EDITEL + SPAR SLOVENIA

Prior to the introduction of EDI, Spar Slovenia faced a number of operational inefficiencies:

• Manual procedures: orders were managed by faxes, phone calls and emails, causing inconsistencies and delays.
• Lack of standardisation: Spar Slovenia and its suppliers did not have a single framework for data exchange, which caused bottlenecks.
• Stock management problems: vzdrževanje nadzora nad ravnmi zalog, dobavami in naročili je bilo težavno, saj je bilo v veliki meri odvisno od osebja v posameznih trgovinah.

Spar Slovenia was looking for a comprehensive EDI solution to streamline the entire business process, covering orders, confirmations, delivery notes, receipts, invoices, returns and credit notes.

EDITEL/PANTEON GROUP was selected for its in-depth understanding of business processes and its holistic approach to EDI implementation, complemented by its reliability and technical competence.

The actual operation and implementation of EDI was presented in a professional and explained way, that did not raise major concerns and did not give an overwhelming picture of the whole situation. If there were any challenges, these were resolved together in a constructive way.

There was only one standard concern before the introduction, namely whether the investment in EDI would pay off in the short term, which it quickly turned out that it could. Spar showed patience and opted for incremental steps, eventually taking around four to five years to implement the whole process from order to e-invoice. This patience is very much needed when embarking on a successful EDI implementation project.

EDI solutions have been fully integrated into Spar Slovenia's processes and thus into the ERP systems. EDI control systems have also been introduced for better control. 

The main improvements brought by EDI were:

• Automation: many processes, such as ordering, goods collection and invoice processing, have been fully automated.
• Scalability: the EDI solution has adapted to the company's growth and to changes in the market.
• Internal and external use: advocating the system internally and among suppliers was challenging but ultimately successful, demonstrating the value of EDI.

In addition, Spar Slovenia introduced centralised warehousing together with EDI, which was a key step in the standardisation and optimisation of logistics processes.

The comprehensive introduction of EDI has helped to simplify, streamline and speed up processes, making the company more competitive.

In addition to cost savings, centralisation and control of document flows have facilitated planning and decision-making. As a point of differentiation, Spar is working to extend the use of full EDI (seven EDI documents) also to its smaller suppliers, thus achieving an even greater competitive advantage.

SPAR highlighted several key aspects of its partnership with EDITEL/PANTEON GROUP:

• Flexibility: the team was always available to solve challenges.
• Innovative: many of the proposed solutions were successfully implemented.
• Win-win: suppliers recognised the simplifications and optimisations that EDI brought.

SPAR's vision for the future includes:

• EDI expansion: integrating more suppliers into the EDI network.
• Standardisation: promoting a single EDI environment across the country.
• Digital evolution: support for outbound invoicing in EDI format and further development of automation.

Of course, there are always suggestions for improvement, as the company is alive and processes are constantly being updated and changed. Improvements and adjustments to EDI are regularly discussed in meetings in order to further optimise the company's work.

SPAR pogled na EDI:

“EDI standardizira in poenostavi delovne procese, izboljša učinkovitost, zmanjša stroške ter podjetja uskladi z digitalnimi trendi preobrazbe.”
— Andrej Rajh, vodja BPM pri SPAR Slovenija