All companies large or small that sell product on-line or for warehouse fulfillment to retailers and e-tailers eventually find themselves in a position where they need to rely on EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to communicate with them. But does EDI really have a sustainable future?
Probably – for a while – there’s certainly a large EDI industry out there that is doing quite well charging you fees per 100 characters for transmitting and translating data for your business.
However, this is one of OPAL’s distinguishing characteristics– the OPAL solution has an inbuilt EDI engine that does NOT charge for EDI transmission, as well as providing touchless, self-driving (autonomous) order processing on a 24×7 basis.
OPAL is even prepared for the future with an Application Program Interface (API). APIs are a messaging format that allows data to be transmitted from one system to another in nanoseconds WITHOUT those expensive EDI Document fees. Because of the Internet, the speed of data transmission has increased by a 100 fold today.
While EDI has continued to play a significant role over the last five (5) decades, business processes have changed. The only thing that has not changed is EDI and the Industry that continues to promote it.
Given all of that, everybody wonders why do we still need EDI? The answer is simple – resistance to change. Traditional businesses have been using it for so long that they no longer question it. EDI companies, on the other hand, cannot change without destroying their revenue stream.
It’s important to note, though, that a growing number of your retail sales channels have implemented APIs that can be used by their suppliers if you’re ready to use it. OPAL makes you ready.