Listen to the top 5 things to keep in mind when evaluating and choosing a cloud-based or a web-based EDI solution

Now, here is the checklist to determine and evaluate whether the cloud-based or web-based EDI provider you are choosing is the right one for you or not.

1. System Recovery Rate and Uptime

How reliable is the EDI solution you are evaluating? It is important to know how often their system goes down which is directly related to production going down and ultimately revenue loss. Your EDI activities will likely be disrupted which is not good for your business revenue wise and will cost you company reputation. When you choose a cloud-based EDI solution, make sure you get guaranteed levels of server availability and system up-time. 95% or more is what is preferred to keep your system up and running to maximize productivity and profitability.

2. Disaster Recovery Plans and Security Protocols

Are there multiple layers of security applications featuring full emergency backup restoration and disaster recovery plans that span multiple locations to minimize the risks?
Is there an immediate response to outages or incidents that occur abruptly?
How often is a back-up taken and what is restoration timeline in order to prevent data loss?
Is the connectivity secured with encrypted data flow and server access?

The solution needs to have your data secured and backed up 24/7/365 so that in any emergency, you are not left stranded affecting your business.

3. Platform Robustness and Performance

Platform robustness accounts for all the features the software is offering from supporting all data formats, every type of EDI communication, data integration into any back-end systems (ERP, CRM, WMS, TMS). Will you have access to all its features as in when needed?

How muchcurrent and future transaction volume can it handle?

Is the architecture designed to handle unexpected rise in transaction volume?

Look at the overall automation, tools and workflows along with speed and agility when it comes to product performance.

4. Pricing

Based on your budget allocation for EDI and affordability, decide which pricing model is comfortable for you. Do you want to pay as you go- monthly or yearly or based on the number of trading partners, transactions etc.

5. Customer Support

We cannot stress more on the fact that there needs to be a continued support that promotes regular monitoring, resolve issues timely (in minutes or hours) not in days and is always reachable for you.

It is important to learn about the customer support systems they are using. Is it a ticketing software that will send you no-reply responses? Is it a phone bot or are there real humans available to resolve queries real-time?

Learn when and how you should start doing EDI. Whether you are a start-up or a small business, evaluate step-by-step if you are ready to go ahead with a new EDI solution.