you to serve customers effectively, anywhere in the world. It’s one example of how we’re transforming our organization to think differently from the ways that financial-services companies have thought in the past—which is to say you have to move beyond an individual silo mentality.

The Quarterly: So you’re saying that when you redraw the organizational chart from a customer perspective, it looks very different?
Diane Schueneman: That’s the guiding principle: don’t connect the dots according to your whims but around the interests of the one who pays the bills. After all, customers are not buying technology or process from us; they’re buying a solution.

To do that, you have to ask your customers what they want and then listen carefully to the answer. You also have to be able to dissect what a customer says and know how to put that into action. For example, everyone hears that customers want one-stop shopping. And some companies interpret that as, “Give clients just one person to talk to.” But we asked ourselves, “Does that mean that with all of the intellectual capacity generated by 50,000 people at the firm, the customer only wants to draw on the talent of one person?” No. What the customers are really saying is that they want consistency; they want a common way to access all of their information with us. And they want simplification. When they want to open a relationship across five products, they want to be treated like one customer, not five. Can we do the paperwork once, instead of five times? In other words, they want the power of all 50,000 people, but organized in such a way that we deliver their service in a simple way.

The Quarterly: Has this reorientation to the customer viewpoint been more challenging than you would have thought as far as changing people’s perspectives?
Diane Schueneman: No question. I think anytime you ask people to change, they wonder if they’ve done something wrong. To move past that, you explain the rationale and the vision of where you want to go—in our case, moving from an internal focus to an external one centered on the customer’s perspective. Once you get people excited about change and give them the freedom to think, you unleash their intellectual capabilities. They do amazing things, and that’s how you get innovation.

We have told our people, “Go out and invent a better way of doing things.” To empower them, we have supplied resources and management support. That combination of ideas and follow-through is how you create new possibilities.

The Quarterly: So it sounds as though innovation requires more than just smart people with good ideas; it also requires an environment in which it can flourish.
Diane Schueneman: Right. You have to encourage innovation. People often focus on the potential for problems, but people are willing to try new things if you show the way forward, provide the right environments, and make resources available for pilot projects. Change like this doesn’t happen overnight; it happens in small steps.

Another thing that I focus on very heavily is creating learning and development opportunities for employees, because if you don’t do that, then you can’t ask them to take risks. All of our training programs are supported by our technology career framework, which shows people the skills required to advance in our company. Specifically, it describes the competencies required for success, illustrates different career roles and paths, and shows how individuals can develop the skills critical to success.

The Quarterly: What skills will institutions need if they are to thrive in coming years?
Diane Schueneman: I believe over the next ten years there will be a couple of characteristics and skill sets that, if you don’t have as a company, you probably are going to be in big trouble. There’s no question you’ll need collaboration and teamwork skills. Data-management skills will also be essential, since the ability to understand and integrate information into your organization is critical.

Successful partnerships will also be important as financial-services companies learn they can no longer be all things to all people. They’ll learn from other industries that have gone through economic crunches that they have to become more effective in their delivery of services. We can’t produce everything ourselves.

As a team, we came up with some ambitious goals that we aim to deliver over the next three years. One goal is to increase client satisfaction. Not a surprise, but we wanted to make it measurable so that we are in the top tier of client satisfaction as measured by external means, such as reports on the timeliness and accuracy of our confirmations, benchmark tracking for collateral and valuations, and surveys that measure us against competitors.

We also want to be best-in-class with our e-channels. There’s no question the business is going that way, but we have to continue to ask ourselves whether we’re serving our customers the way they want to be served. Here, we’re working closely with other parts of the organization—marketing, research, strategy—because this touches so many things within our business: transactions, our financial content, customer service, and our proprietary information that gives us a competitive edge. And there are several ways to provide these things—through a Web portal, a direct link, or software. In this case, technology and operations are the glue that holds all these efforts together, providing the capabilities to deliver what the rest of the organization wants to do.

The Quarterly: You’ve talked about the pathway you’re providing for the people below you, but how do you see your role evolving?
Diane Schueneman: I think any CIO role has to evolve to become an integral part of the business’s fabric. There’s a lot of talk about whether CIOs have a seat at the table, but in a way that misses the point. You don’t get the seat at the table and then suddenly succeed; you have to drive a capability in a company, and then you get a seat at the table. Ask yourself what are you doing that is transformational? What are you doing that’s a differentiator? Are you thinking differently or are you an order taker?

That aspiration, I find, is lacking in some CIOs. But the opportunity is there for them to think like CEOs and to use the power of the organization to achieve greatness. To do that, they have to work broadly across the company—with the CFO, the head of sales, and other functional leaders. They have to understand these different roles and be very involved in bringing new ideas to them.

I believe that’s what is expected of me and I certainly am not waiting for somebody to tell me what to do. I see my role as leading people through significant change, to focus on the client.

Back To Top

Did You Know? IDW Hot Facts

IDEA has posted a document to manufacturers' and distributors' IDW sites further explaining the reports that are available to them. This document defines IDW report parameters and shows examples of each. The index helps you select the right report for the information you are seeking. Examples of these reports include extract and load activity reports, company and price authorization reports, and the subscriber directory.

If you are interested in more details regarding the IDW reports, contact Marcy Rogers, IDW Product Manager, at (703) 562-4618.

Back To Top