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Looking for an integration solution?
Integration is complex. There is a common misconception that it must be easy to simply pass data between two systems. This is the simplistic outcome for the end-user, however, there is a complex set up involved to create this simplicity. Therefore it is important that you work with a provider that understands your integration requirements and business nuances so they can take these into account when scoping and implementing your integration. There are a range of integration offerings and providers available, it’s important to understand what is most appropriate for your business and what may not add significant value to your business.
The Crossfire Offering
Crossfire provides a fully managed, end-to-end solution. Meaning that we drive the project by liaising with all parties involved, ensuring all parties understand the steps in achieving an end-to-end integration, allowing you to focus on your core business while Crossfire takes the technical reigns. Crossfire utilizes in-house built integration tools and once the integration is set up and live, it allows a free flow of data between client’s systems and their trading partners. Messages are automatically monitored as they are being exchanged, ensuring that messages with errors are picked up on immediately. Support is managed entirely in-house, as Crossfire understands that if certain issues are not rectified immediately, they can have a significant impact on your business.
Crossfire offers an ‘out of the box’ solution, which is then modified by an expert team by taking into account your unique processes and business rules before talking through a solution.
Crossfire is suitable for
- Supply chain businesses - Where IT & system integration isn’t a core part of their strategy and expertise, but they understand the benefits of system integration, e.g. streamlining processes, increased visibility and eliminating keying errors. Similar to a company outsourcing their inventory management to a 3PL because warehousing isn’t their core business, outsourcing integration to a 3rd party integration provider allows you to focus on your core business instead of getting bogged down in system integration and the maintenance involved with managing it.
- 3PL warehouses - If you spend at least 30 minutes a day keying in sales orders and shipping notifications. Automating this process will remove allow employees to focus their time on business growth activities. Being a 3PL is competitive, and therefore offering EDI as part of your solution will add value to your service offering.
- Medium to large-sized suppliers - Trading with retailers and receiving five or more orders a week from a partner, or at least one large DC order a week. Having integration in place will remove labour costs and eliminate manually keying orders.
- eCommerce businesses - That either use a 3PL to manage their warehousing and fulfilment or dropship. If the way your business currently deals with orders is manual, or there is a lack of visibility around your 3PL’s activities, and/or you oversell through your website, Crossfire will be able to add significant value. We can enable Sales Orders to pass through to your 3PL, and Shipping Notifications from your 3PL to appear directly into your system. If you are dropshipping Crossfire offers an inventory sync solution between your eCommerce website and your supplier/3PL, to eliminate overselling products that your supplier doesn’t have.
- Modern enterprises - Where the IT team manage the high-level strategy and projects and bring in experts to execute them, through partnering with a solution provider.
Crossfire isn’t suitable for
- Suppliers with administration resource - That are trading with retailers and spend less than 15 minutes a day keying in orders, ASN’s and invoices, due to a small number of orders or SKU's. Crossfire provides a comprehensive solution, with full EDI, which is not appropriate for some smaller suppliers. If manual data entry isn't a pain point and you are just looking to comply with your retailer's demands for EDI, we recommend Googling ‘<NAME OF RETAILER> Web EDI’. This will come up with a list of Web EDI providers that have pre-configured integrations with the particular retailer that you are want to set up EDI with.
Contact us to find out if Crossfire is the right EDI solution for your business. If we think another solution will be more appropriate after having a discussion with you, we will not hesitate to let you know and will point you in the right direction. We have a network of consultancies that specialize across a range of systems, and industries, so if you are facing challenges that integration alone can’t alleviate, we can provide some suggestions around what you could do or who you could get in contact with.
