
In this article, we cover 8 EDI trends to be aware of going into 2023:
- EDI is Key for Digital Transformation Initiatives
- Small Businesses Seeing Rapid Growth in EDI
- EDI & API
- In eCommerce, EDI Plays a Significant Role
- Healthcare Remains a Strong EDI Sector
- Peppol and Other e-Invoicing Mandates Are Expanding
- EDI Outsourcing Services Are Becoming More Appealing
- EDI Integration Enabling Business Control and Visibility
Despite forecasts of EDI technology dying out in the future, it is not only here to stay but is expected to continue expanding. Globally, the EDI (electronic data interchange) market is projected to reach $49.21 billion by 2027.
The adoption of EDI integration technology has continued to rise as more organizations realize the immense value it brings. For example, businesses are reaching for the ability to:
- Create cost- and time-efficient integrations quickly
- Gain real-time visibility into orders, integrations, and partners
- Accelerate partner onboarding to increase business agility
- Enable non-specialist personas to manage multi-application integration initiatives
- Enhance overall procedures and make the use of different technologies more agile
EDI integration is becoming less of an optional “nice-to-have,” and more of a requirement for many businesses. Larger organizations, such as Walmart, leverage integration technology to strengthen supply chain control. They demand new trading partners adopt and implement EDI as the base price of entry in order to do business.
Read: What Does it Mean to be EDI Capable?
1) EDI Is Key for Digital Transformation Initiatives
EDI is an example of a key technology that businesses began flocking to in order to transform and innovate their digital ecosystems. Companies quickly recognized EDI’s value, as the leading EDI solutions offer:
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Looking at the above list, it becomes clear why the demand for EDI is now skyrocketing. This single piece of technology can fully automate countless processes which result in greater efficiency, cost-savings, and happier customers.
2) Small Businesses Are Seeing Rapid Growth in EDI
3) EDI and API
EDI and API can both send/receive data between two organizations. They do possess different functionalities and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, EDI and API are complementary technologies that work best together.
API integration augments EDI and gives deeper context to the B2B integrations with your digital ecosystem, while EDI helps enable downstream business processes and data orchestration. For example, APIs may be necessary to look up catalog inventory or check pricing within an eCommerce platform. If a customer decides to make the order, EDI may be necessary to kick-start the ordering, shipping, and fulfillment processes. Both processes, you might argue, are equally critical to business success.
Additionally, APIs are critical to integrating data with your digital ecosystem because they bring more communication flexibility than standard exchanges like EDI. APIs are hailed for their real-time connectivity advantages, as they can connect with partner and SaaS applications quickly and efficiently.
Whether onboarding a trading partner, customer, cloud service, or SaaS application, each has its own unique configuration, customization, and integration challenges. But the fact is, your competitors are facing the exact same challenges. Whoever can most quickly adapt to each communication and data requirement – whether it’s EDI, non-EDI, or API – will separate themselves and earn new business.
4) In eCommerce, EDI Plays a Significant Role
In 2019, EDI amassed $7 trillion in B2B electronic sales. By 2021, this number rose to $8.38 trillion, as well as accounted for 76.5% of all digital sales. Furthermore, EDI grew year-over-year by 8.3% in 2021. These numbers reveal that EDI remains the dominant force in eCommerce as it continues to expand.
As time goes on, we will see more interconnectivity between EDI and B2B eCommerce. This is because EDI assists and performs a wide range of functions that relate to commerce and supply chains. This includes order processing, invoicing, procure-to-pay, and more. As eCommerce continues to rely on EDI to automate various processes, eCommerce will become increasingly reliant on EDI.
5) Healthcare Stands as a Strong EDI Sector
The booming healthcare industry relies on EDI. The reason being is that EDI is HIPAA compliant, meaning it ensures data privacy for healthcare patients. As HIPAA regulations continue to expand, EDI has kept up with the requirements making it a solid and reliable communication method for healthcare providers.
Healthcare EDI usage does not solely pertain to hospitals and doctors’ offices though. Companies in big pharma and medical device manufacturing/sales are also utilizing the technology. These types of businesses use EDI for everything from inventory management and order accuracy, to secure communication and delivery windows.
6) Peppol and e-Invoicing Mandates Are Expanding
7) EDI Outsourcing Services Are Becoming More Appealing
Companies can hire outside providers to tackle all EDI-related responsibilities, so they do not have to worry about the technology and processes at all if they do not want to. Some EDI managed service providers will let customers create custom plans where they decide which EDI tasks will remain in-house and which will be outsourced to the provider. Additionally, with many EDI solutions offered via the cloud, most outsourcing companies can perform the entirety of their work remotely over the internet.
8) EDI Integration Enabling Business Control and Visibility
EDI has advanced tremendously since its inception decades ago. What was once seen as a waning technology has now evolved into a highly desirable and necessary tool that brings companies immense value. If you have questions about what was covered in this blog, EDI, or Cleo’s products and services, contact us at sales@cleo.com or +1.815.282.7695. Or explore some of our educational resources through our content hub.
Cleo is here to help companies achieve business control by transforming B2B integration. The end-to-end integration visibility offered by the CIC platform stretches across EDI, non-EDI, and API interfaces. This gives technical and business users the confidence to quickly onboard trading partners, allow application integration, and speed up revenue-generating business processes.
Take a look at our EDI demo library if you're ready to stay ahead of the curve and streamline end-to-end data transformation, orchestration, and integration with secure EDI from Cleo.