The following information was copied from the following website; usiedi.com
The like the last 2 paragraphs.
EDI DEFINED:
Oh I know what EDI is, say ye! That’s when I go onto the web, look at the Sears web site, select a product, whip out my Master Card and buy it online!
Well, not exactly. It’s a common misconception. What you are thinking about is very loosely called "eCommerce", not EDI. During the focus of this document, we are going to speak about traditional EDI, not "eCommerce".
Simply stated, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the electronic exchange of business documents between companies. This includes Invoices, Purchase Orders, Ship Notices, Message Documents, Sales Forecasts, Medical or Insurance Claims, Text documents, and many other types of documents.
The company you exchange these documents with is called your EDI trading partner.
An entire EDI system encompasses much more than just electronically sending files to and from one another. Label printers, web connections, modem communications, acknowledgement handling, database interfaces and many other items are involved in a fully configured EDI system.
Initially started in 1969 by Sears, Roebuck and Co., EDI has grown substantially to include the retail industry, the food and medical industry, the auto industry, and most other industries that require repeated re-ordering and even multiple different orders of items on an ongoing basis.
These days it is almost impossible to do serious business with any large company without involving EDI. Indeed, large companies force their smaller suppliers to accept electronic PO’s and send them electronic Invoices. This speeds up the entire sales and manufacturing process, speeds payment to you (the supplier), and (unfortunately for some!) forces your company to become more streamlined and industry standardized.
By deciding to embark on an EDI program, you are making a decision to strengthen your business, grow your business, and tighten up many aspects of your sales, manufacturing and shipping process. EDI will grow your business, without question. By becoming EDI capable, you tell the world you are current with business technologies, and you are serious about your business. EDI also eliminates most if not all of the typing or keypunch steps in order and invoice processing, thereby greatly reducing errors attributed to these manual functions. |
