How to Explain EDI

Just how do you explain EDI?

When I first came to B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net , people would ask me what I kind of job I have. The first time I would try to explain EDI as a system of electronic interface that sends invoices and purchase orders between companies. These folks would then just look confused, say “Oh. Ok” and walk away knowing that it sounds about as exciting as selling insurance. I know that there is more than that to EDI but I found it tough to explain it in a single sentence.

I then looked at Wikipedia and used how they explain EDI in a single sentence: “Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e. from one trading partner to another trading partner without human intervention.” With that response I got an even more confused reaction and even a few people had their eyes glazed over like it went way over their head.

When I realized that I didn’t have to explain EDI to explain what B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net does. So I now say to my friends and family: “We help companies do business with other companies electronically.” That sentence is something everyone understands.

It is then I realized that is also what we do here for our clients – we help make it easy for them to do business with other companies and increase their business.

And it only took me 3 years to figure that all out and I still have a lot to learn about EDI.


David Adams, Support Engineer, B2BGateway.Net, MA Office