Economics of EDI Investments

INTRODUCTION Electronic data interchange (EDI) technology gives organizations an opportunity to exchange their information and messages electronically, instead of with paper documents, and leads to a new way of doing business known as electronic commerce (EC). The benefits of EDI include less delay in data handling and labour savings in the areas of data transcription, controls, and error investigation and correction. As a result implementation of EDI improves the following: • the internal operations of a firm by reducing the process-cycle time, • responsiveness to customers, • trading partner relationships, and • the ability to compete, both domestically and internationally.