How to Connect with Trading Partners Faster

Slow and steady used to win the race, but a more apt metaphor for a modern, agile enterprise likely would feature the term “fast and reliable.” Keeping up with the speed of business means adapting to the ever-changing landscape, and today’s leading companies, the ones who connect with thousands of other companies, understand the landscape requires a smooth, easy connection to all of their business community.

Leading managed file transfer (MFT), integration and file sharing solutions, which power some of the largest B2B integration operations in the world, are simple enough to deploy, configure, and efficiently exchange information. But the real differentiator is because of two unique components – protocol flexibility and hundreds of preconfigured connections.

Say ‘Yes’ to any Customer

The first key to an expedited onboarding process is protocol flexibility. Depending on your industry needs and trading partner requirements, one or many data communication protocols may play into daily business workflows. Understanding your current and future file transfer and data exchange needs will help you to select the best protocols for standardization and security.

But what if you already have data integration software that accommodates virtually every protocol? Leading software vendors deliver that competitive edge with support for more than 20 secure protocols, including industry certification for AS2, AS3, OFTP2, and FIPS-140.

Saying “yes” to any new trading partner prospect increases business confidence as well as revenue, laying the foundation for exponential growth.

Lighten the Workload

One other advantage of using a trusted vendor is access to a library featuring hundreds of pre-loaded configurations to securely, quickly, and easily connect your trading partners and value-added networks (VANs).

With a preconfigured connection that you can download instantly, more than 80 percent of the work in connecting with that partner is already done for you. In short time, your business can communicate via a variety of secure protocols with some of the world’s largest companies in every industry from retail to banking to manufacturing.

Did we mention a library of more than 900 of these preconfigured connections? Our development and support teams are continually adding to this library, making the world that much smaller each time they enable even faster connectivity to the world’s largest trading communities.

No Time Wasted

So what does all of this mean? It could take considerably less time for:

• Retail suppliers to connect to Target, Walmart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot via AS2.
• Auto parts manufacturers to connect with Chrysler and Toyota using secure FTP or via OFTP2 to transfer data to major European automakers, including Volvo and Volkswagen.
• Businesses to sync up to American Express and JP Morgan Chase using secure FTP connections.

It shouldn’t take weeks or months of configuring new communication routes to connect with these companies. With the right integration vendor, it can often take an hour — sometimes two. Check out this page to see a broader connection catalog or inquire about additional configurations.

Case in Point

A healthcare company might ditch a VAN for leading software that could speed up partner onboarding and double the number of practices connected to its core lab. The fact that this customer saved money by consolidating some processes was a tertiary benefit to the main goal of bringing on new, revenue-generating partners in a short amount of time.

The same concept applies to many of SaaS organizations, who find that faster onboarding means quicker revenue and a better customer experience. And the right solution will be able to accommodate your current partner needs and scale to accommodate any future expansion, planned or unplanned.

Organizations who have previously used alternative file transfer and data integration products tell us they can add new connections nearly three times faster and with greater confidence, even in cases where the configurations are built from scratch.  When using the pre-built connections from the library of 900, it’s even several times faster.

“Slow and steady” might keep you in the race, but it likely won’t help you win. So leverage nearly 40 years of protocol and partner onboarding expertise, and win faster with leading integration solutions.