Below are the questions to get you prepared before you start talking to the third-party managed EDI providers.
These questions will help you get ready with answers beforehand and know what to expect from EDI providers who not only have an EDI software to provide but great customer service to support your needs.
- Do you want On-Premise EDI software or third party hosted or Cloud based?
- Which file formats are you interacting with? (IE: EDI, EDIFACT, XML, CSV, JSON, etc.)
- What type of communication is used for the file transfers? (i.e. FTP, SFTP, FTPS, AS2, API etc.)
- How many current Trading Partner relationships do you have?
- Do you have a number of files and average file size? (i.e. daily, weekly or monthly files)
- Are you looking for Data Repository built into the EDI product?
- Do you need a package with Translation, Communication and Data Repository all through one software supplier?
- Do you prefer a certain back end database for your EDI package? (i.e. SQL, Oracle, AS/400 etc.)
- How do you prefer the software priced? (i.e. based on data consumption, number of users, upfront purchase with yearly maintenance, monthly service etc.)
- What internal or external system do you want to interact with? (i.e. TMS, ERP , WMS etc.)
- Do you need a separate server for fail safe in place with fast roll up?
- Do you need analytics built in along with reporting capabilities?
- What is your growth expectancy? (i.e. 1 year, 5 years 10 years)
- Do you have any current needs from Trading Partners that you are not able to meet?
When you reach out different EDI providers, these questions will help you judge which EDI providers have your best interest and out of them you can go with the best that fits your requirements and needs.
We at EDI Support have EDI experts that can help you decide which EDI provider to go with based on your financial, project and infrastructure and software needs with their experience working on a gamut of EDI softwares in the marketplace.
Our experts go through a step-by step approach of hearing your needs carefully, asking the right questions and providing the best solution that suits your business. Reach out to us for a free consultation from one of our EDI experts directly not sales.
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