Are You Still Killing Trees to Do Business?
It’s amazing what technology can do: Share a thought across the globe in seconds, pin-point your location through your cell phone, even operate with a tiny laser incision.
But despite technologies many advances, it’s not always widely embraced. The B2B sector seems particularly slow to change: EDI has been around since the 1970s, and yet, paper and email still play a significant role in the day-to-day operations between businesses.
In fact, it seems a good many of you are still killing trees to get things done. A 2009 study found that paper checks accounted for about one in six of all global transactions, according to BusinessFinanceMag.com. Another study, this one from 2011, found that three-fourths of companies still receive their invoices as emailed PDFs. Even more shocking, half of those then print out these electronic invoices for processing!
We’re curious about how far along B2B.com readers are when it comes to being truly automated when it comes to purchase orders, shipping notices, and other processes related to business-to-business transactions. Do you have an EDI system in place? Do you rely on FTP? Is Excel your invoice system? Or is your company using some “other” type of process?
Take a few minutes to let us know where your company stands by taking our Quick Poll, located on the right-hand side of the home page.
anfiber — April 10 6:27am
I think so! The B2B sector seems particularly slow to change: EDI has been around since the 1970s, and yet, paper and email still play a significant role in the day-to-day operations between businesses.
Loraine Lawson — April 12 11:04am
I wonder why companies will invest in upgrades for ERP and CRM, but not the operational/supply side.
Dave Brooks — September 16 10:31am
Revenue and Finance Organizations have a way of trumping “hidden” costs and Operations… We need more specific ROI metrics that can be tied to discrete activities to show the benefit. Nothing new, but amazing how few companies do this ell.