EDI, IDP or PEDIF? – The Ultimate Comparison

Many roads lead to digital communication – but only one is flexible, precise and immediately applicable.

The digital transformation in the supply chain is progressing – but with which tool? It is difficult to choose between classic EDI systems, modern IDP solutions and innovative automation services such as PEDIF. All promise digitalization, automation and efficiency. But only one technology can do all this – without compromise.

In this article, we show how EDI, IDP and PEDIF differ, why many systems fail in the face of reality – and how PEDIF combines all the advantages as a new category.

1. EDI: The established standard with limits

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the classic among integration solutions. Companies that use EDI exchange structured business documents – such as purchase orders, delivery notes, invoices – directly between their systems. Fast, safe, reliable.

But there is a problem:

EDI only works if both sides have an EDI infrastructure. Small and medium-sized enterprises usually do not do this. The effort for mapping, implementation and testing is high. And even with large partners, any new document format can trigger an IT project.

In short, EDI is strong – but inflexible and expensive to extend to all partners.

2. IDP: Artificial Intelligence – with Blind Spots

IDP (Intelligent Document Processing) uses AI and OCR to extract information from PDFs or scans. Systems such as ABBY, KOFAX, IRIS, Ephesoft Transact, OpenText or Microsoft's AZURE IDP or Google DocAI analyze documents visually, "read" texts and structure data for further processing.

That sounds modern – but it is often deceptive.

• OCR-based systems are layout-dependent – a format change quickly throws them off their stride.

• Many IDP solutions require extensive training data before they work reliably.

• Fields are detected with probabilities – there is no guarantee of correct results.

• Rectification is tedious – and has to be trained manually.

Bottom line: IDP can help—but it rarely works reliably without human reworking.

3. PEDIF: 100% correct – without training, without compromise

PEDIF takes a different approach – and combines the best of both worlds: structured, machine-readable data as with EDI, but without EDI infrastructure on the other side.

How does that work? With two crucial technologies:

🡪 Fingerprint technology:

Each document layout is processed as a reusable fingerprint model. It detects exactly where which data is located – regardless of optical fluctuations. No machine learning needed. Once created, the fingerprint works permanently – even for several business partners at the same time.

🡪 Augmented Intelligence:

PEDIF combines AI with human quality assurance. Detection is automated, but is supplemented by rule-based validation and, if necessary, human review. This creates a unique combination of speed, accuracy and traceability.

4. What makes PEDIF better – at a glance

Feature	EDI	IDP/OCR	PEDIF
Partner requirements	High	None	None
Accuracy	High (if available)	Medium (70-95%)	Almost 100%
Adaptation to new formats	IT Project	Post-training necessary	Immediately through fingerprint
Scalability	Restricted	Moderate (training effort)	High – transaction-based
Implementation time	Weeks to months	Weeks	Days – ready to go with 8 documents
Flexibility in document types	Limited (structured formats only)	Rather high	High – all structured PDFs
Security & Compliance	High	Medium to high	Highest standard incl. e-invoice

Conclusion: PEDIF is not simply an alternative – but a new level

EDI is powerful, but expensive. IDP is smart but error-prone. PEDIF is precise, ready to use and uncompromisingly efficient. It does not replace existing infrastructure – it connects it to today's analogue reality.

Whether as an extension of existing EDI solutions or as a standalone service for SMEs, PEDIF is the answer to the central challenge of the digital supply chain – the seamless processing of incoming PDFs.

Ready for 100% accurate data without the hassle?