What are the Important Questions to EDI Readiness Before Adapting EDI Integration in 2020?
Explore In Details — EDI Integration.
Introduction to EDI and benefits associated with it.
The term Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) refers to a system wherein, the exchange of structured electronic business documents between different business partners takes place without much of efforts and securely.
EDI is not just a specific technology, but it is an interaction of electronic processes, exchange protocols and majorly business document standards with ultimately one central goal i.e. the Automated communication of information without manual intervention.
Let’s have a look at 7 major benefits of EDI integration w.r.t a business set-up:
- Faster transmission times/Time reduced operations.
- Lower transmission costs/Reduction of storage costs/Cost savings in data handling activities.
- Reduction and deprived of repeated input/Data entry errors.
- Increase the accuracy of the information.
- Reduction of the paper-based document flow/Environment-friendly services/Transparent status details.
- Maintains Security.
- Increases the Efficiency.
What is the Importance of EDI transactions?
Exchanging EDI transactions has been here since long. Eventually, some people have forgotten that it is, perhaps the forefather of digital transformation — being the first real piece of its kind. Although many companies look for new and more advanced ways to connect; EDI offers a tried, tested, and trusted solution.
Approximately 40% of companies still using traditional manual processes today — in 2020. There is no doubt, in the fact, that transmitting EDI transactions provides a low cost and very effective way to build the digital supply chain of any enterprise.
When Novell’s star as a networking giant was weaken in terms of size, funds, power; a salesperson of the company visited one of the old customers and asked as to why he hadn’t upgraded to the latest version of NetWare yet!! Surprised, the customer said that he didn’t think he still used NetWare.
Then they verified and came to know that it was present, but it had simply been running in the background unnoticed. Unnoticed to an extent that someone had built a wall in front of the server!
How does this relate with EDI transactions? IT depicts that a key goal of almost all digital transformation strategies is the ability to work by collaborating closely with customers, suppliers and their partners — and that’s exactly what sending and receiving EDI transactions does!
Questions to be answered to depict readiness towards EDI in current situation
How would you know that you’re ready to make the switch to EDI transactions?
Answer the below mentioned questions to yourself and know the importance of adapting EDI solutions for the modern problems; because modern problems require modern solutions!
Have most of your customers already adapted trading with EDI transactions?
Research has shown that, for senior executives, the benefits of digital transformation include faster time to market and to meet changing customer expectations. Now, if the customers are already trading digitally, the pressure automatically comes up to meet customer’s trading conditions. One might establish point-to-point connectivity with each of the individual customer when there are very few major customers. But if there are many customers or may be company is looking to grow own business, it would be beneficial to explore the services of an EDI Cloud network provider.
Do you want to reduce your B2B trading costs which is generated due to business transactions?
If you’re still using manual and traditional processes like phone, fax or email; in order to conduct business transactions, shifting the gears to EDI transactions provides a simple and efficient way to significantly reduce the trading costs. Research says this shift, if adapted, can reduce transaction costs by a huge amount. In addition, EDI transactions help eradicate human error that can lead to inaccurate orders and poor delivery.
Do you exchange a huge quality and vast variety of business documents?
When it comes to business transactions between the trading partners, it’s easy to focus on orders and invoices but in actual, there is a wide range of other business documents that need to be exchanged to build an effective supply chain. Quoting the good example of Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) — a digital document that provides all the information about a pending delivery. EDI transactions allow for the smooth exchange of product and shipping information as goods pass through the supply chain.
Do you want to reduction in Order-to-Cash as well as Purchase-to-Pay cycles?
We all want very quick payment, and EDI transactions have been proven to reduce your business cycle times by over 60%. Within your order-to-cash cycle, EDI can reduce the time to payment by approx. 20% while improving the relationship with customer.
Do you want to optimize your inventory levels?
For many years, inventory optimization has become a top priority for supply chain professionals. By sending EDI transactions, one can shorten the order processing and delivery times so that inventory levels can be reduced. Number of accurate orders means there’s less need to keep excess stock in a supply chain ecosystem. Secondly, EDI records all transactions so one can analyse the performance of supply chain and suppliers to plan the optimum inventory levels.
Do you want to improve aspects like visibility and transparency in your supply chain?
For instance, in a 2019 KMPG survey, 93% of supply chain executives have stated the end-to-end supply chain visibility at the top of their priority list. In order to achieve supply chain visibility, Trading digitally is the minimum requirement. One need to be able to know which transactions are taking place and their current status as well. Real-time visibility into transaction status enables faster decision-making and improved responsiveness in order to change the market and customer demands.
Choose the right solution
If you answered yes to any or all the above questions, then you’re ready to embrace EDI transactions into your business units. The next and important question is: How can you gain all the EDI features you require at a cost that’s right for your business?
Visit our website to learn more about Amosoft EDI solutions We would love to help you connect with every trading partner, optimize the productivity considerably, and grow your own business to next level.
Amosoft provides you with the best in market EDI solution in order to prepare you for the new generation challenges — Data Integration Tools.
Call us now — (310) 862–4259
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