everal hubs for each corporate location, Evans is well equipped to internally pass information along at high speeds. Applications such as electronic mail, video conferencing, word processing, spreadsheet documents, voice mail, along with document preparation, storage, and sharing are all available to employees over these systems.Electronic data interchange has been implemented in the IT structure to allow Evans with quick and easy transfer of business documentation electronically, without manual intervention. Such paper documents as purchase orders, order acknowledgements, requests for quotations, quotes, shipping notices are now done over the computer to alleviate both time and distance. Evans incorporated such a system into their IT strategic advantage for the following reasons. 1. For faster speed of doing business. Business data is sent, received, evaluated, and processed in a fraction of the time normally associated with business processes.2. Reduction in required working capital. Reductions in resource commitments for both inventory and accounts receivable yield improvements in working capital.3. Cost savings. Purchase order processing costs are one key source of cost savings. Some of these costs savings are due to the elimination of data entry errors that result from the re keying of data as they pass from organization to organization.4. Improved customer/supplier relationships. Firms are increasingly dependent on each other to achieve competitive advantage, and EDI creates partnerships between customers and suppliers and other strategic partners. EDI is often the first IT link between business partners and can form the beginning of a new kind of buyer/customer relationship.5. Enables international trade. The primary benefits for Evans here are related to international communications networks eliminating delays in paper flows and the transit of goods and information due to geographic and national boundaries.The third ...
