Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 10 Tips About Getting Started
This list is mean to be a helpful starting point, but not an all-encompassing article or guide. There is obviously a lot more to EDI than what I have written, but I wanted to write this in case anyone is considering adding EDI to their business or in case they have EDI already configured, but want an external perspective.
1. Understand what EDI is.
What is EDI? You can probably surmise what EDI is by the name behind the acronym, Electronic Data Interchange. What the acronym does not tell you is that it’s typically B2B transactional data and it usually works in tandem with an ERP system, (Enterprise Resource Planning). After establishing an EDI connection between a customer and a supplier for example and if one business wants to order items from the other, it can do so through EDI. If the supplier wants to send an invoice to the customer as a response, it can do so through EDI. The first example of an ERP system that comes to mind is SAP but there are also plenty of smaller companies with more competitively priced packages.
2. Understand the needs of the business.
EDI may or may not be the best choice for a business. EDI is best used by business relationships which result in reoccurring transactions. For example, if Daisy the neighbor girl is selling lemonade on…
