Tangentia Inc. has launched an artificial intelligence-based agent designed to reduce errors in electronic data interchange (EDI) operations, the company announced Monday.
The new TiA EDI Agent, added to Tangentia’s TiA (Tangentia Intelligent Automation) platform, is positioned as a complement to existing EDI systems rather than a replacement, aiming to introduce adaptive decision-making capabilities to traditionally rule-based workflows.
Addressing EDI Limitations
Electronic data interchange remains fundamental infrastructure for supply chain operations, enabling automated exchange of business documents between companies. However, EDI systems typically rely on fixed, rule-based workflows that require continuous human oversight to manage exceptions and maintain trading partner connections.
Tangentia’s approach focuses on augmenting these existing systems with AI capabilities that can monitor transaction flows, learn trading partner requirements, and automatically address common operational issues across connected enterprise systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), warehouse management, and transportation management software.
“The challenge was not replacing EDI, but improving how it operates on top of the infrastructure customers already use,” said Vijay Thomas, Tangentia’s chief executive officer.
Automated Exception Handling
According to the company, the agent can execute predefined actions when exceptions occur, including sending alerts through email or collaboration platforms, opening service tickets with transaction details, and correcting issues such as formatting mismatches, missing references, and unit-of-measure errors.
All actions are governed by customer-defined policies and logged for audit and compliance purposes, the company said.
Ajinkya Birwadkar, director of the TiA platform, explained that the agent is designed to reduce the ongoing effort required to onboard and manage large trading-partner networks by continuously adapting to how partners conduct transactions.
Pilot Program Results
Tangentia reported operational improvements from early pilot programs conducted across multiple sectors, including retail, e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing, automotive, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and wholesale distribution.
The company said pilot participants experienced reductions in trading partner onboarding times of up to 50%, decreases in EDI exceptions of up to 70%, and reductions in EDI-related chargebacks of up to 60%.
Tangentia did not disclose the number of customers who participated in the pilot programs or provide independent validation of the reported results.
Availability
The company said it will make the TiA EDI Agent available at no cost to existing customers for a limited period, though it did not specify the duration of this offer or pricing details for future availability.
The launch reflects broader industry trends toward applying artificial intelligence to automate traditionally labor-intensive aspects of supply chain operations, particularly in managing the complex networks of trading partner relationships that underpin modern commerce.
