Electronic Data Interchange: Issues in Adoption and Management

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has come to revolutionize in recent years the way in which businesses conduct their trading activities. Based on the establishment of trading partner relationships, EDI systems have come to signify a speedy, efficient, and accurate means of electronically exchanging business transactions. Even as there is growing popularity and potential underlying EDI, there appears to be insufficient insight into the adoption and management of EDI systems. Specifically, there is a need to know more about why EDI is (or is not) adopted, how EDI has worked for past adopters, what aspects may need further development in order to enhance its value to users, and the nature of organizational experiences with EDI in general. With these factors in mind, this study reports on the results of an empirical study of EDI users. Findings indicated that organizations experience several benefits from EDI. These benefits tended to vary based on factors such as length of EDI use, proportion of customers using EDI, total EDIrelated investment, and number of employees. Findings also indicated that the overall fulfillment of EDI expectations was influenced by incorporation of management reporting and the integration of EDI technology into the information systems function of the organization. The presence of formalized cost-benefit assessment procedures and planned expansion were also associated with greater fulfillment of EDI expectations. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the management of this valuable, strategic IT resource: EDI.