When it comes to an EDI implementation, there are several ways you can decide on an edi provider and/or the order of implementation. The decision can be based on your partners, about your edi implementation, your edi provider or your business transactions. In this article, we will look at the different considerations when it comes to looking at your business transactions in terms of edi:
Paper intensive business transactions
Most businesses that have not implemented edi rely on paper based transactions to communicate and order from suppliers and vendors. The shift to edi will move these transactions to paperless. For example, for any company reliant on receiving goods via shipping, a provider with edi warehouse support is essential.
Transactions with the most business partners
There are situations in which edi implementations cannot be applied to all aspects of a business. In that situation look at providers that cover specific transactions with the most business partners. Even if there are only three business processes that can be shifted to edi, as long as they cover the majority of your transactions with partners, the returns will be significant enough to justify the implementation.
Time intensive transactions
Another important consideration is which of your transactions will benefit the most from the speed improvements from edi.
For a phased implementation, consider the above three and decide which order to proceed. The transactions that have most impact on the bottom line should be first. Ultimately however, you will get the most out of moving as many of your transaction based business processes to edi.