The EDI community has been growing at a considerably fast pace over the past few years. The introduction of EDI technology has in many cases been a key element in reshaping processes and organisational structures within and between firms. Accordingly, proprietary and industry standards have been developed. Through the introduction of the EDIFACT standard, the EDI euphoria in Europe remains high. The purpose of this paper is to review critically the development of financial electronic data interchange (FEDI), in particular with regards to the activities surrounding the switch from proprietary or country specific standards to UN/EDIFACT. The paper draws upon primary data collected in the United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland (CH). EDIFACT can be regarded as a second generation of EDI, but the diffusion rate of EDI per se and EDIFACT across industries shows specific patterns; investment appears to be greatest in those core business areas which link a company to its suppliers and customers and correspondingly lower in support activities, such as accountancy. This difference in diffusion has a major impact on EDI developments in the banking industry which is currently confronted with EDI migration to EDIFACT.
['Ivo Cathomen', 'Howard Williams']
The diffusion of FEDI in the United Kingdom and Switzerland: a comparative case study