Best-in-class EDI for businesses big and small

What is electronic data interchange (EDI)?

Simply put, EDI (electronic data interchange) is the exchange of business information directly between business software. Think of a purchase order being created in one company’s accounting package, and it ‘magically’ appears in the supplier’s software; no email, no PDF, no manual data entry. Well, it’s not magic, it’s EDI!

To best understand how simple and efficient EDI is compared to a paper-based procurement process, let’s look at a simple scenario below:

Paper-based procurement

Buyer manually enters the purchase order in their software	Buyer sends order to supplier via email	Supplier manually enters the purchase order in their software	Supplier manually enters the invoice in their software	Supplier sends invoice to buyer via email	Buyer manually enters the invoice in their software

EDI procurement

Buyer enters the purchase order in their software		Purchase order appears in Supplier’s software	Supplier enters the invoice in their software		Invoice appears in Buyer’s software