Leveraging traditional EDI investment using the Internet: a case study

Abstract

For many large retail companies with many suppliers, the utopian vision of total paperless trading offered by traditional electronic data interchange (EDI), with its attendant efficiencies, has not been realized. Many small but operationally important suppliers lack enthusiasm for traditional EDI because it is expensive, complicated and they stand to gain little from it. This non-compliance prevents the large organization from realizing some of the most significant tactical benefits of EDI such as advanced supply chain reforms. This paper presents a case study of a large retail organization which is approaching this problem by integrating Internet-based EDI with its existing traditional EDI systems using an intelligent gateway. The case study is used to generate propositions about the future significance of Internet EDI.