EDI: Still Relevant, Still Cool, Still Important

At Klein­schmidt, we embrace new tech­nolo­gies. Not only do new integration tech­nolo­gies offer our customers more effective and efficient ways of doing business with their partners, but they also push us to continually innovate and improve our solution offerings. But it doesn’t mean we toss aside what’s proven to work well, which is why EDI is a term we’re happy to continue to use and embrace. 

The layman would be very surprised to learn how many prominent new apps, startups and disruptors rely on the power of traditional EDI to gain market share and drive success: There are very few scenarios today in which it’s possible to start, grow and maintain a freight, retail or manu­fac­turing company without imple­menting the exchange of traditional X12 or EDIFACT EDI documents. Even after the more than 30 years since the X12 standards were created, EDI is still relevant and critical to conducting business not just in North America, but around the globe.

In the currently unstable supply chain climate, we’ve witnessed firsthand as companies return to the traditional hub-and-spoke technology in search of the agility, reliability and stability afforded by the classic VAN model and concrete standards.

We’ll admit that, yes, the term VAN can be a bit stale. But the reality is that many networks such as Klein­schmidt have simply evolved into full service integration providers that offer the stability of the VAN model with the capability to mesh EDI with more modern real-time web and API-based integration methods for the best of both worlds.

Click through to read Steve Banker’s insights about EDI:

Forbes.com | EDI Is Cool Again | Steve Banker