Electronic Data Interchange brings in more transparency and visibility in logistics business, thereby bringing down unnecessary costs  The air cargo value chain in India is characterised by lack of transparency and existence of legacy systems, which result in huge inefficiencies causing delays, penalties and lack of shipment visibility. In the most sophisticated transport value chain, air cargo, the same shipment data is entered at least six times by several constituents. This results in huge amount of paper generation and physical movement of paper-based information between trade partners. Therefore, it is not surprising that in India the logistics costs are as high as 13% of the country’s GDP. Communication technologies like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) can help address these industry issues to bring in greater transparency, visibility and real-time tracking ability.
EDI platform: Solution for Indian logistics community
EDI technology evolved in the last few years and has now become a common platform for all industry entities and members. The principle of EDI in logistics is simple - “Data captured once in the supply chain shall not be re-entered by any supply chain partner.”
Features of EDI and benefits
The features of EDI include standard templates, standard protocols for data interchange and access to statutory authorities. This Web-enabled enterprise application has drastically reduced communication costs and integration complexity. The real benefits of EDI are its ability to incorporate back office applications and legacy systems with the information received and sent from/to clients, generate operational efficiencies, lower costs and higher consumer satisfaction levels.
Each of the entities in the cargo community such as shippers/consignees, carriers, customs and freight forwarders realise the numerous benefits of EDI, some of which are as follows:
EDI, journey so far in India
Till the time the Internet was an expensive and proprietary technology in India, logistics companies were hardly exposed to automation, which meant EDI did not make much sense as logistics players were unable to produce the data sent to them by shippers or carriers. This is the predominant reason for non-adoption of EDI till late. However, in recent times, with increased focus on automation by logistics service providers, many are getting their internal systems in shape and gearing up to incorporate latest technology.
India needs an EDI platform that can be deployed as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model so that technology adoption becomes easier and even the weakest element of the supply chain can come on board and leverage this technology.
Sumeet Nadkar, CFO & head-Logistics SBU, Kale Consultants Ltd, a leading solutions provider to the global Airline, Airports, Logistics and Travel (AALT) industry
|
