“If you want to be taken seriously as a supplier, you have to have EDI”

“If you want to be taken seriously as a supplier, you have to have EDI”, says Ralph Spelthan, ICT manager at Anova Seafood. Anova Seafood is a European market leader in fresh fish and frozen fish products. The company from Den Bosch supplies major international supermarket chains including Albert Heijn, Carrefour, and Superunie, as well as hospitality wholesalers such as Sligro. 

Retailers demand EDI

“More and more retailers are demanding that we use EDI for the ordering and invoicing process”, says Spelthan. “We now use EDI with more than 30 customers, and that number has been increasing rapidly lately.”

The Brabant-based company chose to switch to EDI in 2007. “And it turned out to be an excellent choice”, Spelthan relates. “Operational excellence is a key focus area across the company and we believe that faultless ordering and invoicing processes should be an important part of our services. They have to be top notch. Transus has made the whole process much quicker, much simpler, and error free.”

30 customers, 30 different sets of requirements

Anova Seafood only has a small IT department and wasn’t looking to invest in EDI protocols itself. “That’s another reason we’re so happy with Transus”, Spelthan continues. “If you have thirty customers, you’ll have to deal with 30 different sets of requirements when it comes to sending out invoices. Thanks to Transus, that’s not a worry for us.”

“Transus asks each retailer how they want their documents, we provide our data based on our standards, and they make sure to harmonise them with the retailer’s requirements, without needing to involve an expensive consultant.”

EDI grows with us

Adding new customers does not cost Anova a thing. “We can scale up infinitely, and because Transus already works with many of our customers in the Netherlands and abroad, it often comes down to nothing more than a single email. 24 hours later, we’re connected: that’s how easy it is!”