> Quoted text is from < by jimclake
> <
>
> >How much of a demand is there for an inexpensive, custom written
EDI
> >translator (for Windows) that would include support and updates?
> ...
> If only someone with a calculator and a sense of business demographics
> had been around when they first thought about EDI.
I have been saying this for years. I have called and talked to, written (on real
paper with a real postage stamp) and
email-corresponded with most of the 'major brand name' translator/mapper vendors
about how all these 'major brand name'
translator-mappers are simply 'wrong' for small businesses.
All these systems are 'complete and comprehensive' with support for every
standard, every document, a separate partner (customer
and./vendor) database to maintain and a whole new set of screens to
learn and
use.
My proposed solution for all was the same: Why not make the translation/mapping
functions available in an Applications Program
Interface" or "Runtime only" format and market though vertical applications
developers who want to take their niche applications and
"EDI-Enable" them?
My 'classic' example is the Mercator (now Ascential) (oops, now IBM) mapping
product. No way Suzy User can justify the expense of a
complete Mercator Authoring System (leave alone the expense of learning how to
use it!); but a vertical market applications
developer (e.g., moi) could use the translation/mapping features as an
API,
allowing Suzy User to "one-click-process" ANSI EDI
data. And, any required partner
maintenance could be integrated into the
vertical application, and Suzy could set up her partners
using screens which look like they actually belong to the business application.
Apparently no one at any of these companies was ever able to handle the math.
I'm no finance guru, but it sure seems to me that:
One
Sale at $10,000 for a complete system generates the same cash as does 50
sales of 'runtime only' at $200.00 (and with lower
sales expense, since the VAR/OEM will be marketing it for you!).
So to put this 'on-topic'.... If someone wanted to jump into the EDI
translation/mapping software market, I think they'd have a
good chance of succeeding if they were to develop the product to be used by
vertical market applications developers instead of just
thinking about "full systems" with the ONE BIG PRICE TAG. Greed kills.
Michael Mattias
Tal Systems, Inc.
Racine WI
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