Replacing your paper documents with electronic ones obviously has its own perks. It offers a very different way of doing business. Learn more at http://www.appterra.com

1. December 30, 2014
 433 E Las Colinas Blvd #850, Irving, TX, 75039
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 sales@appterra.com
www.appterra.com
Appterra is the only Collaborative Commerce Platform
designed for the cloud.
The Benefits of Electronic Data
Integration
Replacing your paper documents with
electronic ones obviously has its own
perks. It offers a very different way of
doing business.
Take for instance a purchase order: electronically, a request
to purchase orders does not take days. In fact, it happens
almost instantaneously. In today’s global economy,
businesses face pressure to improve their products and
services while reducing costs. Many have paid for IT
assistance to streamline their processes but data exchange
between customers and suppliers still lags behind. You may
argue that your business is doing fine with your process
today, but is doing fine enough for you?
The need for fast, accurate and timely data exchange has
become more critical than ever. GS1 UK researches reveal
that the grocery sector saves £650 million with electronic
data interchange. From a financial perspective alone, your
business can greatly benefit from implementing EDI with
your partners. But, this is not the only benefit EDI offers.
 Cost Savings. Research shows that EDI costs, at maximum,
one third of its paper-based equivalent. It reduces clerical
effort and requires less paper usage. This allows you to
focus on other high-priority work instead of the tedious
manual data entry. One report even shows that EDI costs 70
times less. A major American company reported a reduction
from $38/order to 1.35/order through EDI.
 Speed and Accuracy. Accurate data and on-time delivery
play an important role in your business’ success. They make
the entire supply chain more efficient. With EDI, transactions
that take as long as 5 days can be completed in an hour. It
also offers faster response time by increasing the speed of
transfer. Some estimates suggest that EDI delivers 30%
faster to customers. Research also shows that at least 5% of
the data in paper-based transactions are inaccurate. It
reduces errors, improves error detection, and increases
efficiency and information integration by eliminating manual
data-entry discrepancies, misinterpretations and errors.
 Business Efficiency. By automating paper-free tasks, your
staff can focus on other high-value responsibilities. It makes
them more productive as well. Studies show that EDI saves
as much as 50% on human resources. Since documents are
accurate, you don’t rework orders and you never get out of
stock. More importantly, you avoid cancelled orders. Your
business can greatly benefit as your buyers have better
payment options, improving your cash flow and reducing
order-to-cash cycles. Plus, you reduce your inventory levels.
EDI enables real-time visibility of the status of transactions,
resulting to faster decision-making and improved
responsiveness to meet the market and customers’
demands. It also provides a common business language that
facilitates communication with your partners around the
globe. Lastly, it increases your competitiveness in the
market.