Editing Electronic data interchange (section)

==Benefits==
EDI and other similar technologies [[cost reduction|save costs]] for businesses by providing an alternative to, or replacement for, information flows which would require a great deal of human interaction and paper documents. Even when paper documents are maintained in parallel with EDI exchange, e.g. printed shipping manifests, electronic exchange and the use of data from that exchange reduces the handling costs of sorting, distributing, organizing, and searching paper documents. EDI and similar technologies allow a company to take advantage of the benefits of storing and manipulating data electronically without the cost of manual entry. Another advantage of EDI is the opportunity to reduce or eliminate manual [[Data entry#Errors|data entry errors]], such as shipping and billing errors, because EDI eliminates the need to re-key documents on the destination side. One very important advantage of EDI over paper documents is the speed at which the trading partner receives and incorporates the information into their system greatly reducing cycle times. For this reason, EDI can be an important component of a [[Just-in-Time manufacturing|just-in-time]] production system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/384/Electronic-Data-Interchange-EDI.html|title=Ecommerce- advantages of EDI format|access-date=2012-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530122426/http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/384/Electronic-Data-Interchange-EDI.html|archive-date=2012-05-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A study published in 1996 by Kenneth Kahn and [[John T. Mentzer]] observed the use of EDI alliances among companies linked within a [[supply network]], where EDI facilitated more transparent information sharing than had been customary among businesses who only shared information of a "need-to-know" basis. They anticipated the potential for EDI to encompass all the players within a [[marketing channel]] with benefits at each stage in the chain.<ref>Kahn, K. B. and Mentzer, J. T., [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10696679.1996.11501725 EDI and EDI Alliances: Implications for the Sales Forecasting Function], ''[[Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice]]'', Volume 4, 1996 - Issue 2, published online on 18 December 2015, accessed on 11 November 2024</ref> 

According to a 2008 [[Aberdeen Group, Inc.|Aberdeen Group]] report, "A Comparison of Supplier Enablement around the World", only 34% of purchase orders were then transmitted electronically in North America. In [[Europe, Middle East and Africa|EMEA]], 36% of orders were transmitted electronically and in [[Asia-Pacific|APAC]], 41% of orders are transmitted electronically. The report also stated that the average paper requisition to order costs a company {{US$|long=no|37.45}} in North America, {{US$|long=no|42.90}} in EMEA and {{US$|long=no|23.90}} in APAC. With an EDI requisition to order, costs are reduced to {{US$|long=no|23.83}} in North America, {{US$|long=no|34.05}} in EMEA and {{US$|long=no|14.78}} in APAC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Christopher |first1=D. |title=A Comparison of Supplier Enablement around the World |journal=Aberdeen Group: Boston, MA, USA |date=2008}}</ref>