What's your EDI trend tracking strategy?

1 Define your EDI goals and metrics

When creating an EDI trend tracking strategy, it is important to define EDI goals and metrics that are aligned with your overall business objectives and strategy. These goals and metrics should also be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Common EDI goals and metrics include reducing costs and errors, improving efficiency and speed, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty, complying with industry standards and regulations, expanding your trading partner network, and innovating your business processes and products.

2 Monitor your EDI performance and trends

The next step in your EDI trend tracking strategy is to monitor your EDI performance and trends. To do this, you need to collect and analyze data from your EDI transactions and processes, such as the volume and frequency of documents exchanged, the types and formats of documents exchanged, the status and errors of transactions, the response time and latency of communications, and the satisfaction and feedback of trading partners. There are a variety of tools and methods you can use to monitor your EDI performance and trends, such as EDI dashboards and reports for real-time insights, EDI alerts and notifications for any issues or anomalies, EDI audits and assessments for compliance and quality, and EDI benchmarks and surveys to compare your performance with industry standards.

3 Evaluate your EDI strengths and weaknesses

The third step in your EDI trend tracking strategy is to evaluate your EDI strengths and weaknesses. You must identify what you are doing well and where you need to improve in regards to your EDI infrastructure and technology, processes and workflows, skills and knowledge, policies and procedures, and relationships and partnerships. To do this, you can use SWOT analysis to examine internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats. Additionally, gap analysis can help identify the gaps between your current and desired EDI performance and outcomes. Root cause analysis can determine the underlying causes of your EDI problems and challenges, while feedback analysis collects and analyzes feedback from internal and external stakeholders.

4 Implement your EDI improvement actions

The fourth step in your EDI trend tracking strategy is to implement your EDI improvement actions. You should prioritize and execute the actions that will help you achieve your EDI goals and metrics, such as upgrading or replacing your EDI software or hardware, automating or streamlining your processes or workflows, training or hiring staff or consultants, updating or revising policies or procedures, and negotiating or renewing contracts or agreements. Various tools and methods can be used to implement these improvement actions, including project management tools and techniques to plan, execute, monitor, and control projects; change management tools to manage the human and organizational aspects; quality management tools to ensure quality; and risk management tools to identify and mitigate risks.

5 Review your EDI results and feedback

The fifth step in your EDI trend tracking strategy is to review your EDI results and feedback. You need to measure and evaluate the impact and outcomes of your EDI improvement actions, such as cost and time savings, efficiency and speed gains, customer satisfaction and loyalty improvements, compliance and quality enhancements, and network and innovation opportunities. Various tools and methods can be used to review your EDI results and feedback, such as key performance indicators (KPIs) and scorecards to track performance, return on investment (ROI) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to calculate benefits, customer surveys for satisfaction, compliance certificates for quality, and case studies to share success.

6 Repeat your EDI trend tracking cycle

The sixth and final step in your EDI trend tracking strategy is to repeat your EDI trend tracking cycle. You need to continuously monitor, evaluate, improve, and review your EDI performance and trends, adapting to the changing needs and expectations of your trading partners and industry. Additionally, you should seek out new ways to learn from and collaborate with other EDI professionals and experts. Joining or creating EDI communities and networks can provide peer support and advice. Attending or hosting EDI events and webinars can offer learning and networking opportunities. Reading or writing EDI blogs and articles can share insights and trends. Following or engaging with EDI influencers and leaders can inspire and challenge you. By following these six steps, you can develop a smart EDI trend tracking strategy that will help you optimize your EDI performance and achieve your EDI goals.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?