SFTP Compliance & Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Transfers
Recently, one of our retail customers reached out to us for help. This company is one part of the vast network of suppliers to Wayfair, and the ecommerce giant had recently notified them that they were standardizing all electronic data interchange (EDI) transfers between the company and its partners on the Secure File Transfer Protocol, or SFTP.
The edict from Wayfair doesn’t surprise us. Our belief is that SFTP is the best protocol for ensuring smooth and secure automated file transfers between different organizations, and since Wayfair boasts a partner network of more than 12,000 different organizations, it’s easier for them to standardize on SFTP for data transfers than it is to require that all present and future partners upgrade their back-office systems to match their own.
Why is SFTP the best choice for securing file transfers?
- SFTP has been available on all compute platforms and operating systems for more than 20 years;
- SFTP offers strong cryptographic encryption;
- SFTP uses strong cryptographic authentication of both client and server, include multi-factor authentication (MFA);
- SFTP is firewall friendly because it only requires one port to be opened in the firewall;
- SFTP includes built-in data compression (zlib or zip), reducing the amount of data sent over the wire; and,
- SFTP ensures message integrity, and is the only mainstream protocol with strong cryptographic integrity checking for each packet exchanged between systems, protecting against data tampering.
After helping our customer ensure their Diplomat MFT software was configured properly to ensure worry-free interaction with Wayfair, we thought other Wayfair suppliers might need some help, so we created a new solution story, Automate Wayfair SFTP EDI Transfers with Diplomat MFT. All of the steps are detailed in that tutorial, but here they are in brief:
Step 1: Fill out Wayfair’s DIR (Data Integration Requirements) Form
Step 2: Install Diplomat MFT
Step 3: Configure A Diplomat Transaction for Send and Receive
Step 4: Configure Notifications
Step 5: Enjoy worry-free, automated, and SFTP compliant EDI transfers between your organization and Wayfair
Wayfair gives its supplier partners access to a $600 billion dollar market and more than 21 million active customers who rely on the company for the best selection and quality home furnishings and décor. You may be great at making products that Wayfair customers want, but not so great at data integration.
The good news is, you don’t have to be. That’s our job, and we can set you up with our Diplomat MFT software and have you up and running with Wayfair—and all the companies you transfer data to and from—in a matter of minutes.
Reach out for more information, or for a free demo.
