ctivities, eliminating tedious work and reducing the risk of human error. Optimized Inventory: managing inventory is a critical issue for any business. EDI can provide faster and more accurate information about production, buying and delivery needs. It is a link between customer, seller and vendor thus leading to improved inventory management and reduction in inventory levels.For initial EDI projects, limited objectives with perceivable benefits should be our first step. If we select, for our first project an ambitious plan to completely overtake our entire retail distribution process, we will be attempting a too large step and the probability is that we fail right away and waste all the money invested in the project. A more realistic initial project would be to automate one of our high turnover inventory order processes, along with providing order confirmations and delivery notifications. We should choose one big vendor that already has EDI implemented, so we do not need to develop a whole new process for both companies. They can help us in this first step, leaving us with a very limited risk. The success of this project will surely be a big step towards the future of EDI in our company.Much of the work of implementing EDI, or any new process, can be eased if we define our objectives very carefully. EDI is a process that will affect many parts of the organization. Communication is crucial and all concerned parties at all steps must participate and develop a good working relationship with all people affected, so the newly installed EDI changes the way business is done and not disrupt it. One of the best ways to provide good communication in a project is to define a coordinator position that should be filled with an individual with strong knowledge of EDI development and implementation.It is important to know that EDI is only a tool. If that tool is implemented without carefully defining objectives, it will not meet our expectations. As ...
