EDI to API: The Future of Supply Chain Management

Remember being in class and passing a note to your friend to tell a funny joke or initiate the next tic-tac-toe move: you write the note, you pass through a few people and then it shows up at your friend’s desk; in order for them to return the message, they’d have to mimic the same process to share their response.

What if you wanted to make a change to your note? What if one of the kids that sat between you was absent that day?

Things can get complicated quickly and it makes passing that note a lot more difficult.

Now, we just shoot our friends a text or tweet to share a quick message – even when they’re in the same room. The “old fashioned” way seems silly compared to how fast we can transmit messages back and forth today.

This leads us to the future of supply chain management.

What Is The Future of Supply Chain Management?

EDI to API: Faster is Better.

Once upon a time, the majority of major industry players in 3PL and Supply Chain Management used electronic data interchange (EDI) systems to share business documents with one another.

It was originally implemented with the goal of speeding up a process that normally required a good deal of human interaction and paper printing, which ultimately saved companies time and money.

However, with the evolution of technology and the increasing complexity of shipping standards, EDI is now the note-passing of business communications. It’s replacement, application program interface (API), is the shiny new phone we’d rather text from.

API are the backbone of the most innovative and in-demand software applications like Uber and Google Maps. They’re able to change the world of supply chain technology by allowing speed and scalability that EDI is simply incapable of meeting.

It’s currently the fastest and most seamless way to send, receive and access data so that shippers and retailers can make the most informed decisions about their supply chain.

Don’t Be Late!

3PL companies not willing to make the investment of time and money to build an infrastructure suitable for API can expect to get left behind (if they haven’t already) for increased efficiency and real-time communications.

At DGD Transport, we use custom API tracking technologies to provide our customers live updates and 24/7 monitoring of their shipment to ensure that their asset is protected.

Contact us today to learn more about our custom technology, and how we can improve any 3PL by introducing API technology into daily operations.