EDI

General usage

Before the advent of APIs, EDIs were the preferred way to share business documents like invoices and purchase orders electronically. They are still widely used in the manufacturing industry and form an important part of most B2B supply chains and procurement processes.

EDIs can connect different types of business systems including e-commerce solutions, ERP software, warehouse management systems, and accounting software. 

Key EDI benefits:

• Saves time and money through automation of paper documentation
• Improves efficiency and productivity by sharing and processing documents faster and with greater accuracy
• Reduces errors through standardisation of document formatting
• Improves tracking and reporting via integration with the rest of an IT system
• Robust security and privacy with secure connections opened between only two parties at a time. This makes them extremely safe from hacking or theft.

 

EDIs can be difficult to implement since they often have to comply with changing government regulations, industry standards and individual business needs. Businesses situated in different countries may for example have seperate requirements for document formats.

Popularity

With its genesis in the 1960s, EDIs have a long history and are still used by many companies. In 2019 they enabled almost eighty percent of all B2B sales. Most supply chain executives believe that EDIs will continue to play a role in data transfer.

Source: Selecthub

Marketplace benefits

CobbleWeb has experience developing EDIs for complex business cases. One such advanced EDI protocol formed part of a quality analysis tool we built for Trelleborg, a high-tech manufacturing company. It helps Trelleborg’s business process management database, which runs on Microsoft Dynamics, to share data with the tool’s users.