What is EDI (electronic data interchange)? | EDI Bitfreighter
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the technology that helps logistics companies get more done by connecting their systems or computer-to-computer communications. EDI makes a seamless connection for documents to flow in a standard electronic format between two business trading partners. EDI will optimize your operation by eliminating many manual processes and errors that occur within those manual processes such as load building and load email updates. EDI automates many parts of the load communication life cycle.
Load Life Cycle
Most EDI transactions move from one system application at an organization to another system application at another organization are managed by a third-party VAN or integrations company. In the logistics industry, we see this type of flow starting from a shippers TMS sending load tenders to their carriers TMS to be accepted within the carriers system, allowing for seamless integration. Logistics providers are able to optimize their operation by entering their in and out times into their TMS once, which then sends a 214 update with in and out times to their customers TMS through the EDI connection updating their customer. This type of efficiency will cut down on employees doing double work by only having to enter information in their TMS once and allowing a logistics provider to ultimately have fewer people handling logistics coordinator responsibilities. These integrations are made possible by EDI standards that are documented by each TMS. Bitfreighter helps with the mapping and translation to ensure the standards are being met by both the carrier and shippers so the documents can be received on both ends. EDI standards are what define how the documents are formatted and the order in which the information is displayed. EDI allows logistics providers to effectively automate their capabilities to share data quickly and taking out any archaic manual or paper process.
Today many industries use EDI to streamline their business-to-business communication. At Bitfreighter our focus is on the logistics industry and creating a scalable and seamless EDI and Integrations platform for all logistics providers. The document types that our industry share with their trading partners range from:
Logistics EDI Document Types
204 | Load Tenders
997 | Confirmation
990 | Tender Response
214 | Load Status and Location Update
210 | Invoice
EDI Prefered Connection Types:
FTP
SFTP
AS2
API
Bitfreighter is not limited to these connection types, we support any and all connection types.
Character Cost and Setup Cost:
Bitfreighter is leading the EDI industry by cutting out the per character transaction cost. One of the major problems that exist in the EDI space is the current pricing model of charging by the character and is one of the main reasons Bitfreighter is disrupting the EDI industry. Charging by the character is an archaic pricing model that provides no value to the logistics providers and does not allow them to scale their load counts through EDI effectively. Most VAN or managed EDI providers will charge on a per-transaction or character charge. This model will become exponentially more expensive and does not scale for a logistics provider's needs. With the bitfreighter pricing structure, our annual low-cost license plans will allow you to scale your EDI partners quickly and cost-effectively. Setup costs are typically very expensive to partner with a new VAN because many VAN providers have not worked with specific logistics TMS companies. Because bitfreighter specializes in logistics EDI integrations our setup costs are very inexpensive and allow for a quick turnaround time. Our value is to help our clients scale their operations through the most optimal cost-effective and logistics-inspired data insight.
Bitfreighter EDI
Bitfreighter is an All-Inclusive EDI Managed Platform for all Logistics Providers EDI integration needs. Our ability to handle all logistics providers EDI needs encompasses, Data mapping, translation, transmission, and managed EDI services. Bitfreighter can help cut out many of the TMS setup fees by mapping all your EDI in Bitfreighter’s mapping engine. Bitfreighter is a cutting-edge EDI and Data integrations platform that will help you easily connect to all of your trading partners with no more character fees!
