Massive Cost Saving
While there is a cost associated with EDI integration, once examined its cost is almost immediately justifiable.
First, EDI integration dramatically cuts staffing costs by allowing you to automate processes that you currently do by hand. For example, on average the cost savings from automating a manually processed purchase order is $7.89, an invoice is $10.58, and a remittance is $11.96. So with some simple multiplication you can quickly understand how a positive ROI can be achieved. This elimination of manual work also means you can refocus your valuable employees and have them spend more time working on alternative things that will benefit your company’s profitability.
But after that, EDI integration opens new markets for you to do business in. Big retailers like Walmart and Home Depot refuse to do business with fulfillment companies that do not have EDI integration. So, for many companies, it’s actually more expensive to not have EDI integration, because without it you’re closed off from huge potential sources of business. This reason alone can justify the initial implementation cost.
And the cherry on top: EDI integration reduces the risk of chargebacks. Non-compliance with certain regulations results in financial penalties, and these chargebacks dramatically impinge upon your business’s bottom line.
Increased Productivity & Efficiency
The language and documents of EDI are immensely time consuming while entering them manually. And without a truly integrated EDI solution, you will never be able to truly automate those processes. But along with the cost savings, EDI integration empowers you to automate end-to-end, which ultimately translates to more productivity. Fully integrated EDI solutions can speed up your business cycles by 71%, making transactions happen in minutes instead of the days or weeks manual processes can take. This automation can also reduce the order-to-cash cycle time by more than 20%, improving business partner transactions and relationships.
Along with this new found productivity, EDI integration also dramatically improves your businesses data quality delivering at least a 30%-40% reduction in transactions with errors. Integration eliminates errors from illegible handwriting, lost faxes/mail, and keying/re-keying errors. The quick processing of accurate business documents leads to less re-working of orders, fewer stock outs and fewer cancelled orders.
Expand And Scale With Ease.
Important, but usually forgotten: EDI Integration empowers your systems to grow and scale with you company… not hold its expansion back.
When you streamline and electronically connect all of your processes and departments in a standardized format, you gain valuable time to strategize ways to scale your business. Without worrying yourself with manually overseeing the tedious day-to-day operations of your company, you can scale and expand much more quickly.
EDI integration enables real-time visibility into your business. This in turn enables faster decision-making and improved responsiveness to changing customer and market demands, and allows businesses to adopt a demand-driven business model rather than a supply-driven one.
