EDI – End to End Business Automation

EDI is the structured electronic exchange of business documents and information automatically between different organisations and their business applications.

EDI enables businesses and their key trading partners to exchange business transactions electronically and automatically – straight from the accounting package to their supply chain systems. All you need is a PC or server, a quality accounting package, good telecommunications, plus a great EDI application and you can be up and running in no time at all.

The Benefits of EDI

• Significant reduction in costs associated with manual data entry
• Elimination of human error
• Improved timeliness, accessibility and accuracy of business data
• Reduction in administrative costs and consumables
• Improved cash flow resulting from electronic transmission of invoices
• Better business relationships with trading partners
  EDI can save significant amounts of money by replacing information flows that previously required human interaction, and consumables such as printed documents, order forms, and faxes.
• EDI improves accuracy on data such as shipping and billing numbers by eliminating the need to re-key documents on the destination side. The alternative to EDI is manual processing of data from printed or electronic documents. If the data volumes are large the likelihood of human error is increased. Even small re-keying errors within item code numbers could mean a costly impact to a business.
• EDI allows a company to take advantage of the benefits of storing and manipulating data electronically without the cost of manual entry. In situations such as shipping manifests, even when paper documents are maintained in parallel with EDI exchange, electronic exchange and use of exchanged data reduces the handling costs of sorting, distributing, organising and searching paper documents.

EDI makes light work of the complex issues around dealing with multiple suppliers and also satisfies customers with high service delivery expectations. It is also a great way for companies to generate customer loyalty. EDI is increasingly becoming a requirement from customers and suppliers - in order to trade with these partners companies need to comply with EDI requirements and conform to specific standards and protocols.