What does edi mean?

EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange in English, which can be translated as Electronic Data Interchange in Chinese, and Electronic Data Interchange in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese. It is an electronic means to transfer business documents such as orders and invoices between companies. It adopts the internationally recognized standard format, exchanges and processes the information of trade, transportation, insurance, banking, customs and other industries through computer communication networks, and completes the whole process centered on trade. It is a new electronic trading tool developed in 1980s, and it is the product of the combination of computer, communication and modern management technology. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) describes EDI as "electronic transmission from computer to computer, which transforms trade (business) or administrative affairs into structured affairs or information data formats according to recognized standards". ITU-T (CCITT) defines EDI as "structured transaction data exchange from computer to computer". Because the use of EDI can reduce or even eliminate paper documents in the process of trade, EDI is also popularly called "paperless trade".