What Are Enterprises Looking for in an EDI Provider?

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For many large global enterprise organizations, EDI is an essential part of the business strategy – and so it should be. Being closely connected to the ERP system, the two systems form the backbone of the company’s key business processes, such as their trading with suppliers and/or customers.

But what are the most important aspects of a solid EDI Enterprise solution? On this page you can read some of the key points to consider for enterprises who are looking to optimize their EDI.

WHAT ARE ENTERPRISES SAYING?

TrueCommerce has asked a handful of enterprises to share their thoughts and recommendations on EDI.

All enterprises surveyed belong to the retail, wholesale, and manufacturing industry, they have 1,000+ employees globally, and while their HQ is located in the Nordics, they all have subsidiaries and offices around the globe.

One thing that was essential to all respondents was the fact that they have an ambition to continuously grow their business in terms of global presence, expansion to new markets – or both.

For this reason, they need a scalable EDI solution which can accommodate their growing number of trading partners and exchanged business documents, as well as an EDI provider with knowledge of local markets and the ability to implement and support the solution in multiple languages.

Another important quality that the respondents are looking for in an EDI provider is industry knowledge and their ability to provide guidance on overall business processes and recommend additional solutions on top of the EDI to support the growing business of their enterprise customers.

If your business is an enterprise organization with global subsidiaries, a large volume of document transactions, and trading partners across the world, you might relate to the above needs?

SCALE YOUR BUSINESS AND PREPARE FOR FUTURE GROWTH

Enterprises with a strong focus on growth need to consider a number of aspects when choosing the right EDI setup. In particular:

Is the EDI provider able to cater for local markets?

If you are expanding your business to include trading with customers and/or suppliers across the world, you should be aware of the many EU and country specific data requirements that you need to comply with.

For example, many countries have implemented requirements to avoid VAT fraud, meaning that your invoices must be sent to the public authorities for approval before they reach your end recipient. In the years to come, an increasing number of countries is expected to implement similar requirements, and because each country has their own system for invoice approval, it could become cumbersome for your organization if you are trading with many different countries.

Some countries are also planning requirements for other types of documents, such as orders, e.g. mandatory exchange of electronic orders in specific formats. Having an EDI provider who is always up to date with the latest local data requirements will save you an enormous amount of time and resources – and keep you compliant as your business grows.

You can find a more detailed description of the things you need to consider when expanding your trading and business internationally here.

Does the EDI provider offer implementation and support in multiple languages?

Enterprises with subsidiaries across the world – or companies that are looking to expand globally via e.g., mergers and acquisitions – require an EDI provider with the capacity to roll out a global solution while at the same time providing implementation and support in local languages and time zones.

Is the EDI provider able to ensure a quick and efficient onboarding of trading partners?

Enabling existing and new trading partners to exchange orders and invoices with you electronically is often referred to as ?trading partner onboarding? or ?trading partner enablement?.

With growth comes a need to continuously onboard new trading partners in a quick and seamless manner, and especially for large retail hubs or manufacturers facing a long tail of suppliers, supplier onboarding is a crucial factor when choosing the right EDI provider.

?The more trading partners we can
onboard on EDI, the simpler our world
becomes. Whenever we meet a new
customer or supplier, we always
recommend that they adopt EDI
if possible – it simplifies their daily
operation a lot too?

Lene Ovesen
IT Supporter
Dechra Veterinary Products

Supplier onboarding can be a complex and arduous task, especially with a large number of suppliers involved. The onboarding of each supplier cannot turn into a customized project of its own, as this would require an endless number of resources.

The purpose of supplier onboarding is to create value for your business, which is why a fixed, transparent, and well-documented onboarding process is a must. You can see an example of a streamlined fixed onboarding model provided by TrueCommerce here.

In this model, TrueCommerce manages the entire onboarding process for you, removing all complexity.

Does the EDI provider offer guidance on your overall digitalization strategy?

In a market that’s constantly changing and developing, enterprises need to partner up with service providers who’re ready to do the same. One thing is having a scalable EDI solution and efficient trading partner onboarding – another thing is to add supplementary solutions to your EDI to support your entire supply chain.

One example which is particularly relevant for large organizations is Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) – an automated collaboration between you and your supplier ensuring a more accurate stock management and order processing, quicker turnover rate, consistent stock, and increased sales. While EDI is TrueCommerce’s core business, we also offer a range of additional solutions, including VMI.

When asked why they chose TrueCommerce as their EDI provider, many of TrueCommerce’s customers highlight our ability to not only solve their challenges right here and now – we also manage to keep one step ahead of their business, identifying areas where it makes sense to integrate these additional solutions in the future.

CONDOLIDATE YOUR EDI WITH ONE GLOBAL PROVIDER

For large global organizations with many subsidiaries, it is not uncommon to use a multiplicity of different legacy EDI solutions to trade with a variety of different trading partners. With several EDI solutions, however, comes several points of support, less transparency into where your documents have failed, and an overall increased
administrative burden on your team.

By consolidating all EDI solutions across your global organization, you will achieve a more transparent and easily managed EDI setup because you will only need to access your data through one single platform.

This enables you to reap the following benefits:

Checkmark_Image_8.JPG You will spend time and resources associated with monitoring and maintaining a mix of expensive complex EDI solutions

Checkmark_Image_8.JPG More transparent – and in many cases reduced -costs, because you are only paying one provider

Checkmark_Image_8.JPG Complete overview of your document exchange with suppliers and/or customers from one single platform

Checkmark_Image_8.JPG Only one point of contact

?We went from having multiple
solutions from several EDI providers to
consolidate all our EDI and integration
to Dynamics NAV across the Nordics
with TrueCommerce. This has given us
a far more simple and efficient setup,
and it’s nice to only have one point of
support?

Quote author Birger Pedersen
IT Manager
ACO Nordic Group

TrueCommerce helps businesses turn a number of laborious and expensive EDI solutions into a single centralized system with full transparency of their entire electronic trading network.

TrueCommerce is one out of a wide range of EDI providers who are all linked to form a global electronic trading network. This means TrueCommerce’s customers are sending their documents through TrueCommerce and on to their trading partner, usually via a direct connection between TrueCommerce and the trading partner, and
sometimes via another EDI provider.

You can choose to let all your data traffic flow via TrueCommerce’s EDI platform in whatever format you prefer to send. TrueCommerce will then convert your data to the format preferred by your trading partners and forward the document to them.

ABOUT TRUECOMMERCE

  • TrueCommerce helps enterprises within the retail, wholesale, manufacturing and transportation industry achieve a more efficient trading with suppliers and customers. Our customers include brands such as Silvan, Salling Group, DSV and Royal Greenland.
  • Our core business is EDI which enables you and your trading partners to exchange orders, invoices, dispatch advice, etc. in a quick, efficient and automated manner – with highest possible data quality. We also offer a range of additional supply chain solutions on top of the EDI solution, such as VMI –
    the preferred solution among enterprises for stock management, replenishment and order processing.
  • TrueCommerce acts as your trusted advisor on EDI and your overall digitalization strategy. We value long-term strategic partnerships with our customers, advising you on how to integrate your EDI, ERP system and other solutions to optimize your trading processes and support future growth.
  • TrueCommerce was founded in 1987, and today we are a global organization with teams of digital experts across Europe, North America and Asia. We have a strong presence in the Nordics with 85 employees based in our Copenhagen office.
  • TrueCommerce always keeps abreast with the latest EU and country specific requirements for EDI and data formats. We are an active member of the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA) – a trade association of 80 EDI providers who meet regularly to discuss the implementation of new EDI requirements and how to continuously improve the global EDI trading network. Within EESPA, TrueCommerce is driving a Nordic initative with the aim to expand EESPA’s focus from
    e-invoices to include time-critical documents such
    as orders.
  • TrueCommerce is a Challenger in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Multienterprise Supply Chain Networks, and we are recognized as Leader in the IDC report
    “IDC Marketscape for Worldwide Multi-Enterprise
    Supply Chain Commerce Network”.
  • TrueCommerce integrates to most ERP systems, and we offer an integration module specifically for Microsoft Dynamics 365 FO and BC, as well as SAP
    Business One.
  • TrueCommerce gives you access to a global trading network of 1 million+ trading partners. TrueCommerce can quickly and easily connect you to new customers/suppliers, as your business grows.
  • Our highly skilled onboarding team will manage the easy and seamless onboarding of your customers/suppliers, including all dialog/screening, setup (mapping) and tests. We will work with you on creating a project plan and timeline.
  • Ensuring a stable operation for our customers is crucial to TrueCommerce, and our solution has a 99,8% uptime. In our customer portal, you can track
    and trace your electronic documents.
  • TrueCommerce’s solution and operation is covered by ISAE 3402 in order to ensure full protection of our customers’ data, and to ensure that our solutions
    are part of a solid proven infrastructure.