EDI in Business

EDI is a big part of electronic business. It was developed in the mid 1960s, initially for the rail and road transport industries. The popularity of EDI has grown a lot since then. There are currently two major EDI standards ANSI ASC X12 and UN/EDIFACT. In North America, X12 is the most commonly used EDI standard, while EDIFACT is used mostly in Europe and is considered an international standard. The standard to use is usually mandated by your trading partners. Today, it is hard to find a large company not using EDI in business.

Some companies think that it is enough to have a technical resource to make EDI happen, or that any software capable of producing EDI output will be good enough. Not so simple. The success of an EDI implementation is measured in the benefits or problems it brings to the business. I find that few organization were able to successfully implement EDI on their own, although many tried. The difficulty of EDI is not in producing the required format, but in making sure it will work in your business. Did you know that for medium size companies in the retail industry ‘EDI’ problems most often surface as problems in cash flow, lost of revenue due to EDI charges (fees charged for your mistakes), and lost business? Take a look at the following EDI stories, you will better understand what I am talking about.

A properly implemented EDI solution can expand your business. A poorly implemented solution can damage a business relationship with your customers. Before jumping into EDI organizations should consider their options. Today companies considering or using EDI have many different choices available to them – implement in house, offshore, or outsource. Each has its benefits and problems. The key is selecting the right partner to help in the process.

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