Become your customer's favorite trading partner

Does this sound familiar? Your largest customer has switched to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and expects you to keep up. What do you do? In this article, we take you through the benefits of EDI.

See if it’s for you.

You may be used to sending and receiving all documents (There are many in a food company. We know!) as attachments in emails when you trade. Files that then need to be opened, printed, manually entered, archived, scanned and maybe even resent.

You and your colleagues are probably in complete control of all the documents. It’s running. And mistakes probably rarely happen.

So why do it differently? It can also feel like a big decision to change habits for the whole company just because the big customer does.

Before you decide if you want to change habits, connect with your big customer and switch to EDI (Electronic Data Interchange - EDI), of course, you just need to know a little more about the benefits of EDI.

 

 

Why EDI?

With EDI, you can exchange documents and data electronically with the companies you trade with. This means that instead of sending a PDF document, which your customer will later have to enter into their system, you can place the order directly in their system.

This way you avoid sending important documents like order confirmations and invoices back and forth attached emails.

You and your customer can save hours of entering orders, when product information is automatically transferred to the company you trade with. And then you reduce the risk of errors associated with manual entry.

 

 

Make yourself a stable and reliable supplier

Now you’ve heard a little bit about the benefits of EDI. Currently, the biggest benefit for you right now is that you can keep selling goods to your big customer if you upgrade to electronic data exchange. This is a significant benefit that should be included in your calculation.

But you can actually win on the transition as well.

If you switch to EDI, you will probably experience the advantage that you and the large customer get a more loyal and close bond. You have suddenly moved up in the queue of suppliers because you - above the others - have become much easier to trade with.

Now you and your customer’s system are set up to talk to each other.

Maybe more orders are coming your way for this reason? In that case, it will be very worth considering EDI.

Interested in EDI with the large retailers and catering chains in Denmark and the Nordic countries? Tracezilla can easily connect you.

See here how.

 

 

How to get started using EDI?

To get started with EDI, it basically requires a integration to your system and update master data.

tracezilla is a system with built-in EDI for the large retail and catering chains in Denmark and the Nordic countries. Want to see how easy it is to get started using EDI via tracezilla? Read mere here

In order for you and your customer’s systems to speak the same language and send the right information across the big internet, it requires that you have master data in place.

Master data in this case is GLN (Global Location Number) which is your company’s address information and EAN (Europe Article Number (now directed to International Article Number)) your SKU’s unique bar code.

EAN is a unique number that you use for electronic invoicing, which ensures that goods are not confused with each other. The number is so specific that one can in a way say that it is a kind of electronic address that identifies your product or you as the owner. The number ensures that there is consistency between the invoice and the recipient.

Once you have your master data in order, you can see the magic of EDI begin to work between your big customer and you. Fast invoicing and document processing. Less time spent on keystrokes and fewer errors. A true love story. Arh..maybe so much said. But it feels good when workflows run fast and stable.

We can not promise anything, but we would like to assume that you will not go back to the old habits of sending, attaching, printing, manually entering, scanning for hours.

We hope the article here has given you an insight into EDI. Maybe you even found the answer to what to do if your large customer requires you to trade via EDI.

 

 

tracezillas own EDI

Did you know that tracezilla has its own EDI? tracezilla EDI ensures that the order flow is automated if it takes place between two tracezilla users. Maybe one of your suppliers or customers is already a tracezilla user?

Read more about tracezilla EDI here.