Support


VANs typically have a customer service staff that operates at three levels:

Companies that opt not to go with a VAN will have to incur their own internal costs to implement an internal support organization that addresses all three areas.

The early phases of an EDI project are very technical in nature and require a highly technical implementation staff. As the project matures, the amount of technical support decreases, while the amount of program or market-related support increases. A mature EDI implementation tends to have a relative large program staff and a relatively small technical support staff.

The larger EDI VANs are equipped to handle the project as it matures from a highly technical project to an ongoing EDI program.

Companies that opt to implement their own EDI system must build this into their planning. In many cases it's a good idea to pay for external consulting to get the EDI system up an running, then plan for a full-time staff for program management and a relatively small technical support staff that is geared more towards support rather than system design and implementation.