Tag Archive for: EDI Managed Service

Fully Managed EDI Service for Outsourcing B2B Communication

In today’s highly competitive business market the efficiency gained through EDI implementation and integration is enormous. EDI (for electronic data interchange) allows companies to interact effectively with their business partners and opens new doors for small businesses to collaborate with large companies.

There are various types of EDI solutions, it can be either locally installed on-premises or cloud-based. Our company as a leading EDI provider offers all types of EDI services:

Each of the above EDI service models has its specific benefits. In today’s article, let’s look at the fully managed EDI service, and why companies can benefit from this EDI service or solution.

What is EDI?

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic exchange of business documents using a standardized format. EDI allows business partners to exchange business documents electronically rather than paper or e-mail.

Despite the widespread use of EDI in business, some companies still do not use EDI. They can be limited by the complexity of setting up their EDI flows and processes, or the lack of the necessary IT skills to do such an implementation. All these problems can be solved by hiring an outside EDI service provider that can take care of fully managing their EDI processes and its integration to their internal ERP/CRM system.

What is Fully Managed EDI Service?

The fully managed EDI service offering provided by EDI2XML means that we will fully manage the EDI operations and integration on the behalf of the customer.

Customers using our Fully Managed EDI Service do not need to install any software or hardware, we will setup and configure the process flows, take care of the data routing, and be responsible for data format transformation and integration.

With our fully managed EDI service, we will take on a wide range of responsibilities that are usually performed by an internal IT department and deliver a turnkey project when onboarding a client’s partners.

During the execution of any EDI project, our team will perform the following activities:
  • Initial analysis of the entire EDI Integration Project.
  • Work with the client to define the points of connectivity between both platforms.
  • Perform the communication testing, between the EDI2XML integration platform and the Trading Partner.
  • Configure the EDI2XML platform, according to the Trading Partners’ specific requirements.
  • Perform connectivity and full-cycle testing with the trading partner.
Fully managed EDI Service

EDI Managed Services for B2B Integration

A fully managed EDI service is ideal for companies that need to use EDI, but don’t want to spend time and effort to do the implementation themselves, or don’t have necessary EDI skills and specialists who can do it. They, therefore, need a partner (EDI service provider) who will take care of all the configuration and integration of EDI into any on-premises or cloud-based ERP or CRM system.

Advantages of The EDI Fully Managed Services

With an EDI managed service provider such as EDI2XML, you no longer have to worry about your EDI transactions because the EDI provider will professionally handle electronic data exchange on your behalf, so you can focus on growing your business.
Managed EDI

– No overpayments. For businesses, this is much more profitable than integrating EDI on-premises.

– Reliable level of security. The EDI3XML platform is hosted on our private cloud, in a state-of-the-art secured data center in Canada.

– No client-side installation. End-users do not need to download and install anything on their computers.

– Minimum requirements for user devices.

– EDI Fully Managed Services delivered by highly qualified EDI experts. Your company can benefit from the technical expertise of the EDI provider staff. You don’t have to deal with the cost of additional training for your own IT department or hiring additional EDI specialists.

– Possibility to seamlessly integrate EDI transactions into your business management system. We have implemented many projects to integrate EDI with Salesforce, SAP, Oracle’s JD Edwards, Shopify, and other business systems. This integration between EDI and ERP/CRM eliminates the need to manually enter data for each EDI transaction.

Useful reading: How to Change Your EDI Service Provider

EDI Fully Managed Service Price

Each month, our clients pay what we call the “ceiling” value, that is fixed in $ value, and includes a specific volume of data. At the end of the month, the monthly fee is re-evaluated based on the logs. So, depending on the volume, the price will be pre-calculated based on pre-packaged pricing packages per month, that increase (or decrease) dynamically based on the volume of data processed during a specific month.

In other words, when the monthly amount of data processed exceeds a certain threshold, the customer will be billed based on the respective pricing plan. It works both ways: when the volume is increased and when the volume is decreased.

Request our EDI Pricing Package here for more information.

EDI Outsourcing

Our company is a successful EDI service provider operating in North America and connecting trading partners worldwide for over 20 years. Our clients are large companies as well as small businesses from various industries.

Due to our level of experience and expertise, we helped each of our clients to choose the most optimal EDI solution for their business and qualified enough to handle all kinds of EDI scenarios.

Contact us for your first free consultation with one of our EDI integration experts.
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Advantages of Fully Managed EDI Solution for Companies in a Post COVID-19 Era

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

What is EDI (Electronic data interchange)?
Fully Managed EDI

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the exchange of structured data, according to a pre-defined format agreed upon, between computer systems and without human intervention. It is the basis of successful entrepreneurship. This is precisely the reason why business partners want to do business electronically, with their business partners such as suppliers or customers.

This will be particularly the case in the post-COVID-19 world since enterprises need to quickly rebuild their business.

Trading Partners Requiring EDI?

For many companies, especially in the Retail Industry, EDI is essential to keep supply chain processes running smoothly, and often these organizations put some pressure on their suppliers to start exchanging EDI. Moreover, EDI is often one of the fundamental conditions for suppliers to start working with large retailers such as (Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Target, etc.).

However, many suppliers do not have the necessary technical knowledge and expertise to successfully implement EDI in their organization, or they do not have available IT team to setup and manage EDI platforms to connect and exchange electronic EDI documents with new trading partners.

What if the Company Does Not Have the Resources to Implement and Manage EDI?

Our fully managed EDI service is designed for companies that are engaged in various industries such as Retail/Wholesale, Healthcare/Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Logistics, etc. who need to use EDI for their business activities.

Because EDI is not their main competence, such companies prefer to use our Fully Managed EDI service offering.

We at EDI2XML, always focus on providing EDI integration solutions that ensure the most efficient operation of various business processes.

Key Features of our Fully Managed EDI Service

Following are the most important key features of the Fully Managed EDI service offered at our company EDI2XML:
  • Over 21 years of expertise in integration projects and EDI implementations
  • Support of all commonly used EDI standards (i.e. X12, EDIFACT, RosettaNet, HIPAA/X12, XML, CSV, etc.)
  • Support of all commonly used communication protocols (i.e. AS2, FTP, sFTP, VAN, RNIF…)
  • 24/7 Helpdesk email support
  • Safe and stable infrastructure (deployed on our private Cloud)
  • Dynamic monthly service prices

Benefits of Managed EDI /EDI Outsourcing
  • No investment in hardware and software required by the client
  • Service offered based on monthly subscription
  • Suitable for all business sectors, regardless of the company size, or geographic location.
  • Seamless connection to your business partners
  • Seamless connectivity and bridging to your branded ERP/CRM or homegrown software system

The Fully Managed EDI Integration Process

We always start by analyzing data flows, systems, and trading partners that must be connected.

After completing the analysis, we submit our commercial business offer.

The offer clearly indicates the type and numbers of EDI documents, communication protocol, flow of Incoming and outgoing EDI documents, and costs associated with the One-Time Initial Investment and Monthly Integration Service Fees.

If you would like our company to submit a  free EDI quotation for you, please fill out our EDI Evaluation Sheet, available here, and send it by e-mail to: sales@namtek.ca

Our team of EDI specialists will be responsible for all stages of EDI integration: including planning an EDI project, Integration, testing, and certification with your company’s trading partners.

Your Trusted EDI Services Provider

For over 20 years, EDI2XML has been delivering advanced EDI integration solutions tailored to the specific needs of each company. We have helped various enterprises to successfully integrate EDI into their business and have empowered our clients to exchange EDI with numerous trading partners.

Whether it is a large or small company, with our Managed EDI service offering, we will completely relieve your IT team of responsibility in the field of EDI.

By outsourcing your EDI to EDI2XML, you guarantee a degree of support and expertise that is difficult to match by an in-house team. Our customers benefit from a higher degree of productivity, and a quick return on investment.

Would you like more information about what EDI2XML can do for you? Please contact us or call us on +1 450-681-3009.
Free EDI consultation

RELATED POSTS:

Request EDI2XML Service Pricing Package

The Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on e-commerce

Fully managed EDI service VS HTTP Web Service: Which is Better for Your Business ?

What is EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)?

eBook: EDI – Key Information You Need to Know

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How to Change Your EDI Service Provider

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Today, companies switching from one EDI service provider to another, is not different from someone changing his mobile operator.

Successful companies are always looking for better services and conditions. They are not afraid to change their EDI service provider, considering they add a value with their new selected choice.

Typically, the main reasons for leaving the “old” EDI service provider:
  • The speed of service and SLA is not adequate to the company.
  • the price is no longer justifiable.
  • poor support service.
  • frequent failures.
  • technological weaknesses.
  • lack of expertise and difficulties with integration.

It happens that the contract between the EDI provider and the client was concluded a long time ago, and after a while, its terms were disadvantageous for the company.

There are cases when the client has accumulated a critical number of claims that he is ready to change the EDI service provider, regardless of the investment.

Sometimes, big retailers recommend their partners to work with a particular EDI service provider, hence, they go by that recommendation, since they do not have enough time to select the most reliable EDI provider more carefully, and they get stuck with that service provider for long, and living the good and the bad….

How to Choose the Right EDI Service Provider

Primarily, to change the EDI service provider, you need to carefully select a new one. This step requires careful study. Here are the qualifications that should be looked at when looking for a new EDI service provider:

A.  The technology and qualification of the EDI provider

Companies often use a variety of business systems (SAP, Oracle JD Edwards, Salesforce, etc.), as well as e-Commerce (i.e. Amazon, Shopify). It is important that the new EDI service provider has the optimal solution for integrating EDI processes into these systems.

B.  Ability to offer diversified and comprehensive services

Secondly, it is desirable that your EDI provider can offer comprehensive diversified services that relate to EDI. For example, a good EDI provider, that offers integration services such as e-commerce integration, and direct integration with leading ERP/CRM systems, in addition to EDI is a very important criterion and one more plus in favor of the provider.

C.  Great technical support and quick response time to “resolve”
EDI provider support

Third, comes technical support. The EDI service provider must ensure that an experienced technical team is always available for any type of request. It should be available to respond quickly to resolve issues (when it happens) within a very reasonable time frame, tolerated by the business. Of course, company experience plays an important role.

Since companies with many years of experience in their field, thanks to their experience, often have more effective solutions.

Where to Start and How to Prepare to Change EDI Provider

Before a potential provider submits a quotation, he will certainly request important information upon which he would want to build his pricing. It is worth preparing the following in advance:
  • EDI standard used (i.e. X12, EDIFACT, RosettaNet, HIPAA/X12, XML, CSV, etc.)
  • Number and name (when possible) of trading partners.
  • Type of documents for each trading partner (Order, Order Acknowledgment, Invoice, etc.)
  • Direction of each document (incoming or outgoing).
  • Communication Protocols (i.e. AS2, FTP, sFTP, VAN, RNIF…)
  • Integration interface to the internal system (i.e. direct integration, API, XML, CSV or Json messages)
  • Type of deployment of the solution, the company is looking for (i.e. On-premises, Cloud based)

If you want to get an EDI quotation from our company, please fill in our EDI Evaluation Sheet available here and send it by email to: support@edi2xml.com

After receiving the necessary information, the future provider gets down to the “drawing board”; based on the above information, the service provider will analyze the business process, and offer the most profitable options for EDI integration.

Here are the EDI integration services our company EDI2XML offers:

Fully Managed EDI Service: with this option, there is an on-boarding one-time fee, and a monthly fee. Our team at EDI2XML takes care of all your EDI project, and we offer a “turn-key solution”; we take care of all the setup, configuration, transformation, testing, certification with your EDI partners. Our monthly pricing packages are dynamic, they go up and down based on the volume and you are not locked in any tier.

EDI2XML web services: our REST API to convert X12 to XML and vice versa , is much more cost effective, and meant for companies who got their own technical resources to work with REST API (call and consume HTTP Rest Web services); In such a scenario, it is the way to go for the following reasons:
  • Self-service solution
  • Low cost per KC
  • Support is included with the subscription without any additional fees
  • Quick entry: you can be up and running in less than an hour, and it is proven; we provide everything to your developers to get started, a java client with its source code and instructions on how to work with.
  • We offer the schemas (xsd) of the XML format our API expects, and all what you need to do is to format your data according to that format and you will be up and running.
  • We offer a [15] days free trial, without any commitment.

EDI2XML On-Premises: is our offering to deploy our solution on customer’s premises.

How to Get a Discount

Chances for a discount increase if:
  • the company moves to a new provider having more than one trading partner.
  • The company has a significant volume of transactions.
  • The company requires integration with internal business systems (JDE Oracle, SAP, MS Dynamics, etc.)

How is the Process of Migrating to a New EDI Provider?

The transition from the old to the new EDI provider consists of two parts: formal and technical parts.

The formalities normally take between 2 to 5 business days before signing the agreement.

The technical part depends on the integration option selected and the volume of technical work involved:

– EDI web services. In this case, you do not even need to sign a contract. The connection is very fast within an hour, you can exchange EDI documents with your trading partner.

– Integration options such as Fully managed EDI service or On-Premises EDI Services or Integration with business system may take more time.

Do You Want to Start?

So, do you think it is time to change your EDI provider? However, you still have doubts. Not sure, which EDI solution is right for you? Contact us for a free consultation. Our EDI experts will advise you on the most cost-effective EDI solution according to your business processes.
Free EDI consultation

Related Posts:

What is EDIFACT? | UN / EDIFACT standard overview

Electronic Data Interchange: Key Information You Need to Know

What Are the Differences Between ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT

The Flexibility & Affordability of EDI Managed Service

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

EDI communication, although it may still have a bad rep for being too complex and expensive, is growing in popularity amongst businesses. It still remains to be the best and most secure method of exchanging electronic information between Trading Partners. Does it have to be so complex and expensive? Not at all! It’s whom you choose to hire as your EDI Provider that makes all the difference. Most large Providers are not flexible enough to deal with Small and Medium Enterprises. This was a problem in which our EDI experts realized over 20 years ago and eventually found a solution.

Read: What is EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)?

The Solution – Fully Managed EDI Service

EDI2XML is a translation tool that converts EDI documents to XML/CSV format (based on a pre-defined schema) for incoming documents (and vice versa for outgoing documents). XML is a format that is easily readable by any business person, no matter their IT or EDI knowledge. It is also easier to integrate this XML document into the company’s management system – automating and simplifying the whole communication process. On top of all this, we understand that not all businesses have an internal IT team, which makes implementing new software solutions difficult and complicated for the business executives. We then needed another solution to another problem. We came up with EDI2XML Managed Services.

Basically, this SaaS cloud offering enabled companies to exchange via EDI with their Trading Partners without lifting a finger. How great is that? Our team picks up any incoming EDI documents straight from the customer’s Trading Partner’s mailbox, converts it into the desired XML format of the customer, and sends it to the customer or integrates the data straight into their management system. Outgoing documents works in the opposite way; we pick up any outgoing XML files extracted from the management system, we convert it into EDI format to then send it straight to the Trading Partner.

Key Benefits of Managed EDI Solution

  • Improves customer/partner relationships
  • Doing business with the large retailers, who require their partners to use EDI, is finally made possible
  • Staff can focus on their core business tasks rather than on manual data entry for incoming orders
  • The B2B flow of information is enhanced and simplified
  • Exchanging via EDI is affordable for the smaller companies
  • Improves order processing cycle time reductions; invoices and POs can be processed within hours rather than days/weeks
  • Documents are more accurate (reduced errors) as there is no manual data entry required
  • Cash flow is also improved since electronic invoicing via EDI increases the speed of payment by the customers
  • Employees can quickly access order statutes or other important information to make strategic decisions

All in all, EDI2XML has indeed eliminated many supply chain inefficiencies that companies are living with today and has provided accuracy and timeliness for order processing. Our team is also very flexible and understands that EDI communication can differ between companies, retailers, etc. After being in the EDI communication business for over 20 years, we’ve seen a lot! Selling a solution is not the way to go – it’s about solving a problem by improving processes. Let us handle your EDI communication process.

Contact us for a free EDI Consultation so we can better understand your EDI requirements, specific to your business

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