Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic interchange of business information using a standardized format; a process which allows one company to send information to another company electronically rather than on paper. Business entities conducting business electronically are called trading partners. In a traditional purchase order document exchange, the entire cycle could take anywhere from days to weeks. Hence this is an inefficient way to do business. EDI accelerates, simplifies, and reduces the cost of exchanging business documents. Orders, invoices, and shipment schedules documents are widely popular electronic conversions in supply chain sectors.
Enterprises typically use global EDI standards:
Alternatively, enterprises can use non-EDI standards if trading partners can agree to map those customer specific standards