At 05:16 PM 7/13/2004 +0200, Bryan Rasmussen wrote <snipped>: >Then, reading >http://www.sterlingcommerce.com/PDF/ResourceCenter/RPA-032002-00008.pdf >"The EDI market can be split into two logical units: general-purpose EDI and >health-care EDI. For the most part, there is very little interplay between >these two groups and their internal dynamics are quite different from one >another. For example, the general-purpose EDI area is made up of >participants in many different vertical sectors that purchase EDI software >and services from a group of established vendors that provide basic EDI >functionality. This is by far the largest segment of the EDI market. The >smaller health-care EDI area is unique in that the vendors in this space do >not sell EDI software, but rather charge their customers for access to >hosted translation and document exchange services that are specific to the >health-care industry. This leads to differing technical requirement skills >between these two groups as organizations in the general-purpose area >usually have employees that understand the intricacies of the EDI software >and the related data mapping processes (or hire consultants to provide this >service), whereas in the health-care sector this function is provided by >the EDI service provider" it struck me that the second unit of the market, >which is a service-based model, might with ebxml come to be pre-eminent >(does this seem reasonable to anyone) one thing I considered was that >government organizations could perhaps provide ebXML services so as to make >it easier for smaller businesses to trade with larger organizations. >Shielding the smaller businesses from the complexity and levelling the >playing field. Two points here - First, I do not necessarily agree with this characterization by the fine folks at Sterling. The service provider model is gaining ground among smaller, "general-purpose" EDI users as well. This is evident in the number of "web-based EDI" services that are available. One thing that *is* different about health care is that the service providers tend to do a lot more than what EDI VANs do. Reformatting and rerouting claims are just two examples of the added services. They are generally referred to as "clearing houses", and they were performing these functions long before health care in the U.S. started adopting X12 EDI formats. Second - Although it might happen in other countries, having government organizations in the U.S. provide ebXML services is a political non-starter. A model which might be more likely is for larger hubs to assist smaller partners in coming on board, in much the same way that they have with EDI. However, the most significant hurdle is for the vendors who sell applications to smaller businesses to get on board. So far, most have been dragging their feet on even implementing nonproprietary XML documents, let alone things as complex as ebXML or web services. Cheers, Mike --------------------------------------------------------------- Michael C. Rawlins, Rawlins EC Consulting www.rawlinsecconsulting.com Using XML with Legacy Business Applications (Addison-Wesley, 2003) www.awprofessional.com/titles/0321154940 The ebxml-dev list is sponsored by OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> The list archives are at http://lists.ebxml.org/archives/ebxml-dev/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription manager: <http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/>
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