How To Say ‘Yes’ to New Business Faster by Cutting Onboarding Time in Half

Key Takeaways
The Major Issues with Most Onboarding:
1. Lack of Control
2. Lack of Flexibility
3. Lack of Internal Expertise
4. Lack of Visibility

Intro to Onboarding EDI Trading Partners

Winning new business is exhilarating, as it can take months of building relationships, joining countless calls and video conferences, drafting contracts, and performing negotiations. More importantly, new business equates to more revenue for your business. However, the work is not over after securing a new customer. One of the most pressing tasks after acquiring new business is the onboarding process.

 

The onboarding process is a critical issue for companies across a myriad of industries—from logistics and manufacturing to wholesale and distribution—as the process frequently takes excessively long due to outdated technologies. A swift onboarding process is vital because it allows a company to start collecting payments from the new business more quickly. For example, if the onboarding process takes four weeks, that’s 28 days of missed revenue. In comparison, a single-day process equates to only one day of missed revenue. It’s safe to say most companies would prefer the latter scenario.

 

One of the reasons for a longer onboarding process is due to managed service provider lock-ins. This means a company is trapped with its current managed service provider because there is a significant financial cost to switch providers. Lock-ins are extremely common with run-of-the-mill managed service providers. Run-of-the-mill managed service providers frequently do not provide tools to their customers that would allow them to onboard trading partners themselves. Therefore, companies have to rely on the managed service provider every time they need to onboard a new customer. Additionally, it means a company’s onboarding request will fall behind other companies’ requests from that were submitted before theirs.

 

There are solutions to this dilemma. Some innovative service providers and integration platforms can onboard your customers four times faster than their competitors. So rather than days and weeks of onboarding, new customers can be up and running in as little as a few hours. Furthermore, some platforms provide intuitive self-service options, which allow for even greater control of company timelines and operations. This means companies can go into the platform themselves and onboard customers internally, without relying on outside help. There is also the less common but in demand blended option, which provides the greatest flexibility since it combines self-service and managed services.

 

To determine which integration platform will help your business onboard trading partners faster and boost your bottom line, it will be beneficial to first understand the current big picture of B2B integration technologies. The changes may surprise you, as the field is quickly evolving to keep up with today’s modern digital landscape.

Current Trends in EDI Onboarding

As the world continues to shift digital, businesses are undergoing changes to improve operations and remain competitive. Two areas experiencing changes include eCommerce and omnichannel fulfillment, both of which can benefit from implementing an ecosystem integration platform.

 

eCommerce sales have witnessed massive growth over the past few years, with an annualized run rate of $518 billion in 2019 to $975 billion in Q1 of 2022. This has undoubtedly been propelled by the popularity of Amazon and the COVID-19 pandemic forcing consumers to shop online. The astronomical rise in eCommerce sales have impacted wholesalers, manufacturers, and logistics companies. These companies are reprioritizing current customers, onboarding new customers, and implementing new technologies to tackle the influx of eCommerce partners and their demands. Furthermore, customers who order from eCommerce businesses expect delivery to be very quick, as consumers are becoming used to one-day and two-day shipping.

 

All this means that companies, such as those in the manufacturing and logistics industries, must be able to onboard new customers extremely fast so they can start fulfilling orders. And with eCommerce companies constantly cropping up, businesses will need a highly efficient method of onboarding eCommerce customers for years to come, which is where an ecosystem integration platform comes into the equation.

 

This leads us to omnichannel fulfillment which has grown because of eCommerce demanding greater efficiency and possessing tighter profit margins. For omnichannel fulfillment to be successful, the process heavily relies on ecosystem integration platforms to help with warehouse management. The correct software manages the countless moving parts in omnichannel fulfillment that often require constant communication with a variety of stakeholders. Additionally, the software continuously updates data, providing a high degree of accuracy.

 

Onboarding time is a major issue for companies. In our 2023 State of Ecosystem Integration report, 44% of survey respondents said it takes between one week to one month to onboard a new trading partner—up from 35% the year prior. Additionally, 16% claim it takes more than one month to onboard a new trading partner.

 

Extended onboarding times result in slower time-to-revenue and unsatisfied trading partners. Knowing these timelines, wouldn’t it be great if you could onboard trading partners four times faster?

 

 

trading-partner-onboarding-trends

Of course there are other ecosystem integration platform providers available, but most lack the innovation to keep up with today’s digital world. There are multiple B2B requirements and trading partner mandates that are rapidly changing, making integration platform providers quickly fall behind.

Historically, integration required 100% on-premise solutions for each individual service. These included solutions for VANs, integration brokerages, B2B gateways, iPaaS, etc. There was no single platform that combined all these services into one.

Fast-forward to today, and a new era of ecosystem integration has emerged due to changes in technology and demands. This new era of B2B integration replaces on-premise with cloud-based technology, is business process-oriented (OTC, P2P, LT2I, etc.), and provides a central hub to manage various aspects of the supply chain for an array of industries.

The below image outlines the traditional method of a purchase order document exchange. The steps are:

1. The buyer creates a purchase order

2. The buyer prints the purchase order and then sends it to the supplier via the mail, fax, or email

3. The supplier receives the purchase order and manually enters it into its own order management system (NetSuite, Salesforce, QuickBooks, SAP, etc.)

4. The supplier creates an invoice

5. The supplier prints the invoice and then sends it to the buyer via mail, fax, or email

6. The buyer receives the invoice and manually enters the invoice contents into its own back-end systems

manual EDI process

This process can take anywhere from days to weeks. Oftentimes, there are far more steps than the ones outlined in the below diagram, including acknowledging the purchase order reception or requesting changes to an invoice.

 

The below image outlines Cleo’s EDI process which is much simpler and quicker while leaving less room for error. Additionally, this EDI order process takes substantially less time (hours, if not minutes).

1. You receive/accept an EDI 850 Purchase Order  

2. You send an EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment to your buyer to confirm the successful reception of the EDI 850

3. You send an EDI 856 Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) to describe to your buyer the contents of each shipment and how items were packed

4. You send an EDI 810 Invoice to your buyer

edi-process-trading-partner

As you can see, our EDI process is highly efficient as all the steps are automated, removing the need to wait on humans to perform each action. Greater efficiency means more money for your business.

The Issues With Most EDI Onboarding Processes

Wouldn’t it be great if your business did not experience any problems?

 

The reality is businesses do not operate 100% perfectly. Problems are an unavoidable aspect of business, although most can be prevented. When it comes to onboarding new customers for EDI integration, there are common dilemmas that companies tend to face when utilizing run-of-the-mill managed service providers. We mentioned some of the main areas of concern earlier, including the amount of time it takes to onboard new customers. Other problems that frequently arise include lack of control, flexibility, internal expertise, and visibility. We’ll cover each of these four areas in greater depth below.

 

1) Lack of Control

Control is essential for keeping a business on track toward hitting specific goals and targets. Lack of control is also one of the main issues that businesses commonly run into when onboarding new customers for EDI. This usually occurs for a few reasons.

 

Maybe a company migrated from an on-premise solution to the cloud. In doing so, they also signed up for managed services, meaning they never learned how to perform onboarding themselves. Or maybe they signed a contract binding them to pay for managed services for multiple years and cannot get out of it. Perhaps the company wants to switch providers but they believe it will be a costly and lengthy project. Whatever the reason, in all instances they had to give up some aspects of control. A positive aspect of giving up control is that some of the company's responsibilities are lightened since they outsourced the task. On the other hand, they may run into some roadblocks since they delegated some of their responsibilities to an external organization.

 

Giving up control can result in major issues when outsourcing trading partner onboarding to managed service providers, as the business is at the provider’s mercy. In this case, a managed service provider controls the onboarding timeline and process, not the business.

 

For example, if there are onboarding requests from other companies already in the queue (and there likely are), a new request will fall inline behind them. It could take days or weeks until a business’ request reaches the top of the queue, and only then will the managed service provider proceed with the onboarding.

 

Furthermore, managed service providers operate on their own schedules. Let’s say a business secures a new customer and it is deemed a priority. The managed service provider may not understand the importance of the customer or frankly care. They will not address the request until they have adequate time and bandwidth to complete the onboarding. That could mean pushing the request until the following week instead of being able to knock it out in minutes or hours like Cleo’s managed services can.

 

Lastly, the managed service provider may not have an efficient onboarding process. As we stated above, 45% of integration experts say it takes between one week and one month to onboard a new supply chain partner, while 42% say it takes more than one month. These numbers have increased over the past two years, meaning that the onboarding time will likely continue to climb.

 

When considering managed services, businesses should regularly check in with how much control they are willing to give up, as well as assess the pros and cons.

 

2) Lack of Flexibility

Flexibility is key for companies to stay competitive. It allows businesses to adjust to industry innovations and tackle new challenges and opportunities. Flexibility is also essential when it comes to onboarding new trading partners, especially when it comes to data.

 

A recurring issue that companies face when onboarding new trading partners is that the two businesses may communicate with a different data type. This is not intrinsically bad. However, it becomes a problem when an integration platform is not capable of translating various forms of data. If a company is using an integration platform that cannot translate the new trading partner’s data, then the two businesses cannot automatically communicate. This means that the companies will likely not be able to conduct business since near-instantaneous communication is required to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced world.

 

Trading partners require quick replies because they want to get the products to their consumers as quickly as possible. If a company is not able to respond fast enough, the trading partner will keep a record of this by ‘grading’ the company's response time. If a company continues to not meet the trading partner’s preferred response times and their grade becomes insufficient, the trading partner will find new companies to fill their needs.

 

There are solutions to this dilemma. As we now know, not all integration platforms are created equal. Some integration platforms are much more advanced than others and can translate multiple data types. Cleo can translate virtually all of the most-used data types, making the integration platform one of the most advanced and flexible in the industry and giving your company immense and reliable coverage. More coverage allows companies to bid and accept more new business, leading to more revenue.

 

An intuitive integration platform can translate the data sent over by the trading partner, and then automatically produce a document to send back with the necessary information. This document is created using the same data type the trading partner sent over, ensuring that their system can understand the response. All this happens behind the scenes without any human interference, resulting in a seamless process for both parties.

When researching and selecting an integration platform, one of the key aspects to consider is how many and which data types the platform can accept. After all, if a platform only understands a few data types, it highly limits the amount of new business a company can accept.

 

3) Lack of Internal Expertise

Stemming from lack of control comes a lack of internal expertise. Oftentimes when a company does not have internal expertise, they pursue outsourcing to managed service providers. Outsourcing is a great option to access specialists who understand a certain area of work.

 

Lack of internal expertise can create a few predicaments though. One of which is that outsourcing requires a company to give up control. As we mentioned previously, lack of control means that a company is reliant on the company they outsource to. The largest issue here is that the timeline of when tasks are completed is jeopardized when depending on an outside entity to complete the assignments. The managed service providers have additional customers that are also requesting work, so companies must wait until their request is at the top of the queue.

 

Additionally, when there is a lack of internal expertise it becomes difficult to verify if the work the managed service provider performed is completed correctly. This is because there is no one in-house that can check the work to make sure it is up to par or recognize potential errors. If the managed service provider does not complete the onboarding correctly or does not do a thorough job, these issues may go unknown to the company. These issues may persist for months or years until the problem is discovered.

 

There is also the aspect that technical complexities disrupt business. If issues do arise and no one internally can fix it, the issue once again must be outsourced which will be added to the managed service provider’s queue. This means that your business operations may be halted until the issue is resolved. If the managed service provider is not able to get to the request for a few days, that could result in a large amount of lost revenue and harm your company’s good standing with trading partners. So not only will this harm your business in the short term, but it can also impact your business moving forward.

 

For these reasons, it is very helpful to have an intuitive, easy-to-use integration platform that IT professionals and other team members can navigate. Some platforms are better at this than others, which leads us to our final issue that companies commonly run into when onboarding new business. Visibility.

 

4) Visibility

In the digital era, visibility into all aspects of a business is critical, while also being more accessible than ever. Even if companies are continents apart, technology allows for real-time updates regardless of physical location. However, even though visibility is easier than ever to provide, most managed service providers do not offer extensive insight into their processes or data.

 

Without visibility, a company must wait until the managed service provider communicates updates and information to them. Additionally, a company has to trust that the managed service provider is providing them with accurate information. In the digital era where data and efficiency are king, this is not the most conducive method of communicating information. And what if something goes awry in the backend but the managed service provider does not realize it? The company will not have any way to access or be notified of the issue either, meaning it may go unnoticed for long periods of time.

 

Companies rely on data to make informed decisions that can impact their entire business. If the managed service provider takes too long to communicate information, the data becomes irrelevant because the company will be analyzing outdated data. Furthermore, outdated and inaccurate data can result in decisions being made that will produce negative outcomes for a company.

 

Some managed service providers do not want to provide visibility to their customers because it would empower them. Providing customers with more data may result in them asking more questions, digging into performance metrics, understanding how the provider’s services work, as well as noticing discrepancies or errors. This is to say visibility enables businesses to hold managed service providers more accountable for their actions, services, and performance.

 

Visibility into onboarding trading partners is also crucial because it allows a company to see in real-time the progress being made on projects. Companies can use this information to identify the anticipated onboarding completion time. This will also help inform them when they can start expecting orders to arrive so they can prepare accordingly.

 

Other than onboarding, visibility allows companies to access up-to-minute updates, data, and alerts. This provides companies with more information so they can make smarter, more strategic decisions. They also will be able to better understand what is going on with their business and how the behind-the-scenes process works. No one understands or cares about a business more than its employees, so providing them visibility into the backend can help them identify issues and areas of improvement. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.

 

Now that we have identified some of the most common problems around onboarding, what solutions are available? Continue reading to find out.

Identifying Everyday Solutions

We listed a slew of problems with onboarding new business.

EDI Onboarding Comparison Chart

With all these problems arising, you might be wondering how they can be solved. The answer is…taking control of your onboarding process with the power of B2B integration.

 

In order for companies to overcome the problems we have identified, they need more than what the integration industry has historically provided. In fact, a large portion of companies that use integration services employ technology created in the early 2000s. Technology has evolved enormously since then, allowing companies to become more efficient and profitable than ever.

 

Not only has B2B integration technology improved, but so has the services dimension. It is important to note that there are countless providers that claim to provide a self-service approach, but not all self-service options are created equally. There are a host of providers that are far inferior to Cleo’s innovative and unique approach, with some services unable to even be compared since Cleo’s offerings are on an entirely elevated level.

In today’s world, companies need a single-platform approach, enabling them to manage various aspects of their business through a central hub. This includes items such as end-to-end business processes, an outside-in “ecosystem” view, and the choice of self-service or managed services.

 

Automation
So what are some ways your company can take control and combat the slow onboarding process? Automation. Automating processes is highly efficient since technology replaces tasks that a human would normally carry out. This means companies do not have to worry about finding in-house employees or outsourcing partners to perform certain tasks. Additionally, automation technology replaces the need for human input, operates 24/7, and completes tasks with minimal errors since processes are standardized. This is highly desirable for companies since it makes processes more efficient, helps with business expansion, and increases revenue.

 

Previously, only certain segments of a process could be automated, thus requiring humans to intervene at various parts of the process. As technology has advanced, entire business processes can now be replaced with automation. This is one area where Cleo’s services prevail, as our services provide end-to-end business process automation. This gives your company an edge over other companies that operate slower since they lean on humans to manually perform tasks.

Cleo’s Advanced Onboarding Process

With Cleo, our onboarding process starts as soon as a contract is awarded to your company. Since both parties already determined they will communicate business documents using EDI, Cleo immediately starts tackling a few essential steps that must occur before the two companies can utilize the technology. We outlined each of the six key steps below.

partner onboarding process

1) Partner Campaign

An outline of the entire project. The goal is for both partners to comprehend the resources involved and get alignment confirmation from all business entities.

 

2) Partner Questionnaire

Helps both partners comprehend respective requirements, including communication methods and SLA needs.

 

3) Profile Creation

Used to decide how partners will connect. Since there is no standard method of connecting to a trading partner, this step is critical for determining map configuration.

 

4) Provisioning

Determines your own infrastructure needs, including map creation and configuration to meet requirements for integration, security, and more.

 

5) Testing

Tests EDI communications and transformation with both partners in trail environments. This is oftentimes the most difficult step, as EDI testing requires both partners to collaborate in the same time frame.

 

6) Deployment

The final step of trading partner onboarding is deployment. Deployment transfers the testing environment into production. Reporting, monitoring, and analysis should all fire properly, with full visibility into each transaction. Once deployment is completed, a trading partner has been officially onboarded.

 

These six steps provide a complete onboarding solution for your company. Unlike other providers who only offer piecemeal solutions that take weeks and months to install, Cleo sets our customers up for success by ensuring they have everything they need to be up and running in a matter of hours.  

 

There are a few standout features in the Cleo onboarding process that we should highlight. The first is that Cleo gives our customers the ability to accept or reject load tenders within a matter of seconds. Overall, Cleo accelerates response, resolution, and processing times by 60%. Cleo also ensures better SLA compliance between two parties. SLA compliance is a metric that divides the total number of issues resolved within SLA time (an agreed-upon length of time a vendor is allotted to fix issues), divided by the total number of incidents.

 

The importance of these two highlights cannot be understated, as they help our customers improve and maintain a positive vendor scorecard. Vendor scorecards track key metrics to assess the performance and effectiveness of a vendor partner. For example, responsiveness and delivery times are two common metrics featured on a scorecard. Maintaining a positive scorecard is essential for retaining and acquiring new business as it quantifies how reliable a company is as a partner. The higher a vendor’s score, the more likely a company will want to work with the vendor. If a vendor’s score reaches too low of a score, companies may stop doing business with the vendor.

 

Overall, your company needs a strategy that will overhaul its current integration solution so it can improve operations and compete for new business opportunities. Other areas companies can commonly improve include positioning the business for agility, visibility, scalability, flexibility, and control, in order to outsmart disruption driven by eCommerce and digital transformation. Cleo can not only solve these issues, but will also collaborate with your company to implement solutions tailored to your business-specific needs.

 

The good news is your company is not alone. Businesses around the globe are currently implementing and upgrading B2B integration technologies to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced economy and deadline-driven supply chain.

 

One way a company can assess the performance of a newly implemented B2B integration technology is to utilize the maturity model. The maturity model is a tool that assesses and highlights improvements within a company. It can be used to first determine a baseline, so performance moving forward can be compared to the benchmark level. Completing the maturity model exercise before adopting new B2B integration technology provides an excellent baseline that companies can use for reference in subsequent months and years.

 

In total, the Cleo-specific measures we covered in this section result in cost savings, as well as enhanced speed, efficiency, security, and order accuracy.
 

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Key Features You Need in An EDI Provider

At this point, we have covered the main issues regarding B2B integration onboarding and discussed what companies should look for when shopping for integration services. If you have made it this far, you likely want to learn about a specific solution that your company can use and benefit from. Continue reading to discover Cleo’s innovative solutions.

 

A common pitfall companies fall for when selecting a B2B integration service is basing their decision on a vendor’s retail network. While an established retail network is helpful, it is only one aspect of many that should be considered. Companies should also be considering factors like trading partner onboarding time, automation features, level of control, visibility into data and SLAs, and the ability to receive alert notifications.

 

When looking at B2B integration services, companies need providers that do not simply onboard trading partners, but also have a developed onboarding strategy. Cleo provides our customers with a thorough and proven approach to onboarding that sets them up with everything they need for success, from start to finish.

 

Features That Set Cleo’s Platform Apart


1) Supports 20+ File Transfer Protocols

The Cleo Integration Cloud platform supports more than 15 file transfer protocols. File transfer protocols, also known as EDI messaging protocols, transfer files both internally and externally to trading partners.

These B2B/EDI protocols work by standardizing content and format. They further enable secure file transfer and data transport by outlining a standard procedure for regulating the data exchange internally and between businesses. A secure file transfer protocol acts as a set of rules that enable B2B and technology connection and data sharing.

 

Some key advantages of sending and receiving files over a secure file transfer protocol include:

- Transferring data internally and outside the firewall

- Automating transactions and eliminating errors

- Increasing reliability and scalability

- Securely sharing business intelligence

- Meeting compliance and SLA requirements

 

Some of the EDI Protocols Cleo supports include:

ANSI-X12

HTTP/S

AS2

IBM MQ

AS3

MLLP

AS4

OFTP

Cleo Jetsonic High Speed File Transfer

Rosettanet

ebMS XML

SMTP

EDI

Tradacoms

EDIFACT

Webservices/SOAP

FTP/S

Being able to support a multitude of file transfers is essential for companies looking to expand their business. Some integration platforms only support a few file transfer protocols. This severely limits the number of trading partners a company can work with, since trading partners use a vast array of different file transfer protocols. So if a company’s integration platform does not support the file transfer protocol of a potential trading partner, they will have to turn down their business because the two companies will not be able to communicate data to each other. Having the ability to handle more file transfer protocols allows for more future business.

 

2) Pre-configured Templates

Another key feature of Cleo Integration Cloud is pre-configured integration templates. These templates provide the blueprint for how two companies can exchange and communicate data. Building an integration template from scratch is a detail-oriented and lengthy process, and templates are not standard with most B2B integration companies. This can make transferring providers a daunting, complex, and time-intensive process.

 

That is why Cleo provides pre-configured templates. The templates help further expedite the trading partner onboarding process, since our customers do not have to reinvent the wheel. When it is time to onboard a new trading partner, companies can simply duplicate a previous or current template they have in place, reducing a large portion of manual work. They can then edit the templates accordingly by filling in the relevant information to suit their needs.

 

If none of Cleo’s premade templates suite a company’s needs, our customers can also create their own integrations within our CIC Studio. Companies can also turn their custom integrations into templates that they can utilize moving forward. This is one of the many ways Cleo provides our customers with control, visibility, and quicker trading partner onboarding.

 

3) Business Logic

Cleo understands that businesses are built differently. Business logic is the custom programming of rules and algorithms that process information between a database and user interface. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to business logic would not work, because company is going to have different requirements and needs when setting up logic.

 

Business logic customization is integral to CIC. Companies can personalize workflows and processes to fit their exact needs, without settling for standardized logic. For example, a company can set up a rule in the platform stating particular products can be backordered, while the other products can only be purchased when they are in stock. These types of rules will vary from company to company, which makes customizable business logic an essential requirement for B2B integration services.

 

Features like customizable business logic returns control back to the business, allowing them to make changes whenever needed. This allows companies to be creative and encourages them to experiment with a variety of rules to see which performs best for them. Companies are not standardized, even ones in the same industry, so business logic should not be standardized either.

 

4) Prebuilt Partner Maps

EDI Partner mapping is the technology that allows companies to communicate with EDI documents. Partner mapping is the process of converting one company’s EDI format into an EDI format that another company can understand. The reason partner mapping is necessary is because companies oftentimes use different EDI formats. Think of partner maps as translating information.

 

Building partner maps from scratch can require a great amount of time and effort, as they are intricate and detail-oriented. Cleo helps solve this issue by offering prebuilt partner maps. Companies can utilize these prebuilt maps so they do have to create new maps every time they onboard a new customer. Commonly used maps come installed in Cleo’s software in a plug-and-play format, so companies can onboard new business faster.

 

Service providers do not always offer prebuilt partner maps, making switching providers more difficult since it would require building out maps for each trading partner. Cleo does the heavy lifting, so all companies have to do is find and select the proper map for each of their trading partners.

 

5) Business Process Visibility

Business processes are essential for keeping a company operating efficiently. Visibility into these processes allows companies to explore each step in a business process so they can monitor and report on performance.

Cleo’s platform ties together transactions that comprise revenue-driving business operations—for example, OTC, P2P, and LT2I—allowing for rich and complete context across various processes. This way, if there is an error in one of the processes, companies can quickly pinpoint what went wrong and work on fixing the issue. Without visibility into the processes and platform, companies may not realize there is an error in their system for days, weeks, or months. This would be detrimental to the positive relationships they have built with their trading partners and could result in them losing business.

 

For example, if there is an SLA violation, CIC will create an alert to notify the platform manager. This helps reduce SLA violations so companies can avoid the expensive fees and maintain a positive vendor scorecard.

When it comes to onboarding, there are a lot of moving parts which can be incorrectly setup. The notification system is integral towards ensuring onboarding goes as smoothly as possible, and companies can be reassured that any error in the processes will be flagged. In short, visibility equals control.

Cleo Integration Cloud: Our Innovative and Advanced Solution

Is there a single solution that can do all the above? Yes, with Cleo’s flagship product, Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC).

 

CIC is a cloud-based integration platform, purpose-built to design, build, operate and optimize critical ecosystem integration processes. The CIC platform brings end-to-end integration visibility across API, EDI, and non-EDI integrations that give technical and business users the confidence to rapidly onboard trading partners, enable integration between applications and accelerate revenue-generating business processes.

 

CIC also automates EDI processes in order to connect, transform, and route EDI and non-EDI transactions, through business ecosystems without piling on the custom code. Removing custom code makes it easier for companies to perform updates and switch providers if the need arises, thus providing more freedom.

 

On the CIC platform, businesses have the choice of self-service, managed services, or a blended approach – ensuring complete flexibility and control over their B2B integration strategy. Businesses are also able to easily switch approaches when necessary. For example, let’s say a company is on Cleo’s self-service plan, but one day they suddenly have five new trading partners to onboard. The company can utilize Cleo’s managed services to onboard three of the trading partners, while the company’s bandwidth allows them to onboard the remaining two. Cleo’s flexible service options are an invaluable asset that is available to companies whenever needed.

CIC Features

  • Automated Onboarding Tools
    > So you can leverage schema, map, and business process re-usability
  • Automated Transformation
    > So you can create automated processes to transform any data file type
  • Pre-built B2B Connectors
    > So you have a repository of hundreds of preconfigured, ready-to-deploy communication templates to connect faster
  • Rich APIs and Application Connectors
    > So you can accelerate the delivery of custom integrations
  • End-to-End Visibility
    > So you can maintain SLA compliance with real-time views of all data exchanges

 

In today’s fast-paced world, Cleo understands how important speed and agility are. These features were created so businesses can work efficiently as possible, starting from onboarding.

 

While other companies may promise advanced services, few can compete with Cleo’s offerings. Other providers commonly lack in the areas of onboarding speed, control over onboarding and processes, flexibility in data types, and visibility into data. These shortcomings can severely hinder a company’s ability to operate at peak performance, expand business, and increase revenue.

 

CIC Cockpit with Radar
Moreso, Cleo released a new product in 2022 called CIC Cockpit with RADAR. RADAR has already seen its first update in June 2022, and we are continuously working on adding new features based on our findings and customer feedback. On top of the features included in CIC, CIC Cockpit with RADAR includes SLA…

 

Monitoring and management, including intuitively configuring globally accessible SLA definitions and filtering and reporting on operations by SLA status
Notifications to receive immediate notification for at-risk or missed SLAs and opt into alerts to get insights needed based on user role
Dashboards that allow the viewing of SLA metrics by customers and partners and allow for the prioritization and acting on impacted transactions to protect revenue, relationships, and reputation


CIC Cockpit with RADAR was built with visibility at the forefront. Users need to be able to quickly find and review key pieces of data so they can monitor performance. The notification system helps companies reduce expensive fees from SLA violations, maintain and improve their vendor scorecards and relationships by flagging issues instantaneously, and minimizes system downtime. RADAR provides even greater control and visibility to your business.

All these features are fantastic, but how fast can you onboard new partners and applications with Cleo Integration Cloud? The most common onboarding process and their setup times are listed below.

 

  • Trading partner setup for data movement:
    - Minutes
  • Trading partner setup for data transformation (EDI/XML): 
    - First map: 16 hours

    - Each subsequent map: 2 hours or less

  • Protocol setup: 
    - 2 hours or less
  • Application setup: 
    - 2 hours or less

 

Compare Cleo’s onboarding times to our competitors and you will find our process takes a fraction of the time. Efficient onboarding times make all stakeholders happy, from trading partners and CTOs, to platform managers and project managers. Start new business deals off on a good note by making the onboarding process quick and simple with Cleo.

Learn How Barilla Transformed Their EDI

“Ever since we implemented Cleo, honestly we haven’t experienced any downtime. We have transactions coming in and out 24/7. We here recently were migrating to the new platform to a new server, and when we were installing it I found that the migrating from the old trading partners to the new trading partners was very easy in the new system. We didn't have any problem in the migration-there was nothing complicated it was very simple and easy.,” Barilla’s IT Applications Competency Center Manager, Suma George said.

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EDI Onboarding Comparison Chart

Ecosystem Integration

While your company is researching B2B integrations and the available options, it is important to note that ecosystem integration is the future. Ecosystem Integration is a modern, business-process-driven approach, that connects and integrates the core revenue-producing business processes between a company and its ecosystem entities. For context, digital ecosystems are comprised of suppliers, customers, third-party data service providers, logistics providers, and all their respective technologies.

 

Ecosystem integration is the modern response to two inevitable changes affecting businesses today:

1. The critical need for supply chain agility and responsiveness

2. The irreversible shift to eCommerce that is now happening at an accelerated pace

 

With organizational agility so vitally necessary these days, ecosystem integration is essential for companies striving to manage supply chain disruptions, drive eCommerce growth and manage cyber resilience. Businesses should integrate their ecosystems to streamline their demand and supply chains; thus giving them the agility to proactively sense, respond to, and act on disruptions so they can avoid negative impacts on their business.

 

Cleo Integration Cloud is the leader when it comes to ecosystem integration, featuring an abundance of innovative offerings that keep our customers ahead of the curve. Cleo always puts our customers first, whether that is through software updates, unparalleled customer service, or simply providing the best product in the market. 

 

Cleo’s Solution, CIC Cockpit with RADAR®️

  • Supports 20+ File Transfer Protocols 
  • Preconfigured Templates
  • Customizable Business Logic
  • Prebuilt Partner Maps
  • End-to-End Visibility With Alert Notifications
     

Thousands of companies around the globe trust Cleo to handle their B2B integrations. Cleo empowers these same companies by offering unprecedented control, flexibility, visibility, and efficiency to these processes.

 

Be sure to utilize this in-depth guide to EDI onboarding to guide your research and decision when it comes to B2B integration providers.

 

Contact us today at sales@cleo.com or +1.815.282.7695 to leverage our expertise and start experiencing the advantages of EDI integration. And be sure to explore some of our educational resources through our resource library.

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