MANY LARGER ENTERPRISES STRUGGLE with small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) unable or unwilling to use electronic data interchange (EDI) or other digital standards and protocols to exchange business-critical documents such as purchase orders, advance shipping notices, invoices, and payment documents. Manually processing documents from trading partners and corporates that are not EDI-compliant costs enterprises in the form of lost worker productivity, longer turnaround time, and an increased likelihood of human error.

An IDC global study of how B2B integration improves supply chain performance reports 156% shorter invoice processing time, 35% faster inventory turn, and a 3% improvement in perfect orders over paper-based transactions. A Stanford University study on B2B integration business value and adoption trends estimated that most companies save at least 40% in processing costs with electronic documents.