Related Posts
Categories
Looking towards the future for commerce, business automation will likely be the key to longevity for many organisations.
Research and advisory company, Forrester Research, has predicted that businesses will spend 3.3 billion euros on business automation to boost their business efficiency during 2022*. Here at Transalis, we have already been supporting our clients to leverage the full benefits of our technology to automate processes. This includes using a broader set of EDI messages, implementing eInvoicing capabilities as well as other elements of business automation to deliver savings in both time and money across multiple areas of the organisation.
In this blog, we explore how our EDI software can support digital transformation projects through the automation of manual business processes.
Transalis reports and whitepapers
Discover the latest findings from our published research, focusing on the latest business trends and the role of digital technology
The omnichannel retail environment
The change in consumer buying habits, from the high street to online, has only been accelerated by the last 24 months of lockdowns and restrictions on day-to-day activities.
This has put pressure on businesses to pivot to online channels to meet this growing consumer demand.
In response to these changing buying habits, retail marketers have identified key opportunities to increase customer satisfaction. These opportunities offer more choice for the consumer to engage, interact and buy.
The challenge for many retailers now is to ensure the consumer has a consistent cross-platform experience.
Maintaining consistency with PIMs
Whether consumers are shopping in store, on an ecommerce platform, social media application, or an independent brand website, it is important for a brand to show consistency across each channel.
However, many businesses are still failing to deliver consistency, especially around product information. The manual transfer and categorisation of product catalogue information is a significant undertaking in both time and money.
In this respect, leveraging the use of PIMs (or Product Information Management platforms) has become the answer for forward-thinking marketers. PIMs act as a central content and information hub. Product and marketing assets can be automatically distributed from the PIM to the relevant end points, such as online retail and high street outlets.
By harnessing the benefits of EDI, these marketers are solving the common downfalls of manual data input processing, such as the associated cost and error rate.
Leveraging EDI for business automation
Businesses can leverage EDI in order to digitise this typically time-consuming manual process.
EDI can manage the categorisation and transfer of product information from supplier product catalogues to PIMs, ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning), as well as other applications.
Implementing an automated process solution as described utilises a central strength of EDI; rules-based mapping.
The initial mapping phase reviews a supplier’s product catalogue.
Rules are set to transfer each line item onto data fields within the PIM, or other application.
Any updates to product catalogue data is received and transferred to the right data field.
So, business automation with EDI can remove the time and cost associated with the importing and categorising of information. It also mitigates errors and ensures business efficiency and therefore reducing the ongoing maintenance costs.
The benefits outlined above make a clear case for business automation in order to maintain consistency in an omnichannel retail environment. As demonstrated in our client case studies, organisations using our software have gained even more than time and cost savings, but also greater business agility and better decisioning.
eDI Connect+ is ideal for larger organisations with more complex supply chains, allowing for ERP integration, custom message types, and advanced analytics.
eDI Freedom allows you to build an entirely bespoke solution where you can select the exact functionalities, integrations and number of trading partners you require.
eDI Software
eDI Freedom
Build your own bespoke EDI solution according to your supply chain & integration needs
eDI Connect
Ideal for companies with many trading network, high order volumes, requiring enhanced stock & sales reporting
eDI Connect+
Perfect for larger organisations requiring complete visibility across their supply chain to improve efficiencies
Find out more about business automation and how it can benefit you by contacting our dedicated team: call us on 0845 123 3746 (calling from the UK) or +44 1978 369 343 (for international callers), or contact us via email sales@transalis.com
References:
*Europe Predictions 2022: Highlights. Forrester Research