Supply Chain Business Integration

Cutting the cost of order and invoice exchange with thousands of customers

THE CHALLENGE

An international apparel retailer and early e-commerce pioneer handled a very large daily volume of orders and invoices across thousands of customers. Every customer had its own EDI requirements, and the retailer was carrying the cost of local software, mapping and support to keep up. Setting up new trading partners was slow, and data disputes took time to resolve. The company needed to cut costs without risking non-compliance with its customers' rules.

WHAT WE DID

Reviewed the existing EDI setup and costs, including software, maintenance, partner onboarding time and the effort spent on data disputes

Built the business case for moving EDI to the cloud and removing local translation, mapping and connectivity software

Defined the target process for order and invoice exchange, including tracking, reconciliation and reporting requirements

Designed a standard onboarding approach for new trading partners, so each new connection took less time and effort

Oversaw the migration with the technology provider, making sure each customer's requirements were met and tested before switching over

Aligned procurement workflows with the new process, with compliance checks built in

RESULT

Faster partner setup and shorter implementation times

Lower management effort and cost

Real-time data, fewer data disputes and end-to-end visibility of order and invoice flows

Lower IT costs, and an operation ready to take on new customers