Your Strategic Partner

In order to use EDI, all the business partners of a company have to be able to use it.  This forms a supply chain.  The main problem with tradition VAN based EDI is that it is extremely expensive to set up and run.  For example, it costs a large sum of money just to send a few kilobytes worth of data. Thus, it is often out of reach for SMEs.  Furthermore, companies have to convince their trading partners the benefits of VAN EDI.  Therefore, it is almost impossible for a company to convince ALL its trading partners to convert to EDI.  Some trading partners will be paper-based, others will be computerised and therefore there is little to gain from VAN EDI.

Today, there are many different types of Internet EDI.  The basic idea however, is to transfer data via http or ftp, instead of leased lines of the traditional VAN EDI.  It is possible to connect using dial-up connection, ISDN modems or cable modems.  Thus, smaller suppliers and trading partners are able to trade via EDI.  A simple form would be trading partners using web-based forms with translation software to send data to each other.  Additionally, there are different forms of Internet EDI, such as the Intelligent Gateway EDI concept whereby some trading partners can use the web, while others can use VANs.