The Daniels Group is a casebook example of a company that depends on electronic trading
with its major customers but does not have its own in-house dedicated EDI team. In
fact—unusually for a company of this size—nobody at Daniels carries a business card with
the word EDI on it. Instead, the company relies on the capability of GXS Trading Grid® to
manage the variety of different EDI and AS2 formats and to provide a seamless interface to
the company’s ERP application.The energy of the company’s IT team is focused on managing the ERP system and integrating
new divisions and operations into a highly centralised approach. A recent acquisition,
for example, was Farmhouse Fare which makes fresh puddings for major retailers.
As Malcolm Clarke notes: “We don’t have the staffing levels to look after the intricacies
of electronic trading standards. We don’t see that as part of our core expertise and we are
happy to rely on GXS Trading Grid to take care of that part of the business process.”