Transform your EDI Processes with B2B Integration in the Cloud
Introduction: The Importance of EDI
In today’s business environment, it is increasingly important to automate your business processes for greater speed and simplicity. As integration with customers, partners, and suppliers becomes more complex, many businesses struggle to work with different IT systems while sharing necessary data and documents.
Optimizing your electronic data interchange (EDI) is critical for cost-savings, efficiency, data accuracy and strategic business success. According to research from GS1 UK[1], the grocery sector has saved £650 million/ year from its use of EDI and could save an additional £200 million from the automated exchange of certain business documents. EDI is one-third the cost of paper-based methods, and electronic and automated invoicing processes can produce savings of 60-70%[2] compared to traditional paper-based processing.
The benefits of EDI also exceed simple cost-savings. EDI can drastically improve the speed of your data exchange, completing paper transactions that used to take days in only minutes. Electronic document exchange is also more accurate than paper-based processes, resulting in a more efficient supply chain and faster delivery to your customers. Within your company, you can save on human resources and provide your staff with more time to concentrate on high-value assignments.
Finally, EDI is a strategic investment for your business. In addition to sustainability, EDI enables greater visibility into your supply chain, which can improve your business strategy as well as your responses to changes in your target market. EDI optimization can also allow you to enter new markets with ease by streamlining your communication processes with trading partners anywhere in the world.
EDI is a proven and effective tool to optimize your supply chain and help your company succeed in modern business environments. Yet with many solutions available, it is critical to understand the different EDI methods and their potential for your company.
Traditional EDI Solutions:
The two traditional methods by which businesses have automated their EDI data flows are to either acquire EDI-specific software or join a B2B integration hub. The first solution has been historically more common, with companies purchasing and installing B2B communication systems within their own internal environment. With this solution, however, your company is saddled with in-house software costs and maintenance requirements. EDI-specific software enables flexibility so you can control your individual B2B relationships, yet it requires significant in-house investment in money, time and skills. Furthermore, all communication with your business partners, customers and suppliers must occur point-to-point via private networks, limiting your integration capabilities.
The second solution replaces point-to-point communication with a central hub sufficient to reach all your trading partners, enabling rapid communication. While this method allows all your data flows to be organized within one hub, however, it can lead to a loss of control and speed for companies when it comes to connecting with new business partners.
These methods leave many companies with a difficult choice. While your business may want to retain control and flexibility over your B2B processes, you also want to save money and enable rapid communication by leveraging web-based solutions. What you need is an integration platform in the cloud that combines both traditional methods.
B2B Integration in the Cloud: Transforming EDI Processes
B2B integration in the cloud can solve these integration issues in a cost-effective and uncomplicated manner. B2B integration in the cloud refers to the ability to integrate your data exchange across business networks without purchasing or maintaining additional software. The four hallmarks of a successful B2B integration solution are:
· Compatibility – your integration solution supports any connector, enabling the transformation of all communication protocols and message formats across processes, companies, applications and technologies
· Security – your solution is reliable to ensure the security and integrity of your messages
· Scalability – your solution is cost-effective and cloud-based to guarantee that you can easily automate B2B integration without the cost or maintenance requirements of in-house software
· Governance – your solution provides you with the necessary management and collaboration features to quickly delegate tasks, enabling faster deployment and maintain full control over your integration processes.
Using a web-based, scalable platform, businesses can securely exchange structured and recurrent documents and manage partner relationships more efficiently than ever before. The method is proven and more businesses are moving to the cloud to improve their B2B processes and integration.
How Babelway is Different
Babelway is a unique cloud-based integration platform that combines the advantages of previous EDI methods. The first platform-as-a-service for business to business integration, Babelway is the solution for rapidly connecting to your trading community while still retaining full control over your data flows.
Babelway’s integration platform-as-a-service enables customers to connect directly to partners without an intermediary B2B hub and also does not require any in-house software, allowing customers to avoid the operational costs of running an EDI infrastructure. The platform offers fool proof security, unlimited scalability and first-class performance.
One important and unique characteristic of the platform is Babelway’s extensive catalogue of connectors across businesses (ex: Carrefour), applications (ex: SAP), processes (ex: invoicing) and technologies (ex: FTP). The catalogue enables Babelway’s community of users to share common components of data flows, reducing the time it takes to build a new channel. The platform supports all communication protocols including AS/2, FTP(s), sFTP, web, email and SOAP, and also supports all messages including XML, Excel, EDI, CSV and any custom flat-file formats.
Babelway also offers absolute flexibility to companies of all sizes and at any level of data exchange volumes: you can choose to control your data flows or outsource to external IT partners, and you can quickly deploy to your partners or state an on-boarding project based on your general business partners.
Further, Babelway maintains the highest quality and strictest security management processes as recommended by ISO27001, ensuring total security in highly technical environments. All storage is encrypted to guarantee the security of your data, and all messages are traced, signed, chained and time-stamped each day by a certification authority to guarantee their authenticity and integrity. For electronic invoicing in particular, Babelway conforms to all legal requirements and provides customers with advanced certificates that enable invoice transfer and archival in legally compliant way.
Finally, Babelway offers world-class support to its users. In addition to its help desk with 99.9% service availability, Babelway also provides a community forum where users can share experiences and tips. Regular training sessions with the BabelAcademy ensure that you can optimize the platform for your specific needs, and Babelway’s partnerships with software vendors and IT integrators enable customers to find help from the most effective source whenever required.
Transform your EDI Processes with B2B Integration in the Cloud
Babelway is ideal for companies that want to:
· Integrate data and document exchange processes across a wide range of business partners, customers and suppliers
· Maintain a convenient and simple solution while automotive business processes with greater speed and efficiency
· Ensure the secure transmission and archival of your documents, and certify the integrity and authenticity of each message
· Adopt absolute flexibility in your EDI processes with a scalable solution that can change with your specific
· Cut costs by automating business processes without in-house software installation or maintenance
· Implement sustainable B2B processes
If you are interested in a cost-effective, efficient and unique EDI solution, register online now for a free trial to discover how Babelway works and what it can do.
Summary
Many businesses today face the challenge of integrating their electronic processes across all of their customers, partners and suppliers. By moving to B2B integration in the cloud, you can leverage this new cloud delivery model to solve these former EDI challenges, bringing value to your company as well as your trading partners.
With Babelway’s multi-tenant integration platform, you can quickly and cost-effectively automate your B2B data flows and EDI messages. Babelway can help you streamline the deployment, maintenance and monitoring of your EDI processes to give you greater flexibility and control.
If you want to learn more about how B2B integration in the cloud can improve your operational efficiency, supplier relationships and overall competitiveness, contact us at or by phone at +32-10-390013, or visit www.babelway.com to sign up for a 30-day free trial of our platform.
[1] GS1 UK in conjunction with Cranfield School of Management, “EDI Cost Savings Report: Cutting costs and paper with electronic transactions in the supply chain.” Sep. 2010. http://www.gs1si.org/Desktopmodules/Bring2Mind/DMX/Download.aspx?EntryId=166&PortalId=0
[2] Billentis. “E-Invoicing/ E-Billing: Opportunities in a challenging market environment.” Mar. 2010.