There are many efficiency and cost saving benefits of EDI for businesses of all sizes, operating in diverse sectors including retail, food, logistics, distribution, construction, manufacturing and many more.

Further information on EDI can be found in the following FAQ’s, which may be particularly useful if you are just starting to trade via EDI or alternatively if you are looking to change EDI providers.

In terms of how EDI works, there are three main steps in the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) process – preparation and organisation of data, translation to the agreed EDI format, and the transmission of the EDI documents.

EDI is for any business that exchanges business documents with other businesses as part of their trading relationships.

There are a few things to think through when adopting EDI, depending on the demands of your business needs. Transaction volume, resources and support are all important factors of consideration when choosing the right solution.

Using EDI can transform the fortunes of businesses, large and small, with benefits including reduced costs and improved cash flow to name just a few. EDI is a game changer for many businesses.

A Value Added Network — or VAN — is a secure private network which acts as an intermediary to enable EDI connectivity between trading partners and other VANs.

EDI integration is the electronic communication of business messages, such as orders and invoices, credit notes and ASN’s, internally between your own EDI system and your own back office accounts, warehouse or ERP systems, removing the need for manual re-keying of information. Businesses can use EDI integration tools to manage their EDI activity from their business system and remove manual rekeying processes from their organization.

An EDI mailbox is a file storage area within a computer which can be uniquely identified from connected mailboxes and VANs in other locations, and where EDI messages are consolidated and stored for retrieval by a vendor or supplier.

An EDI hub is usually an organisation that buys multiple products and services and does so by sending orders electronically to its suppliers, and receiving electronic invoices in return.

EDI transactions, documents and files refer to the EDI messages that are exchanged between trading partners.

The TrueCommerce EDI managed service has been designed to meet the EDI requirements of small, emerging, mid-market and enterprise businesses, with an EDI solution that provides all of the key EDI elements required for a complete end-to-end EDI solution.