Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has existed for over 50 years, enabling commercial transactions between and amongst organisations and individuals. In the early 1980’s, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) emerged as a next stage of e-commerce development, allowing companies to exchange business documents (e.g. PO, invoices and ship notices) in a standard electronic format. If we analyse the busy world of retail, businesses today need to be aware of the ongoing industry challenges. Factors such as the emergence of new data-capturing technologies; the rise of mobile payments and increase of online businesses; the need to connect with users in multiple channels and customers’ need for speed; and the continuous challenges on supply chain management, are all threatening businesses performance and success. For this reason, through the implementation of EDI solutions, retailers will be in the position to take advantage of the following benefits: • Reduced Costs – eliminating or reducing administrative and personnel costs • Improved Data Quality and Accuracy – eliminating errors resulting from manual data input • Increased Business Efficiency – allowing businesses to concentrate on higher-value tasks • Increased Processing Speed – allowing businesses to communicate data more efficiently and accurately. Large volumes of commercial data can now be transferred from one business to another in matter of minutes, enabling faster response and greater customer satisfaction • Enriched Visibility – facilitating faster decision-making processes and improved responsiveness to customers and market demands • Shortened lead times for product enhancements and new product delivery – improving and building stronger relationships with business partners • Improved Customer Service – addressing customers’ questions and concerns more effectively since information is available on a “real-time” basis • Enhanced Logistics Management and Increased Productivity – allowing companies to manage and control production, purchasing and delivering requirements more efficiently From these benefits, we can observe that the use of EDI shapes the success and efficiency of a business supply chain management and business operations. MessageXchange is a cloud B2B Integration and Collaboration service that facilitates connection, mapping and message exchange across all industry standard formats and protocols. MessageXchange is capable of providing business solutions, for companies who are seeking to automate, map, log, and track complex or long messages of all data sources. Speak to MessageXchange today to see how we could tailor a solution for your business.