| |December 201719CIOReviewuse EDI prefer to work with vendors that have EDI systems in place.From financial, operational, and technical perspectives, the right EDI solution makes irrefutable business sense. EDI enables companies to complete business transactions faster with less expense and fewer errors. There are many other indirect benefits that derive from this increased control and efficiency, such as faster transaction processing, increased accuracy and better information access, among others. EDI isn't really very complicated or highly technical. It's just an extension of what most companies are doing already. That is, businesses today commonly use computers to hold and process information used in the management of various business functions such as purchasing, inventory management, payables and receivables and so forth. The computer is the repository of all information that will be included in business transaction documents. EDI simply takes this computer system capabilities one step further by adding the transmission of the business documents themselves. Purchase orders, invoices and the like are transmitted between trading partners over telephone lines in computer readable form. EDI thereby making it possible to exchange data, without ever rekeying the original transaction, information stored in the sender's internal computer files. Sending business documents computer to computer is more efficient than printing the data stored in internal computer files, mailing paper documents, and having a trading partner's clerical staff enter the same document data into its own computer system. The elimination of paper documents reduces paper processing costs and clerical labor. Reducing document processing results in fewer mistakes and better customer service. In order to communicate with your trading partners using EDI, you need a computer, modem, phone line and EDI translation/communication software. EDI enables companies to complete business transactions faster with less expense and fewer errorsEDI TECHNOLOGY ­ Electronic Data Interchange
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