Revolutionize B2B Trade: Integrate Non-EDI Partners via Document Conversion Service
In today’s ever-changing business landscape, to remain competitive you must optimize every aspect of your business operations, However, one area that is frequently overlooked, is the integration of Non-EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) enabled trading partners. EDI has significantly enhanced B2B communication, yet a good number of trading partners, distributors, suppliers & customers still conduct the majority of their business without using EDI Integration, relying on faxes, emails, and PDFs. This often leads to congestion and ineffectiveness. But what if you could easily integrate these non-EDI capable partners into your company’s automated supply chain
The Importance of Integrating Non-EDI Enabled Partners !
According to a recent IDC survey, “more than 33% of organizations still use manual forms and fax for their business transactions.” Translating them to electronic data interchange (EDI) manually is costly, time consuming and prone to error.
Picture this scenario: You get an order from a valuable long-time customer and it comes to you in a PDF attached to an email. Your team has to manually input all the details such as product codes, quantities and shipping addresses – into your system. Even after consuming significant time and resources, there can still be mistakes that could result in costly errors such as sending out incorrect shipments or billing inaccuracies.
According to a report in Harvard Business Review, just 3% of the data in a business enterprise meets quality standards. Furthermore, a Gartner report found Organizations believe poor data quality to be responsible for an average of $15 million per year in losses. These inefficiencies can significantly impact your bottom line and damage your customer relationships.
Expanding Your Reach
A network of EDI partners can be compared to a company’s corporate network that is made up of many critical intranet sites where together the company’s IT department has a full picture of the integral and essential components of the corporate network. If a sub-set of these sites was not included or accessible to the IT team, they’d be operating without a full picture and it would be difficult to make data based decisions. In a network of critical trading partners, ignoring Non-EDI enabled customers creates a similar gap in data insights and operations and could result in missed opportunities. Ultimately, it makes good business sense to work with these partners and expand your business network, opening up new avenues to introduce products and services to an expansive network of partners and customers. This inclusive approach enhances the diversity and robustness of the supply chain.
Increasing Visibility
Getting all those faxes, emails and PDFs into readable formats increases visibility across transaction lifecycles, which streamlines overall productivity. You'll gain additional actionable insights in order to make faster, more informed decisions.
Strengthening Compliance and Security
When data is acquired from a variety of sources, accuracy and compliance with industry standards is critical. When it comes to non-EDI partners, it is important that data extraction be done consistently and within the relevant guidelines. It is important to focus on data compliance in order to reduce the likelihood of regulatory fines and protect data from unauthorized access.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
Handling information from sources like faxes, emails and PDFs outside of the EDI system can be cumbersome, and prone to errors. The challenge with data input and processing is the potential for delays and mistakes that could impact business efficiency. Automating the transformation of these documents into organized formats can streamline operations, simplify processes, and expedite transactions for businesses.
The Role of IBM’s Document Conversion Service
IBM Sterling® Document Conversion Services (DCS) converts non-structured documents such as faxes, emails and PDFs into an EDI or other structured format, offering an electronic alternative to these types of inefficient manual transactions. Real-time translation of documents enables organizations to include partners in their ecosystem that do not use EDI integration. With applications such as IBM Sterling Document Conversion Services, complex documents that are hard to automate are easily converted into EDI or other structured format.
How it works?
IBM’s Sterling DCS uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) & ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition). OCR and ICR are the two primary techniques that form the foundation of IBM's Sterling Document Conversion Services. They are responsible for capturing and analyzing text from both physical and electronic documents, converting them into an easier-to-analyze format. OCR works with printed text, but ICR can process handwritten details, making it suitable for a wide range of documents.
Machine Learning Integration
Implementing machine learning algorithms improves the efficacy of the document conversion process. Using historical data and algorithms, it is possible to constantly refine patterns for detecting and handling different document structures. As a result, conversions are completed swiftly and with fewer errors, and raw conversions are rectified manually to a lower extent.
Manual Reviews for Accuracy
Automating judgement tasks has been proven to considerably reduce the manual labor burden; yet, it is not uncommon to find circumstances where manual checks are required. IBM Sterling DCS has both rule-based and human-in-the-loop processes since some information may be considered too sensitive for a computer to make the ultimate decision. This ensures that the resulting document is translated correctly so that the accuracy of the data is not impacted.
Eliminate manual data processing! Leverage IBM Sterling Document Conversion Service (DCS) for automated document conversion to EDI/API. Enhance operational efficiency. Register for our FREE webinar Here
Here's what you can expect from the Webinar :
1. Live Demonstration: See real time conversion of faxes, emails and PDFs into structured documents for EDI, API or other structured transactions. Witness how document conversion services improve manual document management processes.
2. Streamlining Unstructured Data: Understand how to properly approach unstructured documents with content coming from customers, suppliers, distributors, and any 3rd party associated with trading partners. Find out how the automation of these conversions influences your business and its order to cash processes.
3. Enhancing Your Competitive Edge: Learn how cooperation with non-EDI partners, by means of automatic documents conversion, can provide your business with a competitive advantage. See examples of companies that have adopted this solution to accelerate the development of the organization.
4. Expert Insights: Get insight from specialists who have deep expertise in document conversion and data integration practices
To Learn more about IBM Sterling DCS - Contact your IBM sustainability software sales rep or IBM business partner, or reach out to me directly.
Conclusion
Enabling non-EDI partners is not just about bringing non-EDI partners to EDI standards; it’s a strategic change that can strongly affect your business for the better. The automation of unstructured documents will help ensure the enhancement of productivity, reliability, and compliance.Solutions such as IBM Sterling Document Conversion Services provide a sound solution to enable non-EDI partners to integrate quickly and effectively, ensuring your business remains a step ahead in today’s ever-evolving market.
Register for the July 10 LIVE WEBINAR and ensure that you are on the right path to a better and improved trading partner ecosystem. Sign up today to becoming a part of the future of automated document conversion
Key Takeaways
• Enable your trading partners who are not EDI compliant to be able to digitally connect with you.
• Improve business processes with the help of an automated document conversion solution.
• Incorporate greater compliance and security through the capture of highly accurate data.
• Tune in to our next live webinar to get tips, ideas and interactive demos.
The decision-making on these key points and the implementation of innovative technologies will help transform your business and help position your company for success.
Register Now