How to find your perfect EDI provider

Finding your perfect EDI provider can often be quite a challenging process due to its business-critical nature and the number of factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Electronic Data Interchange, otherwise known as EDI, involves complex message types, specialist technical expertise and considerable resources to get it up and running alongside your current business operations.

When choosing an EDI provider, it is important to fully understand the different types of EDI solutions available, and to then choose the one that best suit your business. Once you know what to look for, the process proves to be a lot less painful.

To help you find the perfect EDI provider for you, here’s a top 10 list of what to look out for.

10 things to consider when choosing an EDI provider

1. Level of support available

Think about what level of support you require and what level is being offered. Would you benefit from full 24/7 support? If so, compare the costs of the providers that offer this service.

2. Reliability and uptime of the solution

How reliable is the solution? Ask the provider for any figures around uptime and availability to find out more information. If they don’t have this information available or aren’t quick to give it away, this may raise alarm bells.

3. How secure is the solution

Find out what levels of security are in place and if meets the necessary standards. Security of the solution is one of the biggest factors in EDI.

4. What is included in the service

Ask the provider if they will look after all the mapping and conduct thorough testing before deployment. If they don’t, this responsibility could fall entirely into your hands meaning you need specialist resources.

5. Transparent pricing or hidden costs

What does the pricing include and are there any hidden costs for the number of transactions being made? If there are additional costs for more transactions, this could quickly make an initially cheap solution very expensive.

6. Integration

Can the solution integrate with your business systems irrespective of their technical capabilities, connection protocols, data formats and back-office systems? Ease of integration makes for more efficient and better trading relationships.

7. Managed service offering

Managed service offerings can differ across the board. Some providers offer a managed service that only includes basic features, whereas others include the addition of future trading partners as well as ongoing proactive support.

8. Scalability

It is important that your EDI solution has the ability to scale up as and when your business grows. Find out how scalable the solution is in terms of usage / volume / functionality as when your business grows, you don’t want your EDI solution to let you down.

9. Implementation and on-boarding processes

Will the implementation and on-boarding be managed on your behalf by your service provider? If so, will you receive a full project plan which includes full timelines?

10. Case studies

Are existing customers willing to speak to prospective clients? Do they have existing case studies? Look at how much detail the case studies go into and read carefully the testimonials made by their customers.

About our Gold Solutions Partner for EDI: TrueCommerce

The TrueCommerce Managed Service

The TrueCommerce managed service solution delivers a game changing opportunity and benefits for organisations of any size. By outsourcing to their fully managed service, their customers are free from the burdens and risks associated with capital investment, technical issues, maintenance costs and the need to keep abreast of advancing technology. The combination of a scalable cloud solution supported by a market leading managed service has made TrueCommerce a popular choice in many sectors including retail, manufacturing and building. To find out more about TrueCommerce please visit their website.