What is EDI?

What is EDI and how can it help your business?

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) enables fast, accurate and reliable exchange of data between the computer systems of organizations that do business together.

This brief video explains how EDI works and how it has developed over time.

The Need for EDI

For companies of any size, implementing EDI is necessary for maximum competitiveness and growth. It reduces costs and improves operational performance across your organization. From the start, EDI accelerates data exchange and sharpens accuracy. Your company and your customers benefit from streamlined administration, improved information flow, more accurate accounting, better inventory management, and lower costs. Because electronic transactions are so efficient, customers that use EDI prefer to work with vendors that have EDI systems in place.
From financial, operational, and technical perspectives, the right EDI solution makes irrefutable business sense.

Key Benefits of EDI:

• Reduces or eliminates manual data-entry errors
• Streamlines transaction processing
• Increases productivity without increasing staff

TrueCommerce makes EDI easy

You don’t have to be an EDI expert or tech wizard to expect fast, easy installation and reliable performance going forward. TrueCommerce takes the pain out of EDI implementation by delivering easy-to-use, robust and affordable EDI solutions and the industry’s most responsive and knowledgeable support and maintenance teams.

Automating business processes all but eliminates data entry, so companies can electronically send and receive business documents like purchase orders and invoices – the most common electronically communicated items – using EDI transaction codes.

Necessary EDI components

A complete system for exchanging electronic transactions consists of four elements, preferably in an end-to-end solution from a single vendor.

• Web-based EDI tool that translates your accounting information into the EDI format
• EDI mapping syncs your accounting system to your customer’s system
• Transaction network sends and receives transactions
• Ongoing EDI support and maintenance services

The specialized language of Electronic Data Interchange can be found in the Glossary of EDI Terms.

To learn more about EDI, refer to EDI Case Studies, Videos and Product Brochures, the HighJump EDI Solutions blog or contact an EDI specialist today.