Here at EDI specialist Transalis, we’re often asked, “What are the top EDI benefits for our business?”.
In truth, every business has a unique set of challenges that EDI software solves, and therefore the combination of benefits will be different each time. So, we’ve put together a brief summary of the top EDI benefits for most businesses.
EDI, or electronic data interchange, is designed to take out the cost, time and hassle of exchanging business documents across your trading network.
With EDI, you can:
minimise errors
maximise efficiency
reduce delivery time
speed up invoice payments
EDI does this by connecting everyone involved to a secure cloud-based EDI platform, hosted by your provider. All kinds of business documents, including structured and unstructured data, can be exchanged digitally in a frictionless flow without you or your trading network having to learn the technical ins-and-outs.
Standardisation across a digital supply chain ensures you and your supply chain partners benefit from easily understood digitised information.
Without EDI you have the task of raising orders and invoices manually, sending documents by post or email, and inputting the related information manually into management systems. With EDI, you avoid all that thanks to automated raising of orders and invoices, and digital sending and receipt. EDI improves so many processes from inventory management to shipping to audit. As well as orders and invoices, it automates the use of shipping notes, quotes, dispatch and returns instructions, tax summaries, debit and credit notes, remittance advice and many other kinds of documentation and master data.
Some of the top EDI benefits to expect...
Based on more than 20 years’ experience of helping companies optimise their use of EDI software, here are our suggestions for seven top EDI benefits you can expect to see:
1. Increased business efficiency
Digitisation of documents between sellers and buyers optimises the frictionless flow of data, making trading with your supply chain partners far more efficient.
Remember, different trading relationships are likely to involve different ways of working regarding documentation. This means data has to be translated into multiple formats before it can be shared, eating up precious time and resource. You don’t want to have to do all the essential formatting and translation to solve this.
Ask for reassurance from your provider that they’ve already sorted this headache for you. You also want to know that whatever functionality they are offering is completely scalable for your particular business and is easy to implement and operate.
2. Reduced costs
Automating manual tasks, reducing errors, and improving visibility across your internal and external trading processes, all mean you can save money.
At AG Barr for example, cutting the number of credit notes that had to be issued to priority partners helped realise projected annual savings £15,000. Very soon after implementation, actual savings reached £200,000 and more than 570 working hours were freed up annually for higher-value operations.
AG Barr realised actual savings of £200,000
3. Reduced manual processes
EDI saves British grocers more than £650 million
You can turn tasks that have always traditionally been manually intensive straight into automated processes.
By improving the matching and reporting of your trading data as well as eliminating the need to re-key documents into your systems, you can expect to see cost and time savings. According to the standards organisation GS1 UK, together, British grocers save more than £650 million a year thanks to EDI
Businesses in general save £14 an order and £8.50 per invoice.
In terms of faster processing time, EDI cuts ten minutes per invoice, creating an annual saving for UK retailers of around £100 million.
Find a provider that offers transparent pricing. Be aware of VAN (Value Added Network) charges, which can quickly rack up the cost of an EDI solution when exchanging documents with your trading network.
Global beauty giant, SpaceNK, switched to Transalis eDI™ and instantly saved £60,000 by removing their outdated VAN.
With Transalis eDI™ we offer complete price transparency, with absolutely no VAN charges. All our bundled EDI solutions include unlimited message volumes.
4. Less room for errors
Any task undertaken manually is prone to human error.
By digitising and automating manual process you immediate take-out the element of human error from the mix, speeding up the order, delivery and payment cycle. What’s more, automated systems are far more efficient at identifying inaccuracies between documents, so any problems can be spotted and rectified immediately.
The soft drinks manufacturer, AG Barr, is a case in point. Starting with nine priority partners, managers at the company used EDI to reduce errors in fulfilling orders and so cut down on the number of credit notes they had to issue when mistakes were made.
5. Complete visibility
Electronic data can flow across all your supply chain systems to ensure your management team has real-time visibility of your entire trading operations.
For example, you can achieve frictionless automation with EDI integrated into your existing systems for ERP and eCommerce, such as: SAP, Oracle, Microsoft 365, and Sage. This is ideal for identifying cost savings, supply chain inefficiencies and reporting on the performance of your trading network.
6. Better decision making
EDI is a tried and tested end-to-end solution.
It has helped countless companies and organisations across the world to achieve frictionless paper-free communications and drive transformation in their data transfer and processing.
It supports the management of all kinds of documentary data including: order status, deliveries, stock control, distribution, and cashflow.
By ensuring all your internal systems are populated with up-to-date and accurate information, you will be better informed and therefore able to make better commercial decisions.
7. Building frictionless business relationships
Using EDI to digitalise and automate the exchange of trading documents and data across with your supply chain will enable you to improve business relationships across your trading network.
Your trading network will gain considerable benefits from the efficiency and accuracy of orders, invoices, deliveries, customer forms and data matching that allows business between you to run frictionlessly.
Typical supply chain challenges resulting from manual processes and human error are dramatically reduced, offering you the prospect of fewer delays, discrepancies, misunderstandings and frustrations, enabling you to build better business for the future.
Transalis offers frictionless EDI
- BUY ONLINE, SET UP IN 24HRS with our eDI Essential bundled solution
- Flexible EDI bundles that allow you to grow your business without incurring additional penalties
- Choice of training and support packages, with a dedicated account manager
- Fast turnaround on system integrations and change requests
- Complete price transparency with no VAN (Value Added Network) charges!
- Easy to switch project management, to ensure business as usual if you’re moving from another provider
- Customer first approach which places our clients at the heart of everything we do
We’ve got you covered from the start. The Transalis onboarding team will liaise directly with your trading network to set up connections, map required documents and data, and test using the correct EDI exchange protocols depending on sector, products and location.
We work closely with your in-house team, providing access to the EDI platform, building integrations with existing systems and ensuring interoperability across your entire network so you can enjoy complete visibility.
eDI Instant
As simple as 1,2,3. Buy EDI online in an instant and connect with your trading partner today
eDI Freedom
Build your own bespoke EDI solution according to your supply chain & integration needs
eDI Connect
Ideal for companies with many trading partners, 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 our bundled EDI solutions or call our team to discuss your business needs on 0845 123 3746 (calling from UK) or +44 1978 369 343 (for international callers), or via email sales@transalis.com
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