B2B Data Integration and Transformation Blog

EDI and ERP systems have been at the center of enterprise management for decades. However, until recently, these two technologies existed as stand-alone solutions, with ERP handling records and internal transactions and EDI executing data exchanges with external partners.

EDI systems and ERP solutions are essential for any business that relies on a properly functioning supply chain. EDI handles communication with trading partners on the front end, while the ERP system manages records on the back end.

Despite being more than six decades old, EDI has remained the foundational model of electronic business-to-business integration. The widespread adoption of EDI standards has enabled trading partners across various industries to communicate and exchange documents through pre-determined and pre-aligned digital formats and protocols. With EDI, enterprises have created ecosystems where data flows seamlessly from one end to another, accelerating transactions and minimizing errors in business-critical processes.

Recent supply chain disruptions have fueled a dramatic rise in demand for more agile and adaptable EDI integrations. Today, trading partners want to interact in an ecosystem that guarantees fast and reliable data transfer, regardless of the data hosting infrastructures they use.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a long-standing technology with a history spanning over 60 years. Over the years, it has transformed, evolved, and faced fierce competition, yet it has remained the most dominant utility for B2B communications. Despite the proliferation of internet-enabled transactions, businesses across numerous industries still develop and maintain their systems around EDI standards. In 2019, EDI accounted for 78.4% of all B2B electronic transactions.