More and more organizations use EDI as it supports business processes and reduces transactions costs drastically. There are several EDI solutions available that enable you to optimize your supply chain.
However, when you have chosen an EDI system that best suits your situation, you will need to implement it within your organization. You can choose to run an EDI solution on-premise, or you can choose for a cloud solution. But when do you opt for on-premise and when for a cloud solution? In this blog, we explain the differences.
On-premise vs. cloud solutions
Opting for an on-premise EDI solution is logic when you have all the sufficient internal resources with qualified skills available. The internal resources that are required for running an on-premise EDI solution are a license, a server, and an available network. From a safety and continuity point of view, you are responsible to keep your knowledge and systems up-to-date. That’s why you will need someone with the technical knowledge and expertise as you need to maintain and upgrade your EDI solution according to the software- and hardware vendor’s lifecycle policy. Please note that an on-premise solution is more expensive as you have hardware- and software implementation, and installation costs as well as licensing – and training fees.
When organizations don’t have the necessary resources available, they often outsource their solution to an external party who do have the right resources available. This solution will run in most cases, in the cloud with an infrastructure already in place. With a cloud solution, the software is installed in a secure environment as redundancy is needed to ensure continuity. This means that your organization is guaranteed to have the latest version of the software.
The complexity of your ecosystem
Besides your available internal resources, we advise taking the complexity of your ecosystem into account. The choice for an EDI system also depends on the size of your ecosystem. In other words, the number of business partners and complex processes you are dealing with.
Moreover, every country and sector have their own specifications for processing data. This also affects the specifications for sending business transactions to your business partners. A general rule of thumb is the more factors you have to take into account, the more complex your ecosystem and thus the controllability of your EDI-system. Maintaining your EDI-system within a complex ecosystem is more difficult. When this is the case, it is better to run your EDI solution in the cloud. The complexity of updating, maintaining and monitoring your EDI-system will be the responsibility of the service provider.
Want to know more about EDI?
Want to know more about EDI and how it could benefit your organization? Download your free EDI guide and learn how to get the most out of EDI.