December 30, 2014

433 E Las Colinas Blvd #850, Irving, TX, 75039

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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.