EDI Integration of B2B E-commerce for Small Companies
Last Updated on April 9, 2024 by Tatyana Vandich
Navigating B2B E-Commerce: A Small Company’s Guide to Seamless EDI Integration
More and more companies in the B2B vertical, are expanding their business to the web and doing more of what is called today B2B e-commerce. Those companies of all sizes are realizing the importance of automation and the value of exchanging EDI with their business partners, suppliers, and buyers.
For small companies in the B2B market, trading with large retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart, Target or Home Depot is a great opportunity for their business. However, many small and medium-sized enterprises are missing out on this chance due to the fear of large retailers’ requirement to comply with their EDI rules.
In most cases, EDI is the de-facto protocol to communicate and exchange business documents between big-box retailers and their suppliers.
EDI is used to automate the process of exchanging business documents between trading partners. Essentially, it is the solution for B2B and is quite popular amongst retail, manufacturing, transportation, health care, and other industries. By automating documents exchange process, companies can benefit in many areas.
To those who do not know much about Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), it sounds quite complicated at first. There are different EDI standards, requirements, EDI formats, communication protocols such as AS2, sFTP, VAN, different documents / transactions (i.e. 850, 810, 846 856, etc.) which differ depending on company and industry.
EDI Integration projects seem daunting and expensive, which can explain why many smaller businesses still do not communicate with their trading partners through EDI. However, the key is to find the right EDI provider who can offer solutions and services that are simple, affordable and quick to onboard.
An EDI provider like EDI2XML offers 2 options for EDI integration projects:
- EDI as a Service, also known as EDI outsourcing or fully managed EDI service
- EDI2XML web services, REST API to convert X12 to XML and vice versa, known as self-service API.
Fully Managed EDI
This option is a “turn-key solution” where our team at EDI2XML, takes care of all the project: setup, configuration, testing, certification with your EDI partners …
Our monthly pricing packages are dynamic, they go up and down based on the volume and you are not locked in in any tier. Following is a diagram illustrating the flow of information with our EDI as a service offering.
By using our EDI Web Service, you can enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and improve collaboration with your trading partners.
EDI2XML Web Services
This option is meant for companies who got their own technical resources to work with REST API (call and consume HTTP Rest Web services); In such a scenario EDI2XML web services is the way to go for the following reasons:
- Self-service solution,
- Low cost,
- Quick entry: you can be up and running in less than an hour, and it is proven; we provide everything to your developers to get started, a java client with its source code and instructions on how to work with it.
- We offer the xml schemas (xsd) of the XML format our API expects, and all that you need to do is to format your data according to that format and you will be up and running.
- We offer 15 days free trial, without any commitment.
Advantages of Using EDI
Integrating Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) into B2B e-commerce can bring significant benefits to small companies. EDI allows for the automated exchange of business documents and data between trading partners, streamlining communication, reducing manual effort, and improving efficiency.
Integrating Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) into B2B e-commerce can bring significant benefits to small companies. EDI allows for the automated exchange of business documents and data between trading partners, streamlining communication, reducing manual effort, and improving efficiency.
With EDI, orders, invoices, and other business documents can be sent straight from your ERP management system to the EDI Provider, where they can process this XML file into EDI format and then sent to the Trading Partner.
Orders come in as EDI, get translated into XML format and then get sent straight to your ERP system (if integration was done). In most cases where integration to your ERP solution is done, no human intervention is even needed. This saves so much time and effort and finally allows your employees to get a lot more time on their hands for other important tasks, eliminating so much of the manual data entry.
When it comes to EDI, every case is different. It’s all about finding the right EDI provider that can help you with this process and ensure it’s simple and efficient as can be. Automating B2B processes with EDI can help companies stay profitable by letting them keep up with market changes and trends.
Look at EDI2XML, and book a free consultation with one of our EDI experts!
