TechConnect Live 2019: EDI requirements becoming mandatory across the UK & Ireland

B2BGateway was delighted to exhibit this year at Techconnect Live 2019, held in the RDS Dublin, Ireland. “TechConnect Live is Ireland’s largest annual business and technology exhibition for Micro, SME and Enterprise level companies. The event, which is supported by Ibec and the Small Firms Association (SFA) creates a marketplace for a wide range of SMEs experiencing rapid growth. It’s estimated that SME’s account for 99.8 percent of all active businesses here in Ireland”.  Learn more about the show here.

With over 108 Exhibitors and over 2500 delegates on the day, it was a very busy event that saw a lot of interaction.  Between SMEs offering a range of products and services, the main theme seemed to be automation.  Such as companies looking to automate certain areas of their business in order to reduce costs and quicken their supply chain as they grow.  This automation came in terms of software and products alike, allowing the end user to ultimately spend more time on the strategies of their companies.

We spoke to a lot of clients in the food and beverage business in the UK and Ireland as well as major retailers that are making EDI a mandatory requirement for their suppliers.  What does this mean?  Well in essence it means that they require you to be able to send and receive business documents such as Purchase Orders, Invoices, Shipping Notices, Stock Updates etc., via EDI. EDI is Electronic Data Interchange and it allows our clients to automatically and electronically trade these documents with the likes of Tesco, John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Waitrose, Lidl, Dunnes Stores, Asda etc.

For our clients, this will eliminate data entry and human error in receiving these documents manually.  It will also keep you compliant with retailers you are supplying or would like to supply.

It was great to speak to so many clients who are coming into the EDI world.  So many clients use different ERP/Accounting Packages such as Netsuite, Xero, Quickbooks, Sage or perhaps eCommerce Sites such as Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce – all of which B2BGateway integrates with.

Overall the event was a huge success and I feel that there was a wide range of products and services being exhibited which suited all visitor’s needs.

We are already looking forward to TechConnect 2020