Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): A Complete Guide [2025]

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a digital communication method that enables the structured exchange of business documents between organizations, fundamentally transforming the way companies conduct transactions. Emerging in the 1960s, EDI was initially adopted within the transportation sector to streamline processes and reduce manual errors. Over the decades, it has become a critical component across various industries, including retail, healthcare, and manufacturing, facilitating the automation of processes such as order management, invoicing, and shipping notifications, ultimately enhancing operational efficiency and accuracy in data exchange.