Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
What is Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)?
It’s how companies communicate and share documents with each other in the modern world, business-to-business.
While nearly everyone in the world is used to sharing information electronically or digitally (via email or social media) EDI is more sophisticated. Instead of people manually typing out or sharing files to send, EDI runs on mostly automated systems.
Electronic Data Interchange allows for processing bulk amounts of transactions very quickly. So even if your trade partners use different systems than you, the data flow is never interrupted.
Ultimately, this means every company needs a reliable EDI platform.
Ideally, Electronic Data Interchange should
- save companies man-hours and money,
- practically eliminate the time it takes to share information, and
- result in fewer human errors.
Should.
But EDI isn’t a perfect way to share data- there are still potential issues we humans have to solve when artificial intelligence falls short.
There are so many platforms in the marketplace promising to deliver amazing EDI results. With this in mind, keep reading to be sure you are familiar with any challenge!
3 Challenges Businesses Face During EDI
Three very specific (and expensive) challenges businesses face during EDI:
- Outdated software and/or technology
- Too many manual processes
- Never-ending integration issues
1. Outdated software and/or technology
A legacy environment refers to the systems, software, or technology your company uses. An outdated legacy environment has the potential to cripple your data exchange.
However, it can be expensive and tedious to upgrade company systems…and it can also be discouraging to realize that every system eventually becomes obsolete.
So, if your company is running on a legacy system, several EDIs may not be equipped to work with you as smoothly as you need.
Unfortunately, it’s a real possibility that even after partnering with an EDI platform, your team will still be overwhelmed with tasks. And of course, the more human involvement there is in the EDI process, the greater the risk of human error.
As a result, you may find yourself burning up time, money, and other resources to keep data flowing.
2. Too many manual processes
It is true that even if your system is completely up to date, some EDIs require more manual processes than others. And no matter how automated the EDI environments are, there will always be some manual processes and tasks.
Of course, the best EDI platforms have highly automated systems that can do most of the troubleshooting for you. In fact, there are standards that every EDI has to meet.
But be sure you don’t settle for a platform that spends more of your time and money than it should.
3. Never-ending integration problems
Yes, every platform needs some human oversight and occasional correction. However, the goal of Electronic Data Interchange ought to be as much automation as possible.
That being said, a big red flag for any EDI platform is a never-ending list of integration issues such as:
- electronic transaction failures
- external trading partner onboarding
- management issues
- end-to-end monitoring
- and more!
Are you currently struggling with an EDI platform with these issues? Or do you see a lot of reviews for an EDI platform complaining about these issues? If so, there are definitely better options out there for you.
What is your simple solution?
EDI shouldn’t create more work, take up more of your time, or cost you more money. They should be secure and convenient and cost-efficient! EDI platforms should be a trusted way for you to get more done with less.
You need an integration platform that can give your company every tool it needs for EDI.
CINTAP Cloud and EDI
Legacy Systems and CINTAP Cloud
CINTAP Cloud is a data-agnostic solution, meaning we can work with your company no matter what systems you use.
So, CINTAP works with your IT Team to come up with an EDI process that allows your current system to find a solution on our platform. If you aren’t able to upgrade your software or hardware right now, CINTAP can still help solve your EDI issues.
Additionally, CINTAP manages all your required upgrades quarterly. This means you don’t have to worry about any software upgrades, hardware costs, or the effort that goes along with maintaining the middleware environments!
CINTAP takes care of it all for you.
Manual Processes and CINTAP Cloud
CINTAP Cloud proactively identifies the manual processes that are holding your company back from an efficient EDI solution. Using its built-in workflow capabilities, CINTAP coordinates with your individual company and develops a more automated system.
Ultimately, CINTAP’s goal is to standardize all of your inbound and outbound scenarios with minimal impact on your system’s environment.
This being the case, CINTAP Cloud strives to automate as many transactions and EDI processes as possible. We want to save you time and money as well as reduce the number of errors that you have to manage!
CINTAP Cloud as an Integration Solution
We know your productivity is negatively impacted when there is a constant trickle (or flood) of never-ending integration issues.
With this in mind, CINTAP is dedicated to walking each customer through solutions to every problem. Our intent is to give them back the time and resources that their companies need.
CINTAP streamlines EDI and integration projects. BPI Cloud (CINTAP’s ongoing support activities) is a highly rated integration platform capable of:
- accelerating integration projects
- eliminating redundancies
- simplifying complex processes
- and providing real-time insights for better tracking and visibility.
All this while also offering huge savings compared to other products in the industry!
How to get in touch:
So it may sound too good to be true- but pinch yourself, because CINTAP Cloud really is here for you! You can learn more about us or get in contact with us right away.
Don’t let EDI be your business’ problem: let CINTAP Cloud be your solution.
Author – Carissa Getscher
