This Saturday, Remedi officially turns 30. When we started Remedi around our dining room table in 1994, I never could have imagined a journey that began with one client to where we are today.
By the way, I think it says a lot that our founding client remains with us thirty years later.
Of course, our evolution has been intertwined with the advancement of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology.
The Birth and Evolution of EDI
First used commercially by American Airlines in the late 1960s, EDI was developed to automate manual business functions such as logging reservations and coordinating destination information and payments.
All industries at the time (and many today) faced the risks and costs of paper-based processes. They were slow and prone to errors, which created delays in processes and bottlenecks in supply chains. As just-in-time inventory management began to take hold, those errors also led to businesses like manufacturers being hit with big fines for SLA violations.
At about that time, EDI was emerging as a way for companies to transmit documents electronically in standardized formats. At Remedi, we recognized the transformative potential of EDI early on, especially its potential to increase accuracy and help companies avoid fines due to human errors caused by manual data entry.
Over the years, as EDI adoption grew, so did Remedi. It’s not an overstatement to say EDI made paperless transactions possible and practical for any business. I tend to be pretty low-key when it comes to tooting Remedi’s horn, but I am proud of the role our company has played in the widespread acceptance of the original digital transformation technology.
Remedi Through the Decades
Building from one manufacturing client, we focused on promoting EDI’s benefits and use cases. The other thing we recognized, in the beginning, was the need for IT professionals with the specialized skills EDI demands. I’m talking about things like business process analysis, mapping, and solution architecture.
Because their skills are so specialized and in such demand, we recognized that many companies would also need help locating and vetting qualified integration talent. We crystallized our vision around providing top-tier consulting and staffing solutions and coupled that offering with reselling and implementing a range of industry-proven integration software solutions from application developers such as IBM and Cleo.
This dual approach allows us to serve clients from large corporations to smaller enterprises and identify areas of unmet need. For example, the early 2010s saw a surge in EDI interest across industries that had been slow to embrace digital transformation. Since that time manufacturing, logistics, and food and beverage have become wheelhouses of expertise for us.
More recently, we responded to the explosion of online shopping and B2B buying that started during COVID. More and more we are helping clients integrate APIs to connect to online marketplaces to find new customers. In a business like ours, you have to pay close attention to shifts in the economy and buying behavior.
Staying on top of trends helps us know how and when to enhance our services and develop or acquire integration solutions. It also drives our hiring process. As we expand our core team, we look for experts who are passionate about driving efficiency and growth for our clients.
The Role of EDI in Modern Business
Since we founded Remedi, we keep hearing that EDI is going away for one reason or another, but it keeps expanding. I started in the business as an EDI developer, and my husband (and company president) Brad loves to tease me about being a propeller head. But you don’t have to be an IT nerd to understand why companies keep adopting EDI. It saves them hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions every year.
It’s also highly flexible and continues to evolve, integrating with cloud platforms, APIs, and other critical technologies.
When we began, I’m not sure I totally appreciated how important EDI is to modern business. It’s why companies can almost take for granted must-haves like seamless communication between partners, compliance with industry standards, and smooth functioning of supply chains.
EDI makes all that possible. It’s kind of like electricity. People don’t realize how essential it is until it fails. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen very often because it’s stable and secure!
We Couldn’t Have Done This Without You
As we celebrate this milestone, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our clients, consultants, and team members. Your trust, support, and hard work are the reasons we can look forward to celebrating our 30th anniversary this Saturday—and why we can look back with pride on what we’ve accomplished together.
Thank you all for being part of the Remedi and EDI journey. Here’s to the next 30 years of evolution!
