End-to-end Trading Partner Management for EDI in Logistics

How EDI-Driven Logistics Can Enhance Supplier Cost Efficiency for Large Online Retailers

Overview

Introduction

An online retailer operating multiple warehouses across the United States and Europe to deliver products from various suppliers to its customers sought an improved data management process to make supply chain data more accessible and prevent issues such as data spread or disconnected systems. EDI integrations would benefit the retailer in multiple ways.

Cost advantages because of faster communication between trading partners could be transferred to their suppliers.
Submitting 'Load Tenders' to carriers and receiving confirmations from carriers would become seamless.
Tracking pickup, shipment and delivery statuses and having strong command over logistics data in the backend would be effective.

Challenges

EDI Expertise Limitations

The in-house operations team lacked sufficient skilled EDI developers, resulting in delays in addressing critical EDI issues. Although the retailer initially managed to integrate EDI with a carrier successfully, the process of onboarding just one carrier took a year. As the operations expanded further, the absence ofof EDI expertise became evident, hampering smooth workflows

Carrier Management Issues

The sheer volume of carriers that required integrations posed a significant challenge due to varying integration requirements. Complicating matters, each carrier adhered to its unique implementation timeline and technical capacity, which made it difficult for the operations team to determine the order of their integration priorities.

Data Standardization Hurdles

Despite the retailer's EDI specifications, several carriers were reluctant to comply, causing friction in data standardization. Initially refraining from intervening in the existing integration program, the retailer and its suppliers faced complications in data interpretation and incurred significant chargebacks as a result, prompting a need for action.

Solutions

EDI Outsource

Due to EDI expertise limitations, the retailer's operations team opted to a managed service provider to expedite the turn around times for EDI integrations with their remaining carriers. This approach would also allow their tech team to allocate their skills and resources to other crucial aspects of ther operations, saving time and money.

Among the options, Zenbridge stood out primarily due to its compelling price difference, making it their choice to explore further as a potential EDI partner. In no time, Zenbridge assumed full responsibility for all their carrier integrations, spanning from the project's inception to the final go-live phase.

Trading Partner Management

The retailer entailed Zenbridge taking on the primary responsibility for carrier onboarding and comprehensive trading partner management with minimal participation from the customer's operations team. With this guiding principle in mind , Zenbridge comprehended the customer's business model and tailered the EDI specification documents to align precisely with respective requirements.

Any frequently asked operational questions from carriers, which initially required consultations with the retailer, were subsequently handled by Zenbridge. In cases where carriers displayed hesitancy in aligning with the retailer's specifications. Zenbridge performed an extensive gap analysis between the carrier's specifications and those of the retailer. Subsequently, a tailored transformation layer was devised and integrated to intercept the carrier's EDI data, converting it into a format compatible with the retailer's implementation logic.

EDI Roadmap

The integration will leverage widely used logistics EDI documents such as Load Tender [204], Response to Load Tender [990], Transportation Carrier Shipment Status Message [214], and Status Details [315]. This approach underscored the retailer's expected optimal method for EDI standardization.

Results

Seamless Carrier Integrations

Compared to just a single integration in a year, the retailer is now integrated with 15 carriers within the 8th month mark. The integration had zero instances of connection downtimes, zero occurrences of platform failures, and zero instances of outbound non-compliance from Zenbridge. The migration process from th in-house EDI to Zenbridge was swift.

Managed EDI Operations

The retailer's operations team believes that they have moved to a better spot in terms of their tech team's involvement in carrier integrations, and they are moving in the right direction and they continue to iterate and improve interactions with carriers. Even with a lack of experience and time to chase carriers, the retailer could successfully integrate with its carriers by letting Zenbridge's delivery management take complete ownership of these integrations and communications, which proved to be a game changer.

Optimised Supply Chain

With a standardized data management process, the retailer can now optimize its supply chain network to bring cost advantages to its supplier network. Bad data, which brought chargebacks to suppliers, can now be mitigated with higher accuracy. Improved visibility over supply chain data also makes operations easily identifiable for inefficient workflows between the retailer, its suppliers and carriers, which will help reduce the total cost to serve.

Why choose Zenbridge?

EDI integration

Less than 2 months.

End-to-end connection testing

Less than a week.

End-to-end Implementation

Less than a month.

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Pre-built connectors

Unparalleled support

Unmatched pricing

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