How Important is EDI Training for a Business?

According to BNET, CBS's interactive business network, electronic data interchange or EDI is increasingly assuming importance in today's business operations. About 10,000 companies in the United States have incorporated EDI systems in their day-to-day business interactions. In fact, studies show that paperless exchange of business-related documents between organizations carried out via computers, is growing at a staggering rate of 40% annually and looks poised for more growth in the coming years. It is thus not hard to gauge why the knowledge garnered from EDI training is so critical for a business's success. Here are the reasons to support the afore-mentioned statistics on the prevalence and preference for imparting EDI training to employees; they stem from the benefits of implementing EDI in a business setting:

* Cost Efficient: This is probably the most important factor that has spurred its popularity. Studies have shown that the cost of processing a paper-based purchase can be as much as USD 70, while processing an EDI purchase may cost as less as a dollar only. Electronic transactions and processing also demand minimal labor involvement. This in turn, leads to additional cost benefits.

* Prompt: Studies have shown that paper-based orders can take as many as 10 days to move from one place to another—from the time a buyer places the order till when the supplier ships it. Electronic transactions take place much quicker. And when an organization imparts EDI training to a considerable chunk of its employees, the process can be implemented on a larger scale across the organization. This in turn, results in substantial benefits—reduction in the levels of inventories, more efficient usage of warehouse space, lower freight expenditures, and lessened instances of stocks running out.

* Reliable and Accurate: By imparting EDI training to its employees and doing away with manual handling of documents, a business wrings in accuracy, transparency, and reliability in the document transfer process. In fact, more and more enterprises are demanding that their partners too implement electronic data interchange processes. The partners thus need to ensure that their workers are well-versed in the use of electronic data interchange process and so the importance having EDI training sessions has increased immensely.

* Client Satisfaction: Implementing EDI automates business-to-business (B2B) processes and makes businesses function efficiently. When a business imparts EDI training to a sizeable chunk of its employees and in time gets known for its efficiency, clients begin to infer that dealing with them will lower the administrative costs of exchanging business information. This in turn, attracts newer clients and keeps the existing ones satisfied.

So now that you are convinced that you too would like your employees to receive EDI training, who do you turn to? Integration, Inc. is a software development and outsourcing services company that has been providing support services to about 3,000 companies spread all over the world.