Suppliers without PCs or Internet access can fax invoices to SPS, which reformats them into EDI and passes them along to Sears. The reverse operation takes place with purchase orders. That page supplies secure access to shipping and purchase order information. A third option is to ask the supplier to hire a consulting firm, buy supply chain management software and upgrade its whole operation. I won't say we've never had resistance to that, but I will say we're in the 99 percent range of implementation.
Experts say the helping-hand approach makes sense.
Geoffrey Bock, an analyst with the Patricia Seybold Group, urges retailers to give small suppliers basic training on what to expect from an online supply chain, which online forms they'll use and what kinds of follow-up communications to expect after an invoice or electronic payment. Bock also recommends that merchants supply ongoing operational support, even if this means making IT-savvy customer service representatives available. From the suppliers' perspective, a simple lack of know-how is keeping many small firms from linking to their big retail customers via XML or EDI, and small and midsize suppliers are finding that such links often require them to revamp their entire businesses. For example, most retailers want visibility into inventory levels and the flow of goods within supplier operations, but many small suppliers lack inventory management systems that can provide that data in any form. Some 44 percent of U.S. businesses with fewer than 100 employees don't even have Internet access in their offices, and an additional 37 percent don't operate a Web site, he noted.