Monthly Archives: February 2022

Digital transformation: An important intervention in 2022 and beyond

Digital transformation - the topic has dominated panel discussions and media, with suggestions about how businesses can stay relevant in the digital world. In simple words, digital transformation is about harnessing technology to improve the business, its environment and its customers’ experience.

Why is digital transformation important in 2022?

It enables us to pivot quickly

In the pre-COVID era, organisations were slowly transitioning to more digital business models but as the pandemic hit, it forced dramatic changes within companies and accelerated investment in digital transformation. All of a sudden business started operating remotely. They turned to various digital platforms to streamline internal business processes in order to function to serve their customers. This paradigm shift brought by the Coronavirus made the business world realise that in order to stay competitive and meet the increasing customer demand, going digital is essential. Many of our supply chain customers turned to us for help to streamline their business process during this period. With our cloud-based EDI, we helped our customers get everything onto their accounting software where everyone can access everything remotely. With cloud-based SaaS EDI, the software is hosted in the cloud and managed by a third-party service provider, in this case it’s us. Cloud EDI is web-based and is convenient as companies’ don’t need physical on-site infrastructure, additional resources or licenses. The cloud EDI service provider maintains the software, networks, servers, security and importantly the maintenance for you. It was the companies with cloud-based EDI that companies could transition most smoothly to working from home without interruption to their supply chains.

It reduces the risk of errors and improves customer experience

Customer experience is increasingly becoming key to a company’s long-term success. Digital transformation can help businesses have more agile capabilities both in terms of IT services and user experience. MessageXchange can help you improve your customer experience by reducing the risk of errors by using EDI. With EDI, processes are automated reducing manual errors. For example, when a buyer places a purchase order (PO), and the order can be put into the supplier’s system. The supplier can raise an invoice in their software, which can be sent automatically to their customer’s software. Without EDI, all these processes would be manual which increases the risk of errors. Fewer errors mean a reduction in the number of disputes lodged as a result of accuracy. Businesses can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by making things easier and faster with more streamlined digital processes.

It makes for more productive employees

With the impact of COVID-19, companies are not sure if their employees will fully return to the office. It is a constant challenge to manage a dispersed workforce. Digital platforms can help managers create productivity improvements and help their employees stay motivated and be more effective in their roles. For departments like finance and HR, digital transformation provides an excellent opportunity to move from traditional paper-based processes to modern automations in areas such as payroll and eInvoicing. With our eInvoicing service you can send eInvoices to your customers almost instantly and be up-to-date on the status of the invoices through the eInvoice response message to see if your customer has received the eInvoice, whether it’s been approved and submitted for payment. These automations free up employees’ time by reducing the need for follow up calls and emails and give them an opportunity to focus on more important tasks.

It’s so much more sustainable

Corporate social responsibility is becoming a necessity, not a choice these days. Many multinational companies are already focusing on sustainability and finding new ways to make their businesses more sustainable. Research by Forest ethics highlighted that Australian businesses and families use over 2.4 million tonnes of paper for printing and writing every year. Every tonne of paper needs 12-24 trees to manufacture. It is estimated that 180 trees are used for just one business each year. eInvoicing cuts out the need for paper as the invoices are exchanged electronically. Going digital is a good first step to make your business more environmentally friendly. Paperless communication and transaction mean practically no use of paper and energy used in production and transportation of paper documents. If you want to learn more about how EDI and eInvoicing can help your business smoothly transition and adopt digital processes, request a call back from our experts below.

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EDI Glossary

EDI has a lot of jargon and it can be hard to understand. We’ve put together some of the key words to help make it easier for you.

Advance Shipping Notice (ASN)

This message tells a buyer when the goods will be shipped, how they’ve been packed and the estimated arrival date. This can also referred to as a Delivery Notice or Despatch Advice.

EDIFACT

This stands for Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport. It’s an international EDI standard that was developed by the United Nations. Types of EDIFACT messages include 96A and D01B. They’re commonly used in the retail industry here in Australia.

Translation

The conversion from one file format to another.

ERP system

Also known as an Enterprise Resource Planning system. This software is used by companies to manage much of their business activity – they’re like an accounting package on steroids. Examples of ERP systems include SAP, Oracle, Pronto, JD Edwards and Sage.

Gateway

A Gateway is the central point that enables the exchange of messages between systems (often provided by a value added network, or a VAN). It mediates the differences between your software and those of your trading partners. If you think of a hub and spoke model, the Gateway is the hub, and you and your trading partners are the spokes. Through MessageXchange, Gateways can be configured per customer to have specific business rules, mappings, error handling and more.

GLN

A Global Location Number (GLN) is a unique number that is assigned to locations to enable them to be identified worldwide. These global location numbers can be used to identify any legal, physical and functional locations. They’re issued by the standards body GS1. GLNs are also used in the EDI to identify a business to exchange messages with.

GS1

GS1 is a worldwide not-for-profit that encourages the use of standards in business to create efficiency in supply chains and overall business. GS1 develops and publishes standards for barcodes, product data and EDI. They’re the organisation that issue GLNs and GTINs.

GTIN

This stands for Global Trade Item Number. It’s a unique identifier for each product. If you look at a barcode, they’re often GTINs. Here in Australia, they’re issued starting with a 93 or 94.

iDoc

iDoc stands for intermediate document. It’s a data structure for electronic data interchange between application programs written for the popular SAP business system or between an SAP application and an external program.

Mapping

Mapping refers to translating, or converting, one file format to another. For example, if your software outputs a CSV file and your trading partner requires an EDIFACT file, your EDI VAN would ‘map’ the CSV file to EDIFACT.

Message type

An structured set of data covering the requirements for a specified type of transaction, for example, an invoice or purchase order.

MIG

A MIG, or message implementation guide, details the file structure that your trading partner requires. A MIG is usually written for each message type required by that trading partner. You can see examples of MIGs on our website: home.messagexchange.com/resources/migs/

Network service provider

A company that maintains an EDI network on behalf of businesses, also known as a value added network. They offer its services and capabilities to others for a fee.

SFTP

Secure file transfer protocol. A network protocol that provides file transfer over the web securely using authentication and encryption.

SSCC (serial shipping container code)

An 18-digit number that is used to identify logistics units. It allows whoever it is receiving the goods to track them throughout the journey, and gives them more insight into what’s inside a shipping unit.

SSCC label

The label is linked to the ASN. The label has one or more barcodes on it, which includes the SSCC number. Often in retail, these are scanned when receiving the goods to mark them as received in the retailer’s software and to identify exactly what’s in the package.

Transmission protocol

Transmission protocol refers to how your messages will get from your software to your VAN. Some examples include sFTP or AS2. Choosing your transmission protocol largely depends on the level of security required as well as the need for timely, real-time information.

VAN

VAN is the acronym for Value Added Network; they’re the company that provides an EDI service. VANs enable your EDI capability to be scalable because they sit at the core of your trading network and enable the routing of messages, which reduces the impact of change. At MessageXchange we combine the VAN capability with Gateway capability so message routing can be combined with message mapping, business rules business intelligence reporting, custom error handling, notifications and the top level of security.

Web-based EDI

A method of EDI that allows users to send and receive EDI from an internet browser portal. It does involve manual inputting of information.

XML

The abbreviation for extensible markup language – it is a file format commonly used by software to export and/or import data. If you want to learn more about EDI for your business, request a call back from our EDI experts below.

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