Many businesses struggle to take their data management and exchange processes to the next level. They may be using an outdated Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solution, or they may not be using EDI at all. 

If your business needs better data management, you may want to consider finding an EDI service provider. Here is an introduction to EDI and 10 considerations when looking for EDI service providers in 2023.

Overview of EDI implementation

In an increasingly digitized world, businesses must also change how they operate. Many companies are now turning to EDI to manage their workflows better.

According to statistics, the global EDI software market size is estimated to reach a whopping $4.04 billion by 2029, compared to $1.88 billion in 2022.

What is EDI? 

EDI is the electronic interchange of business information following a standard format. It’s generally used to streamline transactions between companies. This process was once done using paper documents that had to be mailed back and forth, however, EDI now enables businesses to exchange data electronically and quickly.

What is the difference between EDI and non-EDI?

While EDI refers to the process of electronically exchanging business data in a pre-defined format between systems, non-EDI is the traditional way of exchanging information without any pre-defined format. This would include using paper documents or even emailing attachments back and forth. Non-EDI can be very timeconsuming and expensive due to mailing costs. Non-EDI formats can include: Fixed length flat files, Variable length flat files, Binary files, to name a few.

Benefits of EDI software to a business’s supply chain 

EDI can be powerful to the business supply chain, automating and speeding up processes that would traditionally be done manually or through ineffective processes. Various organizations, including retailers, manufacturers, and distributors, can use EDI software to automate processes and improve data accuracy. It can maximize efficiency, improve overall experience, minimize errors throughout the supply chain, and provide the following key benefits:

• Order management: If your business wants the most efficient way to fulfill orders, EDI is the solution. EDI can automate the process of orders being placed with suppliers and keep up with customer demands. This way, businesses have a way to quickly and easily place orders with suppliers.
• Inventory management: EDI can also help businesses keep track of inventory levels. By integrating with your company’s accounting software, you can get real-time updates on what needs to be restocked. This helps avoid stock-outs and keeps the supply chain running smoothly.
• Shipping and logistics: One of the major benefits of EDI is its ability to streamline shipping and logistics. In tandem with a company’s shipping software, businesses can automatically generate labels and track shipments. 

Top 10 Considerations for Selecting Your EDI Service Provider

To ensure your business is ready for the new year, you’ll want an efficient and reliable EDI service provider. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind when selecting one:

1. What kind of integration is there? Do they support all formats?

A good place to start is to make sure the provider can integrate with all the software you’re using. Finding an EDI service provider that uses an Application Programming Interface (API) for integration is recommended to make it easier to connect with your existing systems. 

Integrated solutions are important because they can automate processes and make it easier to manage data. 

2. Are they industry-agnostic?

Your EDI provider should not be specific to any one industry. This is because your business might branch out into new markets and you don’t want to change providers. An agnostic provider will also be able to give you a more objective perspective on how best to use EDI in your business and cater to your unique needs. 

3. What deployment models do they use?

There are three main deployment models for EDI: on-premise, cloud-based, and hybrid. On-premise means the EDI software is installed and managed on your company’s servers. Cloud-based solutions are hosted by the provider and accessed through the internet. 

Hybrid deployments use a combination of both on-premise and cloud-based resources. The best option for you will depend on your company’s size and needs, budget, and IT infrastructure.

4. How long do they take to implement EDI?

Time to implementation is important, as you don’t want your business to be disrupted for too long. A good provider can give you a timeline for implementation and stick to it. As EDI can be difficult to set up, it’s important to ensure your provider has a good track record with other clients. 

5. Do they have an industry understanding in which you operate? 

You should ensure that the provider you choose has a good understanding of your industry and your company’s specific needs. This way, they can help you select the best EDI software for your business and ensure a smooth transition to using it. 

For example, your provider should be familiar with HIPAA compliance if you’re in the healthcare industry. Or, if you’re in the retail industry, your provider should know about EDI for e-commerce. 

6. Do they have a technological understanding?

You’ll also want to make sure that your provider has a good understanding of the technology you’re using. They should be able to support you and help you troubleshoot any issues you may have. 

Additionally, they should be up-to-date on the latest EDI software and standards so that you can be confident your business is using the best possible solution. 

7. Is it a secure platform? 

EDI data is often sensitive, so it’s important to ensure that your provider has a secure platform. Also, 80% of all cyber breaches happen in the supply chain, and 72% of companies don’t have full visibility into their supply chains. The platform should comply with industry security standards like HIPAA and PCI DSS.

8. Is the solution user-friendly? 

One of the most important things to consider when choosing an EDI service provider is whether or not their solution is user-friendly. After all, you don’t want your employees to waste time figuring out how to use the software. 

A good EDI service provider will offer a solution that is easy to use and comes with training and support so your employees can be up and running quickly.

9. Is the solution scalable?

As your business grows, you’ll want an EDI solution that can scale with you. A good EDI provider will offer a scalable solution so that you can add on features and functionality as needed. This way, you won’t have to switch providers down the road when your business expands.

10. What is the reputation of the partner and support? 

Finally, select an EDI service provider with a good reputation. You can check online reviews and talk to other businesses in your industry to see what they recommend. Additionally, you’ll want to ensure the provider offers good customer support if you have any problems using their software. 

Why choose PartnerLinQ?

As you browse EDI service providers that can offer all of these things, you’ll want to keep PartnerLinQ in mind. We’re a leading provider of EDI solutions and have over 25 years of experience helping businesses with their data exchange needs. With PartnerLinQ, our digital platform for communication with EDI and non-EDI partners, you can take full control of your supply chain.

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, request a demo today and learn more about PartnerLinQ and how it can help you transform your supply chain ecosystem.

What is EDI- Electronic Data Interchange Solution?

EDI is a simple electronic format that replaces paper-based documents and is used for intercompany communication in the standard form. Information sharing might occur within an organization or with third-party organizations or business partners.

The EDI solutions focus on providing quick and accurate data interchange and using existing EDI solutions that can help optimize your supply chain operations.

EDI Solution: Why is it needed? 

There are several supply-chain issues that you might face as a business owner. These include inaccuracies in calculation and unwanted system delays. There’s also a chance of business transactions that may be paper-dependent.

More companies have increased digital platform use, and the demand for instant information has increased. The transactions done manually may only sometimes be ideal to meet this requirement. Fortunately, EDI can help you here.

EDI Solution vs. Non-EDI Solution

Understanding the difference between EDI and Non-EDI solutions can impact how your business operates and scales. Here’s a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental differences between the two.

Speed of the Process Cycle

The process order cycle is tiring and can impact your business’s overall efficiency. The process might involve multiple departments of the company. The efficiency of these systems determines how much time it takes for supplier payments. Therefore, a shorter and more efficient order system is the key to long-term business success.

A stand-alone EDI or a non-integrated one doesn’t operate according to the ERP system. Therefore, there’s higher manual-handling involved compared to an integrated EDI. It contributes to a lengthy purchase cycle and makes it more challenging. On the contrary, the integrated EDI connects your ERP systems (internally) and automates the purchase cycle.

Responsiveness of the System

Today, multiple internal and external business parties stay connected for commerce-related tasks. The link has made communication transparent and increased the process’s complexity. Fortunately, an integrated EDI can adjust to this complexity.

The separate EDI may not operate appropriately with ERP systems, which makes it challenging to maintain buying and selling speeds. The integrated ERP has excellent responsiveness and can handle multiple trading partners and payments simultaneously with minimal human interference.

Process Accuracy

The accuracy of procedures determines the long-term survival and profit of companies. A simple error in this calculation can negatively affect the third-party and external processes within your business. It will impact your vendor relationship and business reputation in the industry.

A stand-alone EDI may not be the best choice in these circumstances because there’s a higher possibility of errors. Apart from that, there may not be proper communication with the other ERP applications. This miscommunication can lead to substantial data loss.

The integrated EDIs can substantially increase the accuracy of the process used in the purchase. The integrated EDI systems can manage the systems and form proper communication with other ERP processes without a problem.

Process and Staff Productivity

Process efficiency impacts the productivity of the staff and directly impacts the business profit margin. EDI software is the best-suited option for businesses that wish to improve team and process efficiency for maximum ROI.

The stand-alone EDIs require training to monitor the purchase process and supervise the complete steps. The other EDIs automate and integrate the systems, allowing the teams to focus on significant tasks.

Thus, integrated EDI can boost the overall efficiency and productivity of the process and the team involved in the business. Moreover, the higher volume of purchase orders in a non-integrated EDI is much less than the integrated one.

Processing Costs

The purchase order business requires a lot of expenses, impacting the profit potential of the business model. It is true that some of these expenses must remain the same, as you cannot reduce or change them. However, with improvements and efficiency, you can change processing costs.

For instance, the right EDI system can cut labor costs by avoiding the supervision of teams. It also allows business owners to reduce the payment cycles and complete vendor payments on time.

Thus, this little EDI system change saves the business from facing chargebacks. Moreover, it lets them avail special discounts by vendors on an early payment. The stand-alone EDI may not consistently have the same efficient results.

Implementation

The time required by a business for the implementation process and the procedure complexity or challenge determines the cost of implementation. A well-crafted business process involves planning and addressing issues and prerequisites for formal implementations.

The integrated EDI software can connect to multiple internal and external applications and optimize the process. However, this option may be challenging to incorporate into your business.

Thus, you may need more time and resources to implement the integrated EDIs over non-integrated EDI ones.

EDI Service Providers: How to Decide?

The EDI technology may have more costs and need more time for incorporation, but it can offer benefits in the long term. Business owners may not get these benefits with the non-integrated EDI technology.

The integrated EDI is more flexible and can be scaled to match your organizational growth.

How can Electronic Data Interchange Providers help?

Integrated EDI solutions increase the efficiency and productivity of your business. They offer the best alternatives for better data sharing and management.

They can also help improve processing costs, increase staff productivity, and offer greater process accuracy. With the inclusion of integrated EDI systems, your business is likely to grow, better and faster.

If you are dealing with problems in supply chain management, a professional services provider can help you optimize the overall experience. PartnerLinQ could be the answer to your problems. PartnerLinQ has been serving the supply chain industry for many years and can give you valuable insights into everything about supply chain.

The Key Elements of Making Your Supply Chain Ecosystem More Resilient

Global disruptions have caused supply chains to undergo extensive and unprecedented changes. Since the onset of the pandemic, Gartner’s research shows that only 21 percent of supply network leaders believe their process is highly resilient. In addition, McKinsey & Company found that the majority of companies that experienced issues through the COVID-19 crisis are now ramping up their use of modern digital tools, such as advanced analytics.

From shortages in both products and people, traditional business models are left to face the new challenges spurred on by the pandemic. To combat these issues, businesses must bring their strategies into the digital age where cutting-edge technology and tools are available to streamline operations, create heightened visibility and ignite execution speed.

Through digital advancements, companies have transparency into each link in their supply ecosystem and can minimize risks by analyzing data in real-time. Overall, the modern process allows organizations to gain a holistic view while monitoring each component in the chain. In fact, the modern network is shifting from a supply chain to a supply web of interconnected elements versus a single linear system.

Resilient modern logistics management serves as the driving force of business growth through end-to-end integration, clear visibility, and speed of execution.

Integration

Expanding partnerships is critical for businesses to improve their operations and maximize productivity. Businesses gain a competitive edge through intensified collaboration with suppliers and customers while addressing the disconnect, which is primarily attributed to ineffective or outdated technology. Leveraging partnerships with software solution providers is essential to acquiring up-to-date tools, from hybrid cloud applications to artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

With a tech solution that supports a unified digital supply chain, businesses are set to scale and prepared with better resilience and agility tools to set them up for success in the face of disruptions. Improving integration will lower costs, reduce waste, improve customer experience, and provide a comprehensive view of the business to guide improvements and changes thoughtfully.

Visibility

To remain agile and predictive during network disruptions, businesses must maintain full visibility and move away from outdated legacy operations that do not provide end-to-end visibility. This has become a common top priority, as 70 percent of companies are focusing on improving logistics visibility, and 80 percent strive to be more agile, according to International Data Corporation’s 2020 Global Supply Chain Survey. With intelligence capabilities to assess what is happening in real-time, companies can respond quickly to findings. Achieving complete visibility requires a hyper-automated solution.

PartnerLinQ by Visionet offers a proprietary supply chain solution that allows complete transparency, error handling, automation, and analytics. With a modern day, fully visible digital connectivity solution, companies can reduce costs and streamline operations. When businesses remove the need to make manual transaction adjustments, they can rely on automation that brings ease and visibility to the entire ecosystem.

Speed

Speed of execution is crucial for business leaders to remain agile and adaptive to changing market conditions while upholding sustainable business practices. Investing in the appropriate technologies for a modern-day logistics strategy is key, but it’s vital to implement these updates fast enough to be prepared for disruptions. With supply network disruptions consistently occurring, businesses must make a rapid digital transformation through resilient tools and platforms to ensure efficiencies.

Cross-enterprise digitization is imperative as goods are continually moving along the chain faster than the information on them. From design to manufacturing, data must flow in real time to continue the overall flow of the supply ecosystem. With zero-latency visibility and integrated systems, companies can meet the speed of execution standards. Essentially, each aspect works together to create a successful process.

True digital transformation is necessary to cultivate fully integrated, visible, and quickly executed modern-day supply chains. With a number of disruptive challenges, it’s crucial that businesses rely on third-party, end-to-end cloud solutions to improve integration for long-term success. While the buzzwords of digitization and transformation are becoming commonplace in business logistics discussions, the uniting factor is time. Cracks in supply operations, outdated systems, and recovering from disruptions are all common challenges that cost businesses valuable time.

To discover the latest expertise and practical tips on how top organizations are achieving a more agile, seamlessly integrated system, please watch this insightful session on Building Your Supply Chain Network. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rhrGf7oZEw 

Join Ahmed Raza, Vice President – Head of Product Engineering and Strategy of PartnerLinQ by Visionet, and featured speaker George Lawrie, Vice President and Principal Analyst of Forrester, to learn more about the dynamics of the modern-day network and the related challenges.

If you’re unable to attend the live webinar, follow this link to schedule a demonstration of how PartnerLinQ can help your organization achieve complete visibility.

Identifying and Mitigating Supply Chain Pain Points

Supply chain disruptions are inevitable. Eventually, a problem will arise that threatens to create costly delays and unhappy customers. Fortunately, it is possible to take steps to ensure goods move along even the most complex global supply chains without interruption. Gaining this ability to pre-mitigate issues before they arise requires identifying and constantly monitoring common supply chain pain points for any red flags.

Perfect order rate, a measurement of a company’s ability to fulfill orders on time and free of errors, is one important KPI to consider when measuring the viability of supply chain management. It accounts for variables such as when an order leaves the warehouse, whether it contains the correct quantity and quality of items, whether the customer receives it on time, and if there are any issues involving returns or payment. Although it’s simple math: subtract the failed orders from the perfect orders, but in reality, several factors can make measurement difficult. The customer may not provide feedback, so the company doesn’t learn about a failed order until after the customer files an official complaint or makes a return. Another common challenge is a lack of data sharing among supply chain partners, which hinders supply chain visibility.

Other KPIs to monitor include:

• Cash-to-cash time cycle measures the time between when the company pays its suppliers and when it receives money from its customers. It examines three key factors: days of inventory (DOI), days of payables (DOP), and days of receivables (DOR) to determine the amount of cash the company requires to fund its day-to-day business operations.
• Supply chain cycle time determines how long it will take for a supply chain to fulfill an order if it runs out of stock by measuring the total time to produce, package, and deliver the product. The shorter the time, the more agile, flexible, and resilient the supply chain becomes.
• Inventory turnover is based onhow many times the company sells its entire inventory within a specific period (e.g., per month, quarter, or year). The lower the number, the weaker the sales and revenue generation.

One of the most common factors that negatively affect these and other supply chain health KPIs is a lack of data that companies need to achieve complete real-time visibility over their entire supply chain. Consider the hypothetical example of a single shipment that must pass through more than 2000 interactions with suppliers and partners as it moves from source to final destination because a single blind spot can inevitably lead to unexpected disruptions. These can range from a supplier filing for bankruptcy or a dockworker strike to natural occurrences like weather-related events or, as the world learned the hard way, a global pandemic to geopolitical events.

Data empowers supply chain visibility. Without it, an organization cannot gather accurate insights into its global operations and be proactive in identifying and addressing problems before they turn into  severe disruptions. That’s why ARC Advisory Group predicts rising demand for technologies that enable companies to identify and respond quickly to supply chain issues and foster tighter collaboration with supply chain partners.

Businesses can utilize digital supply chain connectivity with solutions like PartnerLinQ by Visionet to gain full supply chain visibility. PartnerLinQ’s innovative capabilities, including intelligent automation, multi-channel integration, and real-time analytics seamlessly connect multi-tier supply chain networks and channels, marketplaces, and core systems worldwide to deliver unified connectivity. To learn more about how PartnerLinQ can help your organization achieve complete supply chain visibility, please visit our website.

Keeping a Check on the Growing Complexity of Your Supply Chain

The Coronavirus pandemic is not unique in its ability to severely disrupt the world’s supply chains. The time is now for chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) and supply chain executives to prepare for future events like trade disputes, cyberattacks, natural disasters, and global health emergencies. That begins with gaining full visibility over their supply chains, although that’s easier said than done given how complex supply chains have become.

The increasing complexity of supply chains is not a short-lived trend that will disappear once the world recovers from the pandemic. According to Gartner, supply chains have always been complex — with thousands of suppliers, partners, and products spanning a footprint that includes hundreds of sites and markets. Put simply, complexity keeps growing — supply chains add but rarely subtract it. 

Understanding the Future of Supply Chain

More than 50 percent of supply chain leaders Gartner surveyed expect complexity to increase over the next five years in most aspects of the operating model (e.g., equipment, projects changing design, business models, business partners), wreaking havoc on costs, risk, reliability, service level, customer satisfaction, and the ability to implement change. 

CSCOs face the constant threat of major supply chain disruptions as their companies adjust (or overhaul) their pre-pandemic business models and continue adding new suppliers, intermediaries, and sales channels to their B2B value chains. Achieving full supply chain visibility will enable them to proactively identify and mitigate potential disruptions.

Increasing visibility begins by improving communications among all transportation service and logistics providers (TSLs). For starters, transaction formats vary among partners and transactions; there is a wide array of variations across ocean freight, intermodal rail transportation, 3PL breakbulk operations, truckload and LTL carriers, warehouse operations, and ‘last mile.’ Truckload and LTL may appear similar, but they are far from aligned. Ocean, rail, and intermodal transportation are just as disparate, and there are huge differences between 3PL, 4PL, and direct-to-consumer (D2C), yet they often work together. However, since enterprise-level systems in these transportation service areas are just as specialized, collaboration on a common platform is untenable. 

TSLs who use multiple electronic data interchange (EDI) solutions are particularly vulnerable. Multiple EDI solutions mean more complications, more upgrades, and more interruptions. It also means spending less time concentrating on the tasks that are currently being performed and more time and resources on applications, cross-training, and “backup” planning in order to maintain consistent outcomes and increase productivity. The flow of event information across various partnerships becomes uneven and collaboration is challenging. The result is a tedious and seldom integrated partner-to-partner relationship that is too dependent on human intervention.

Perhaps nowhere is the impact of these issues more evident than on the rows of empty supermarket shelves. The baby formula shortage making news headlines is just the latest example of the many necessities like meat, eggs, dairy, and paper products that have been in short supply for more than two years. Constrained warehousing and severe driver/trucking shortages have manufacturers struggling to meet demand, which drives up costs, particularly for retailers who lack supply chain visibility and resiliency. 

Increased Visibility in Action

For example, a leading American baking company that has provided its signature line of flours to retailers, commercial bakeries, and food service companies, recognized the threat the pandemic represented to its vast network of farmers, millers, and distribution partners. It implemented PartnerLinQ to process transactions faster and more efficiently and gain the ability to identify, troubleshoot, and resolve any errors that could disrupt communications and operations.

PartnerLinQ by Visionet is a digital supply chain connectivity solution with a host of innovative capabilities that seamlessly connect multi-tier supply chain networks, channels, marketplaces, and core systems worldwide to deliver unified connectivity for the future. With capabilities for intelligent automation, multi-channel integration, and real-time analytics, PartnerLinQ is the epitome of Visionet’s mission to meet the essentiality of connectivity, visibility, transparency, and resilience in today’s supply chains worldwide.

Additionally, PartnerLinQ’s detailed reporting capabilities allow the company to track key performance indicator (KPI) metrics and other data and better understand transaction messages, message types, and performance volumes.

Today, the company can handle hundreds of thousands of transactions per day – nearly double the required capacity and is much better positioned to drive even greater efficiencies and adapt to the unexpected with cooperative technologies that provide real-time updates and actionable insights.

Further Insight into Future-Ready Solutions

Next month, CSCOs and supply chain executives from all over the world will convene in Orlando, Fla., for Gartner® Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ 2022 – the year’s largest event dedicated to helping supply chain leaders prepare for disruption, enable digital transformation and build sustainability as a competitive advantage. On Monday, June 6, Ahmed Raza, Vice President – Head of Product Engineering and Strategy at PartnerLinQ by Visionet, will lead a presentation on how to identify and understand growing supply chain challenges and outline effective and proven strategies that can help any business keep their growing supply chains in check while providing end-to-end visibility and complete control.

Attendees are invited to visit our booth (Booth # 109) and speak with our executive team about exciting new trends and solutions. In addition, we hope you’ll join us for a special 45-minute roundtable discussion on Tuesday, June 7 with Deepak Das, Senior Vice President – Digital Transformation at Visionet, on “Achieving Complete Visibility of a Supply Chain.”

Whether or not you plan to attend the Gartner event, you can follow this link to download our whitepaper, “Supply chain visibility: An imperative for transportation service providers” and contact us to schedule a demonstration of how PartnerLinQ can help your organization achieve full supply chain visibility.

How to Achieve Complete Visibility of Your Global Supply Chain

If you feel like your company faces an unending series of supply chain disruptions, you’re not alone. 68% of supply chain executives Gartner surveyed report that they have been constantly responding to high-impact disruptions over the last three years — and most of them did not have time to recover before the next disruptive event hit them.

Achieving end-to-end visibility over your company’s supply chain must be a top priority for 2022. Success requires gaining the ability to capture and analyze data in real-time to execute decisions more quickly and effectively.

Translation: stop running supply chain operations on legacy solutions, disparate siloed systems, and outdated business processes like updating spreadsheets. Ingesting real-time operational data from the supply chain ecosystem will significantly improve planning and decision-making processes and execution and make a company more agile and better able to adapt when the next inevitable disruption strikes.

“In 2022 and beyond, chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) must update their vision to account for ongoing and unimagined disruption to global networks, operating models, and stakeholder demands,” says Simon Bailey, senior director analyst at Gartner. “Some of these disruptions are externally driven — such as material shortages, climate-driven disruption, or labor scarcity. Others are driven by the organization’s own digital transformation plans.”

The story of how a $110 million company and secure storage industry leader succeeded in achieving this level of visibility over its complex global supply chain can serve as a lesson to any company striving to improve supply chain resiliency.

The company manufactures a wide range of products from small, portable security cases to large fire and waterproof safes under various brands. A comprehensive analysis of its supply chain revealed that it needed deeper and more automated integration with its trading partners and end-to-end transaction visibility.

Despite operating in a modern Microsoft Dynamics 365 environment, their supply chain solution was not fully integrated with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or with the growing direct-to-consumer delivery business, which had grown significantly since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. This forced reliance on several manual processes for collecting and analyzing data, such as orders, invoices, and advanced ship notices (ASNs). The entire direct-to-consumer business lacked visibility, and the electronic data interchange (EDI) solution could not facilitate real-time data sharing. There was no real-time visibility, control, error handling, automation, or analytical capacity.

The company decided to implement PartnerLinQ by Visionet, a digital supply chain connectivity solution with innovative capabilities, including intelligent automation, multi-channel integration, and real-time analytics that seamlessly connect multi-tier supply chain networks and channels, marketplaces, and core systems worldwide to deliver unified connectivity.

A critical factor in selecting PartnerLinQ was that it delivers a proprietary supply chain app ecosystem with EDI, B2B, and API management solution for Dynamics 365 that address the need for visibility, control, error handling, automation, and analytics. The PartnerLinQ platform was able to provide the hyper-automation that the company required, beginning with the direct integration of purchase orders into Dynamics 365. This integration was followed by the implementation of an internet draft security standard (or AS2), which was designed to enable business transactions to move securely over the internet and enable the quick transmission of process data.

PartnerLinQ helped the company achieve complete visibility over its supply chain, significantly reducing costs and streamlining its operations by automating processes, enabling business rules, and the rapid transmission of order-to-cash transaction processing through API and EDI.  PartnerLinQ’s innovative, process-centric approach to automation eliminated the need to make transaction adjustments manually. Tracking document counts, invoices, audits, and overall document lifecycles, became much easier and more visible than ever before. To learn more, follow this link to download the complete case study.

Overcoming the many current and emerging supply chain challenges companies worldwide now face will be top of mind for the hundreds of supply chain executives who will gather in Orlando, Fla., June 6-8 for Gartner® Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ 2022 – the year’s largest event dedicated to helping supply chain executives mitigate risk and navigate uncertainty in an increasingly dynamic and challenging environment.

We will be among these industry leaders attending this important event. We’re excited to meet with you in person at our booth (Booth #109) to brief you on how our exciting new solutions can help you improve supply chain resilience and overcome any future disruptions.

Additionally, two of our senior executives will lead interactive educational sessions during the Gartner event:

• Monday, June 6: Ahmed Raza, Vice President – Head of Product Engineering and Strategy at PartnerLinQ by Visionet, will deliver a presentation on identifying and understanding growing supply chain challenges and outline strategies for overcoming them.
• Tuesday, June 7: Deepak Das, Senior Vice President – Digital Transformation at Visionet, will lead a special 45-minute roundtable discussion on “Achieving Complete Visibility of a Supply Chain.”

If you do not plan to make the trip to Orlando, follow this link to schedule a demonstration of how PartnerLinQ can help your organization achieve complete supply chain visibility on a day and time that works best for you.

A new world is unfolding in the global supply chain universe. What was thought to be the time for the recovery of the supply chains continues to pose new challenges. With sanctions against Russia, the invasion of Ukraine, followed by the US-China trade war in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic, and natural disasters, supply chain management has always remained volatile.

Corporations are focusing on developing technological sovereignty. More plants are being developed, in several locations, and by outsourcing parts and materials from a wider range of suppliers, the global supply chains are beginning to resemble supply webs. According to Nathan Resnik, President and Co-Founder of Sourcify, this evolution from supply chains to supply webs is referred to as “multiple sourcing.” In addition, Gartner also adds to the situation, in a survey of supply chiefs, stating that

30% of respondents shifted their focus from a global to a regionally based supply chain model.

(Source: Gartner, 2021)

This shift from global to regional supply chain models underway could lead to the migration of jobs, demand surges, and production worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decades. In such a context, companies are turning to comprehensive efforts to strengthen their supply chains for future challenges.

How to get started?

Such objectives require huge transformative efforts in data transparency, AI technologies, the cloud, automated data-driven decision-making, headless commerce, and multi-sourcing service integrations. All that is necessary to break through the barriers and develop a robust supply chain.

Embrace digital ecosystems:

As a one-size-fits-all strategy is no longer viable, the supply chain industry requires major investments in modernized supply chain management technologies. One of the optimal solutions is to bring multiple channels under a single roof. This will empower businesses with a digital ecosystem, that negates data silos while promoting supply chain transparency. When all partners are connected, this ensures more checkpoints, faster response times, and process efficiency, enabling a better understanding of the market demand.

Henkel, a Germany-based consumer goods firm, was able to leverage this strategy by integrating various channels into one. The firm leveraged a cloud platform that enabled them to make real-time assessments and supply tracking. After connecting 33 of their factories across the globe, they were able to get real-time insights into inventory levels, vehicle logistics, and consumer preferences.

Invest in data transparency:

Consistent, predictive, and actionable analytics are at the heart of end-to-end supply chain visibility. Supply chain companies can challenge the industry disruptions by combining MPS, ERP, SRM, and supplier data. This will empower them with real-time access to information across all platforms for better evaluations and informed decisions across the value chain.

Strengthen your synchronization capabilities:

Data synchronization enforces supply chain transparency, so both go hand-in-hand. When digitally synchronized, supply chain companies can strengthen their ability to estimate risks and optimize inventories while meeting customer demands without waste. Such transformative efforts can not only help you proactively identify vulnerabilities but also lower redundancy, generate faster lead times, enhance communication, and give a crystal-clear picture of your entire sourcing system.

Save time with automated, data-driven decision making:

Traditional supply chains with manual processes, inventory surplus, and no visibility are limited to meeting the upcoming market demands. Constraints in daily performance monitoring and production, as well as the traditional consensus forecasting approach, take companies four to five weeks’ worth of time to reach a demand-planning consensus, by which time the data gets redundant.

A better solution to eliminate such process inefficiencies and save your company a week’s worth of time is to unite all data into a single system. Garnering and updating data points from all partners within the network will empower your team to proactively recognize trends, flag threats, and help trigger preventive measures, all while saving time since the decisions are taken on real-time occurrences.

As a result, automation frees up time for managers to focus on more profitable operations, like negotiating better rates and expanding their firm.

Explore multi-sourcing service integrations

The changing global supply chain dynamics, following rising labor costs, pandemic-induced shutdowns, and surcharges in the US-China conflicts, are some of the reasons why supply chain companies must not rely on a single vendor. However, opting for a multi-sourcing supply chain strategy empowers businesses to source products across geographical boundaries, and thanks to digitization, communication with the suppliers ensures transparency and supplier portfolio balance.

This opens doors to diversification and can help companies lower the risks of supply chain disruptions, reduce prices, and safeguard against market volatility. This approach is further validated by Gartner, stating, “It’s important to build a model that reduces reliance on single-sourcing locations wherever possible. This strategy protects supply chains from future sourcing shocks caused by unforeseen disruptions.”

Deliver personalized user interactions

Integrated supply chains and visibility throughout your supply chain management is not enough to tackle the disruptive supply chain industry. Increasing customer interactions is also an essential element that is needed and requires businesses to create unique and flexible customer experiences.

Such solutions can be implemented by creative services like Headless Commerce, backed by PartnerLinQ. A scalable solution that leverages API-driven integrations and enables personalized user interactions, increasing the speed of value delivery to customers across the value chain — Meeting your business where it needs business functionality.

Realize the true disruptive supply chain solutions with the right partner.

Turning industry challenges into opportunities is the key to success for any business. This is where turning to a reliable supply chain management ecosystem partner such as PartnerLinQ comes in. While “BIG VAN” will glorify their network, the truth is that it’s all about your network and your trading partner ecosystem. 

How smoothly you onboard trading partners translates into how resilient your trading partner ecosystem is.

PartnerLinQ’s cloud-native platform ensures a smooth transition for you, working exceedingly well with custom ERP integrations while our Common Processing Workflow reduces the friction to support smooth partner onboarding. Also, easy trading partner onboarding can facilitate you turning to the new trading partners and making up for the inventory gap.

Our end-to-end supply chain visibility comes at no additional cost, whereas ‘Black Box’ EDI solutions are typically time-efficient, helping your team to spend more time on other industry dimensions. Also, with built-in analytics and a home screen monitor, we help supply chain companies proactively determine inventory shortages before they occur. Additionally, we offer Transaction and Error Analytics, a well-defined set of business rules that reduce friction, and built-in alerting, which is configurable to any supply chain condition you want to know more about.

Bottom Line

A trailblazer in digitized supply chain solutions, PartnerLinQ leverages multi-channel integrations to deliver customers and partners with enhanced experiences, helping them realize the above goals and reimagine their connected commerce. Get in touch with one of our experts to learn how to achieve digitization and transparency across your supply chain.