Supply Chain EDI Benefits And Advanatges: Choosing The Best Option Of EDI Integration
Supply Chain EDI benefits have been proved by thousands of successful results of EDI integration. One of the main obvious advantages is the reduction in large volumes of paperwork and manual interruption. Another one is the enhanced speed of documents exchange and informational flow. Using Supply Chain EDI via software applications saves much time and significant amounts of money for many businesses.
There are several ways how to implement a Supply Chain EDI solution. EDI processes can be integrated into the existing corporate system using resident technical means. In this case the company has to purchase all the needed hardware and software, hire EDI team, contract with all needed providers etc. This will cost much but will help to build a solid EDI system for a definite business. Another variant is to contract with a specialized EDI provider via outsourcing. In this case you will get hosted software and third-party technical and informational support.
So, how to choose the best variant? The criteria depends on company size, its technical in-house capabilities, expertise in management systems implementation, scope of business processes, number of trading partners dealing with EDI, volume of business documents to be shifted to EDI and budget as well.
To choose an EDI service provider you must rely on the contractor’s market position, experience in your industry, records of successfully implemented projects, knowledge of integration with already incorporated processes.
Lately one of the alternatives to EDI usage has been Extensible Markup Language (XML) messaging. It is also widely used for electronic documents exchange between many Supply Chain Management and ERP systems. XML tags adhere to the same EDI transactional standards and allow for more seamless application to application integration of data.
Find out how EDI can facilitate your business at EDI Academy specialized trainings