Electronic data interchange, commonly abbreviated as EDI is the process in which companies make use of internet and the telecommunication technology in order to move data between organizations or within the various levels of the organization. It is done in a set and structured format therefore it can be easily retrieved using a computer. Since it makes the transfer of information from a computer program in one location to a computer program in a different location, without any manual intervention possible, it is a huge hit with most companies. Over the years more and more companies have adopted EDI and many are on their way already.
Time saving
The work which used to take hours, weeks and even months manually, can now be done within minutes electronically. EDI works in real time and therefore, it ensures that every single action is performed and recorded in real time, thereby saving hours of slogging over records.
Lower chances of errors
Since every action and transaction happens electronically, EDI helps in reducing errors immensely, thereby improving your company’s overall accuracy. Every time an information is manually copied or relayed from one place to another, there is always a chance of error. Electronic transfer eliminates the chances of human errors. Often it serves in saving the company from huge losses that a tiny error could have cost the organization.
Cost effective
The most palpable change one sees when it comes to EDI implementation is the improved cost reduction. It is almost immediate and affects the company immensely. The moment you implement EDI, you save yourself the immense cost of thousands of tonnes of paperwork and human resources to update and maintain it. Moreover, it also saves the cost of data or information transfer, postage and freight charges, inventory costs, error losses etc. It also saves quite a lot on several other overheads and human resources such as mailroom sorting and circulation, manual reconciliation of documents, repeated keying of information etc.
Higher employee satisfaction
Most of your boring and redundant functions are performed by your EDI, leaving the brains of your organization to do the real work involving major decision making, actions and creations which let them make a real change. This gives them a chance to do the real and challenging work which ensures a higher job satisfaction among employees.
Improved Customer Service
Since all the information is available in real time, and it is invariably more accurate, the concerns and queries of the customers can be addressed and solved more effectively, and that too in a much lesser time, leading to higher customer satisfaction.
Stronger Supplier Relationships
Owing to electronic transfer of data in real time it is much easier to maintain a regular relationship with the suppliers, vendors and partners. It also lowers the risk of fraudulence owing to improved transparency.
Eco friendliness
Going paperless is a corporate social responsibility these days, owing to severe climate change and deforestation. EDI aids you to improve your business while helping the planet in the process.
Picking the right EDI option is crucial as it is a major decision for your company. When it comes to picking your EDI integration software, choose one which is unique because it enables the automation of not just system-to-system and partner-to-system data flows, but also the more common human-to-system business processes where actual people need to interact with running data flows to view information, correct errors, and resubmit data if needed. It is important that you can automate data flows that generate EDI messages from internal data or process incoming EDI messages and integrate them with your internal applications and databases, improving process control.