How integrated EDI improves data visibility and shortens order cycles
Because of an increasingly complex supply chain, finance and supply managers in manufacturing and retail organizations face significant challenges finding and maintaining accurate inventory and delivery information. With important product information locked away in specific information systems, managers can’t easily determine item availability or report customer demand. They have to spend a lot of time coordinating with vendors over the phone or via email each time they need up-to-date delivery information. Every additional vendor or supplier along the supply chain makes it more difficult to coordinate and keep all information in-sync. Each step upstream from the customer amplifies the bullwhip effect, resulting in highly inaccurate demand forecasts and inefficient order fulfillment. Improving information accuracy and eliminating delays in communication help to mitigate the bullwhip effect and vastly improve supply chain coordination. The importance of simple, direct communication Modern digital tools are the key to improving this situation by simplifying inter-partner communication along the supply chain. Instead of relying on ad hoc systems that use spreadsheets and email to keep track of information from suppliers, retail and manufacturing organizations need robust information platforms that are directly integrated with electronic communication channels. Older partner organizations that digitized their records decades ago might still use traditional EDI standards that relay information to partners using a value-added network, or VAN. These systems are often industry-specific, like flight inquiry software or electronic stock tickers. Whether your vendors use these older systems or newer B2B communication standards like XML or JSON to exchange information,