Promises and Pitfalls of SME Integration

The advent of Web technology and standards as XML had many hope for seamless business integration. Especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) were considered to finally participate in existing EDI networks. But there are drawbacks to SME integration. In this paper we show that there are principle obstacles to integrating SMEs that are often neglected. If SMEs do not employ automated material management systems, there is obviously most likely no possible benefit from processes automation. Also, the SMEs’ relative position within a value chain can pose typical problems. Addressing some of the identified problems, a solution called ASP-EDI is proposed, the concept of which has recently been proven when it was implemented as part of the new Internet strategy within the German office supply industry (95% SMEs). The co-developed WebEDI converter descript in section 5.1 (ASP-EDI) has won the third price of the German “IT inside SME 2010” award. Roman Beck, Tim Weitzel, Wolfgang König 2 1. SME integration: The problem has been here before