EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange. It can be defined “as an exchange of electronic
business documents between economic trading partners, computer to computer, in a standard
format.”3 What distinguishes EDI from other electronic exchanges such as fax or email
is the use of a standard format and the computer-to-computer exchange. These
exchanges can take place between quite different computer environments and for this reason
the EDI standard protocol is intended to be both hardware and software independent.
EDI is an increasingly popular form of business communication in which companies
link their computer systems to swap documents electronically (invoices, purchase orders,
credit notes).
Many large companies and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency are already committed
to EDI and so by default are the many companies and individuals trading with them.
Typically an EDI network gets started when a dominant purchaser insists that all its suppliers
get on the network if they wish to continue to do business with the purchaser.