EDI ALTERNATIVE
An alternative to EDI for
emailed purchase orders.
Most of your customers will never connect to you over EDI. They email a PDF, a CSV or a spreadsheet. APEX turns those emails into NetSuite sales orders automatically, without your customers changing a thing.
Why EDI doesn’t cover every customer
EDI (electronic data interchange) works well with large trading partners that already run it. But each EDI connection usually needs setup and testing with that partner, document mapping, and often an ongoing provider or network fee. For smaller customers, such as independent retailers, workshops and regional resellers, that effort rarely makes sense, so they keep emailing purchase orders. Someone on your team then keys each one into NetSuite by hand.
APEX closes that gap. It reads the purchase orders those customers already send and gives you EDI-like automation for the long tail of customers that EDI never reaches.
EDI compared with APEX
| Traditional EDI | APEX | |
|---|---|---|
| What the customer sends | Structured EDI messages, which need EDI capability on their side | Their normal email with a PDF, CSV or XLSX purchase order |
| Setup per customer | Partner onboarding, mapping and testing for each one | None: new customers are matched and learned as their orders arrive |
| Changes for your customers | They must adopt and maintain EDI | Nothing changes |
| Into NetSuite | Through an EDI integration | Through the native NetSuite API, one click per order |
| Checks | Depends on your EDI setup | Confidence score, flagged exceptions, duplicate prevention and human approval on every order |
Use APEX alongside EDI
You don’t have to choose between them. Keep EDI for the large trading partners that require it, and let APEX handle everyone who emails. Both end up as sales orders in the same NetSuite account.
How APEX handles an emailed purchase order
- APEX checks your order mailboxes every 5 minutes, around the clock.
- AI reads the attachment and extracts the customer, PO number, dates, address and every line item. No per-customer templates are needed.
- Customers and items are matched to NetSuite, translating customer SKUs and branch codes to your own item codes.
- A reviewer confirms the order beside the original document, and one click creates the NetSuite sales order.
In production, the median time from an email arriving to the order being ready to confirm is 4 minutes. See it in the 85-second demo or read the Clarus Adventure case study.
EDI FAQ
APEX and EDI, answered.
Is APEX an alternative to EDI?
Yes. APEX automates purchase orders that customers send by email as PDF, CSV or XLSX files, so you get EDI-style automation into NetSuite without asking customers to set up EDI.
Do my customers need to change how they order?
No. Customers keep emailing purchase orders in whatever format and layout they use today.
Can we use APEX and EDI together?
Yes. Many businesses keep EDI for large trading partners and use APEX for every customer who emails their orders. Both create sales orders in the same NetSuite account.
How quickly can we start?
Setup is quick. We run a consulted onboarding with your team to connect your order mailboxes and NetSuite account. There’s no per-customer EDI onboarding.
Automate the orders
EDI never reached.
Book a demo and we’ll show APEX processing emailed purchase orders like yours into NetSuite.
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