We have been reading about the benefits of EDI globally. 99% reliable transaction processing, enhanced productivity, and reduced impact of unplanned outages on employees. 41% faster onboarding, accelerated time to value, and 1.5 times faster B2B activities to match the speed of the business. 30% higher customer satisfaction by faster resolution driving customer retention and revenues.
All these were just a few advantages of converting the manual processes into digitized EDI transactions. EDI aids in intelligent workflows challenging the siloed processes to uncover the inefficiencies, empowering the teams, and using emerging technologies such as AI & blockchain to unlock new opportunities and have a competitive edge in the market.
EDI is a well-known centralized system for simplifying and standardizing business operations and processes, enabling the free flow of information. However, those well aware of the EDI services or using the legacy systems are struggling to accommodate a full range of global EDI standards and protocols that are unable to deliver flexible relationships between suppliers and traders.
Companies need to upgrade their existing EDI. One of the best practices is by pulling together managed services and cloud-based tools. Conjuncting both can help deliver a smoother and streamlined process while providing flexibility to the business. EDI can be used as a service to transform the approach of any business management.
To comprehend and appreciate the benefits of EDI-as-a-service, let’s break it down into components.
Understanding SaaS Concept
Software as a Service is a cloud computing method for accessing data from any device via the internet or web browser. Cloud simplifies the usage of any software directly without the need for downloading it. SaaS offers a web-based model of delivery where a software vendor hosts and maintains the servers, databases, and codes.
Companies can save a tremendous amount of cost that is anyways spent on setting up expensive hardware to host software. The SaaS model eliminates the additional maintenance fees as well as perpetual license and instead pays an annual subscription fee that includes software license and support fees.
A recent survey was made on SaaS solutions post-COVID, and 96% of the respondents said that they are emphasizing on integrating SaaS strategically. The shift towards the cloud has also altered the business strategy, as –
- 73% increase in cloud migration
- 44% expansion of products and services
- 42% change in the number of employees
- 19% increase in outsourcing approach
- 67% accelerated digital transformation
Why Does EDI Need An Upgrade?
The electronic data interchange was always aimed to provide two major things – visibility and optimization.
Visibility means digitizing and standardizing the flow of information to assess and plan decisions. Optimization, on the other hand, was to enhance the efficiency of the system. With better visibility, process reviewing can be simplified and automated to make better choices for the entire ecosystem.
Yet there were challenges that organizations had to face in order to achieve visibility and optimization, like –
Incompatible protocols and standards – A wide variety of EDI protocols like AS2, FTP, OFTP, etc. and standards like EDIFACT, ANSI X12, PEPPOL, TRADACOM, etc. were strenuous to handle and manage within a single EDI system and function effectively.
Slow and complex onboarding – Since EDI protocols and standards were difficult to manage they further complicated the onboarding of new partners leading to delays and dissatisfaction.
Siloed and corrupted information – The inflexibility, delays, and dissatisfaction provided by the legacy EDI system weren’t the only challenges. Siloed relationships and continuation of manual processes lead to corrupted data, thereby reducing efficiency and requisite outcome of the business ROI.
Continuing to use or implement a legacy EDI system can create impenetrable variations that can worsen the struggles and pose problems for communication with the trading partners.
The only way is to switch to a hybrid approach or a SaaS model to meet the unique requirements of each trading partner, supplier, 3PL, customers, and others while overcoming the setbacks.
Let’s understand further how cloud computing can simplify and address EDI-specific setbacks.
What Happens When EDI Meets Cloud?
You gain the ability to control all things in EDI through a more efficient and cost-effective cloud model.
The self-service ability means you can manage internal backend applications and connect with EDI-enabled stakeholders across the ecosystem of trading partners seamlessly.
SaaS EDI solutions enable businesses to stay competitive, scale more rapidly, and drive greater value throughout the multi-enterprise ecosystem. As customers’ and partners’ expectations are increasing with time, SaaS EDI can strengthen critical business relationships along the way, meeting the demands.
What Should You Look for In a SaaS EDI Solution?
Here are some key things to look at when evaluating a SaaS EDI vendor option –
Ability to Gain Insights
Investing in a SaaS EDI solution must allow you complete transparency and visibility of the EDI activities. You must be aware of what’s happening across your ecosystem of trading partner views, spot trends that drive business intelligence and get real-time message alerts. All these can help you and your team to take revenue-impacting solutions where needed.
Persona-based Dashboard
Get a comprehensive view of all the loopholes and bumps that block your road to smooth business transactions. Take extra measures to eliminate the roadblocks and keep only the data that matters the most. With SaaS EDI, you can define your views and empower the users to take direct actions on specific EDI transactions.
Self-service Visibility
No more relying on third-party for integration oversight. With SaaS EDI, you can enable real-time insights and foster flexible collaboration with key trading partners. Your offerings (solution) will certainly be more powerful when you have the accessibility of operational insight from any device or platform, whenever & wherever needed.
Issue Notifications
A SaaS EDI solution provides real-time alerts about the issues and follows and shares tickets across the ecosystem. SaaS EDI services allow quick and seamless tracking of the activity, keeping the team informed through fully transparent operations.
Elimination of Complexity
With the SaaS EDI solution, companies can improve their agility and visibility with complete integration solutions built as an “ecosystem integration” platform. Cloud EDI integration is enriched with –
- API on the same platform – You get real-time dataflows, power innovation, and compliance.
- End-to-end process visibility – Have real-time operational dashboards and actionable insights.
- Combination of Self & Managed Services – With SaaS EDI, strengthen collaboration and enable transparency for unmatched control and agility.
How EDI-as-a-Service Transforms Businesses?
EDI-as-a-Service offers much-needed transformation through a range of notable benefits listed below.
Simplicity
Legacy EDI is unable to deal with the complexities of modern needs and demands. EDI-as-a-Service can simplify such complexity through smooth integration of all processes for the easiest accessibility of the information.
Visibility
Deep insights and intended visibility were never possible with traditional EDI. SaaS EDI offers clarity and access to detailed centralized information. A simplified model that will help deliver a more holistic picture of the business.
Efficiency
All EDI are meant to provide efficiency but with time complex integrations and problems have led to more complications. SaaS EDI or EDI-as-a-service has the ability to tap into the manual process and digitize them to increase profit margins, improve strategic planning, differentiate methods beyond optimization, and grab more competitive advantages.
Creative Planning and Control
The most important role of EDI is to leverage business with effective planning and have control over the larger scope of business. This can better the communication with the partners while improving the relationships with them. Another aspect of improved planning and control offers improved focus. Improved focus means a smoother experience and better return on the investment.
Flexibility
The most needed characteristics to match the changing needs and trends of the market. EDI works on multiple protocols, standards, and formats that are used by all industries worldwide. EDI-as-a-service can accommodate a wide range of protocols and standards automatically to match the trading requirements of any supplier or trader across the globe. This increases flexibility and brings agility to onboarding processes without the need for EDI expertise.
In a Nutshell
EDI-as-a-service or SaaS EDI leverage accessibility to tailor-made solutions that legacy EDI solutions couldn’t deliver. This ensures flexible accommodations, which reduces the technical learning curve needed for EDI adoption while taking complete advantage of the solution.
Certainly, legacy EDI couldn’t meet the needs of the modern and advanced market & customers, it requires more than just visibility and optimization. With improved and flexible cloud solutions, EDI can be used as a custom-made, service-led approach that can meet changing business trends.
With the help of the right electronic data interchange provider, you can integrate the right EDI solution for your business. A reliable resource can help you gauge the advantages of EDI while simplifying the business process and operations at every stage. With simplified EDI, you can put your focus on better communication & collaboration with trading partners and put your entire focus on enhancing productivity and ensuring scalability of the business.
Author Bio
Scarlett works with the editorial team of A3logics, a leading company offering EDI Integration Services. Exploring the latest technologies, reading about them, and writing her views have always been her passion. She seeks new opportunities to express her opinions, explore technological advancements, and document the details. You can always find her enjoying books or articles about varied topics or jotting down her ideas in a notebook.
