On the other hand, if you leverage EDI data management services, you can outsource the maintenance burden. You can let your IT team focus on other tasks and potentially save money in the process. This article will help you decide if EDI data management services are right for you.
What is EDI?
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a technology that enables two companies doing business together–”Trading Partners”–to quickly and efficiently exchange business documents.
Rather than printing out documents–like invoices and purchase orders–and mailing them across, companies can use EDI to send documents instantly, securely, and, where necessary, automatically. Recipients don’t have to waste time keying crucial information into their systems. EDI automates the upload, supercharging efficiency and removing errors.
As businesses undergo digital transformation, EDI has become the de facto means for exchanging documents electronically (computer to computer), setting the standard (common language) for how documents are formatted and shared. It keeps entire industries in sync, which is why many large enterprises insist on EDI compliance.
Why Do Leading Companies Insist on EDI?
Walmart, Target, Costco, and Amazon are just a few of the leading companies that won’t do business with you if you’re not using EDI. Here’s why they’re such sticklers…
Cost Savings
Paper, printing, xeroxing, storage, filing, postage, and document retrieval all add up when you’re exchanging documents via traditional methods. With EDI, all of this goes away, saving money and improving sustainability.
Productivity
With EDI, you can free your staff from the burden of time-sapping manual processes, letting them focus their efforts on higher-value tasks. In other words: you can achieve considerably more each day–with less frustration.
Speed
EDI lets you exchange documents in minutes instead of days (or weeks if a letter gets lost in the mail.) Of course, email is way faster, but even then, you have to wait for recipients to surface your message in their overflowing inboxes. And if they’re away on vacation, then communication can totally break down.
Accuracy
As we all know, creating documents manually in Excel is a recipe for human error. One slip of a finger and you have a time-consuming, not to mention highly embarrassing, problem on your hands. EDI improves data accuracy, eliminating keying and re-keying errors.
Visibility
Data in documents exchanged via EDI can be extracted and analyzed. Data-driven insights can be used to increase efficiency, fix supply chain issues, and make faster, bolder strategic decisions. The more high-integrity data you can access, the more valuable your business is.
Are EDI Data Management Services Right For Your Business?
If your IT team is limited in size or lacks EDI experience, EDI data management services could be the ideal solution for your business. A managed solution provides all the efficiency gains of EDI but without the technical and time burden.
The 3 Key Benefits of EDI Data Management Services
Scalability
Global trade has never been more complicated, with supply chain disruption and wildly fluctuating prices making demand highly unpredictable.
Companies that maintain EDI in-house often find their IT team is swamped one week and underutilized the next, which is a highly inefficient way to operate.
With a managed EDI solution, you can access highly skilled EDI experts on demand. You’re never overwhelmed.
Predictable Costs
Hiring in-house EDI specialists is costly and only sometimes necessary. Many companies find that outsourcing EDI management to a vendor is more cost-effective. Either way, having a fixed monthly cost enables you to manage your finances and plan more effectively.
Less Stress!
Pareto’s Principle very much applies when working with trading partners. 20% of your partners will take up 80% of your time (and provide 80% of the stress and frustration!).
Imagine if you could rid yourself of these pedantic partners without losing the revenue. Well, with EDI data management services, you can. Don’t get bogged down in the minutiae. Outsource the stress and get on with your day.
How Do Managed Services Work with 1 EDI Source?
We’re different at 1 EDI Source. We offer an on-prem EDI model and a cloud-based solution. We also provide a fully managed or unmanaged service. In other words: we give customers total freedom over how they leverage EDI within their business.
At 1 EDI Source, we don’t believe in tie-in or switching costs, which is another way we differ from the competition. If one of our customers decides to switch vendors or move EDI in-house, they can take all their maps with them.
Here’s what to expect if you go down the managed services route with us:
- We will implement, migrate, and manage your EDI solution.
- We will integrate EDI with your ERP and other critical applications.
- We will keep your software updated, making sure you’re running the most up-to-date version of our technology.
- We will provide training and 24/7 support for critical issues.
EDI data management services shouldn’t be a black box–you need total transparency. That’s why we provide our managed customers with a web-based document visibility portal in which they can monitor document flow and receive alerts for things like late ASNs or trading partner errors (no chargeback fines.) The best thing: the portal is built for general business users, not IT specialists.
Conclusion: Are EDI Management Services Right for Your Business?
EDI management services let you focus on your core business without the distraction of EDI and the evolving demands of trading partners. You benefit from the continuity of having a fully scalable service and the peace of mind you get from 24/7 expert support.
Ultimately, for many businesses, the managed vs. unmanaged debate will come down to cost. Smaller and/or newer businesses often prefer the fixed-price model they get from a managed solution. It helps them forecast their costs more effectively. Larger companies and those with unique requirements often prefer to be self-sufficient in EDI.
If you want to discuss your EDI requirements with an expert, get in touch with us at 1 EDI Source.
