Future-Proofing the Northern Virginia Business Infrastructure

This post continues the previous discussion about what can be done to recover from the BRAC Recommendation.

Trade associations should start the planning process now for Universal Business Language (UBL) implementation. Supporting UBL initiatives provide a way to “future-proof” the Business-to-Business and Business-to-Government infrastructures in Northern Virginia. If the recommendations of the BRAC report are defeated, then SMEs using UBL enabled software platforms will have a large cost advantage over other companies using either manual or EDI systems.

The Universal Business Language (UBL) initiative is a XML program that will help SMEs reduce their transaction costs. SMEs will be able to purchase software platforms that utilize royalty-free libraries of standard electronic XML business documents. Large organizations that want to use SMEs as suppliers will benefit from reduced paperwork. The cost savings of using UBL-enabled platforms will approach those of current EDI solutions. But, you won’t have the expensive EDI setup charges.