ELVI Expands EDI 50% with Structured Onboarding

Email still has a place in business, but not for exchanging orders and invoices at scale. While it may work for a while, it quickly becomes slow, error‑prone, and hard to automate. This was also the case for ELVI retail chain: part of their supplier transactions still went through email, creating extra manual work for their team.

To fix this, ELVI partnered with Telema on a three‑month project to bring more suppliers onto EDI (electronic data interchange). The goal was to move beyond the existing 40 EDI partners, reduce manual tasks, and build a smoother, more automated cooperation with suppliers. The campaign ran from October to December 2025.

A Structured Approach to Supplier Onboarding

To reduce ELVI’s administrative burden, Telema took over the entire onboarding process, conducting a partner analysis, contacting suppliers, and managing all communications throughout. 

The campaign focused on two groups:

• suppliers already using Telema, and
• about 100 additional suppliers who were not yet using EDI.

A clear transition date was agreed upon, after which ELVI would only accept documents via EDI. This gave suppliers a clear timeframe to work toward and helped speed up the onboarding process.

Onboarding varied by supplier type:

• Suppliers already in the Telema network, familiar with the setup, needed only connection activation.
• Suppliers new to EDI required more hands-on support. For them, Telema ran a structured outreach process that combined emails, phone calls, and follow‑ups to resolve both technical and administrative issues and keep each supplier on track. 

Results After Three Months

By the end of the program, ELVI expanded its Telema-connected supplier network by 50%, from 40 to more than 60 partners. New EDI connections were made with both existing Telema users and suppliers who had not previously exchanged documents electronically.

In addition, two companies that had used only web‑based EDI upgraded to integrated EDI, connecting document exchange directly to their ERP systems. This:

• removed manual data entry,
• reduced the risk of errors, and

• freed employees to focus on higher‑value tasks.

While it did not directly increase ELVI’s EDI traffic volumes during the campaign, it laid the groundwork for greater long-term automation and a more resilient, scalable supply chain.

Overall, in just three months, ELVI significantly increased EDI coverage across its supplier network. The project shows that:

• a clear transition deadline,

• different approaches for suppliers at different readiness levels, and
• consistent follow‑up to remove blockers

can drive EDI adoption in a controlled and measurable way.

Interested in Expanding Your EDI Network?

If your organisation still sends orders or invoices by email, supplier onboarding can quickly increase automation and reduce manual work.

 Telema’s onboarding coordinator can assess your partner network and identify where the biggest impact can be achieved at no additional cost.

For onboarding, contact:

Marianne Kobin
marianne.kobin@telema.com