What is Advance EDI Support (AES) and what does it do?

AdvanceFirst Technologies have been in operation for close to seven years now and during that time we have logged thousands of support calls from our clients, all of which, where possible, we aim to have closed down within 2 hours of them being registered/opened.

The reasons behind these support calls are numerous, but they include everything from simple document mapping queries to questions about new communication protocols and methodologies being adopted by an important client.

What is very clear to us is that EDI, even though it has been around for many years now, is increasingly becoming a mission critical technology that is an accepted and necessary part of the everyday operation of most companies.

“EDI has now become a crucial artery, the most reliant technology, for the receipt of important business critical documents such as customer orders.”

Given that this technology is so important what contingency measures do the vast majority of companies have in place should their EDI systems fail? In our experience the answer is very few or none!

To AdvanceFirst with our high focus on Customer Support (“first class customer care is primary to our existence”) we feel it has never been more important for us to offer our clients greater security and contingency support services, even if EDI system failures are not prevalent, they are also not uncommon.

By far the most important calls we get are those from clients where there has been a complete failure of their EDI systems. Either the computer (be it PC, IBM iSeries, UNIX machine or other) responsible for making their EDI connection and retrieving their orders from the EDI VAN has failed, or their communication front end (VPN connection/ dial-up modem) is not functioning. In these cases where there is no back up machine immediately available and no other method of connecting to the EDI VAN we, understandably, get the “Can you help us please?” phone call.

For many companies, the inability to download orders just for one day can have disastrous consequences. How much inconvenience would your company experience and how much cost would be incurred if this was to happen to you?

Fortunately, the solution for our clients can be very straightforward. Let AdvanceFirst Technologies be your contingency and back-up. To provide our valued clients with an EDI contingency solution we have put together the “Advance EDI Support (AES)” solution all for an annual fee of just £100.

The full process related to an EDI systems failure is outlined under the “EDI back-up/insurance” section on this website. Put simply however, if your systems fail you will be in possession of a “Hotline” telephone number and we will retrieve your orders from your EDI VAN and make sure they are delivered safely and securely to a nominated computer or a nominated location using your preferred communication route, as soon as possible.

In addition to the above AES also provides you with a range of other technology and support services including as follows: -

Secure Communication – a free AMMX (Advance Managed Message eXchange) ultra secure managed file transfer client and a free entry onto the AMMX Global Directory. AMMX is the next generation EDI replacement technology. More secure, more auditable, easier to implement and use, more cost effective than any EDI VAN technology. Please go to www.ammxtech.com for further information or click on the link above.

Technical Education Days – No charge invitations to attend one day technical education courses on EDI/XML mapping skills, with other subjects to follow.

EDI audit/review – inclusive with AES registration - Let one of AdvanceFirst’s consultants visit you and review your current EDI set-up with a view to making recommendations as to what might be improved, how to implement the latest technologies and how to move towards the target of a 100% electronic trading community and the associated substantial savings that can accrue.

EDI Technology Newsletters – Building on our recent investment in eshot capabilities, we would aim to provide all our clients with regular electronic EDI technology updates.

“In setting up the AES service it was our intention to provide our clients with an important back-up and support facility that would not just provide peace of mind by securing a mission critical application, but would also be a conduit for regular input to your business of the latest EDI support, education and news updates. All for £100 per year and all from a company who considers itself to be first in customer support and first in EDI/electronic trading/secure file transfer and systems integration technology. We hope your company will agree that it’s a price worth paying and we will be welcoming you soon as an AES subscriber.”

Peter Thomas – Managing Director – AdvanceFirst Technologies Limited