EDI has powered global commerce for decades. It’s reliable, standardized, and foundational to countless supply chains. But while the format remains stable and well-established, the world around it hasn’t stood still.
EDI has evolved, and so have the challenges
Despite its long tenure and maturity, B2B integration continues to be a dynamic and demanding landscape.
- Volume and usage are increasing: Businesses are processing more EDI documents across more diverse use cases than ever before.
- Complexity is multiplying: New standards, API-led workflows, and hybrid messaging patterns are becoming the norm.
- Compliance is tightening: Mandates like the DSCSA in the U.S. and e-invoicing regulations across Europe are making B2B flows more regulated and time-sensitive.
- Security stakes are rising: Credential expirations are accelerating, and cryptographic standards are evolving rapidly.
- Geopolitical shifts: Tariffs and global trade uncertainty are driving the need for agile, reconfigurable partner ecosystems.
Together, these forces are making it harder than ever to manage a secure, scalable B2B partner network.
Security isn’t static, credential management has become a grind
Modern B2B integration is a security-intensive domain, and the first point of friction is often credential lifecycle management.
- Certificates that once lasted five years now expire annually or sooner.
- Password policies are stricter and demand more frequent resets.
- Teams are caught in a never-ending cycle: By the time you’ve rotated credentials for every last partner, the first are already expiring again.
It’s a labor-intensive process, and worse, one small oversight can take down a production connection.
Cryptography is advancing, but adoption is uneven
Keeping up with encryption standards is a moving target. We’ve seen TLS 1.0 and 1.1 come and go. TLS 1.2 is the new norm, and TLS 1.3 is gaining ground. And no one can say with certainty how long these protocols will remain secure in the face of AI-enhanced attacks or future quantum capabilities.
Some modern frameworks like BDEW and eDelivery are starting to mandate stronger ciphers, including elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and Brainpool curves. Leading organizations are upgrading their platforms to support these standards.
But your security is only as strong as your most outdated trading partner. One weak link running on legacy TLS or outdated key management can expose sensitive data and disrupt operations.
That’s why security isn’t just a technology upgrade, it’s a partner engagement strategy.
The tools exist, but they need broader adoption
Many of today’s challenges are addressable with capabilities that already exist in industry-standard protocols.
For example, automatic certificate exchange is supported via:
- AS2 CEM (Certificate Exchange Messaging)
- AS4 CEM
- OFTP CE
These features are designed to eliminate the burden of manual credential rotation. But they’re considered “optional,” and few vendors implement them. Even fewer partner communities actually use them.
We at Axway are working to change that.
Axway is leading a customer initiative to pilot and validate CEM functionality. We are working with a community of large enterprises across multiple verticals globally. Starting with AS2, we aim to demonstrate the security and efficiency gains these features offer. Once proven, we’ll extend the push to OFTP and AS4 to drive broader awareness and adoption of these crucial capabilities.
Enabling secure automation at scale
Our mission is to help B2B leaders automate what should be automated and simplify what shouldn’t require constant oversight. Axway B2Bi supports:
- A full API layer for scripting and automating credential tasks at scale.
- External IDP integration for WebTrader and SFTP users — so you don’t have to manage potentially redundant user credentials inside your B2Bi platform.
These capabilities give teams the freedom to implement automation where it fits, and to offload identity management wherever possible.
Why is it time to reconsider the VAN?
Value Added Networks (VANs) have been around for decades and predate the internet — so, of course, they are sometimes seen as legacy infrastructure, but I argue that that perspective is outdated.
Today’s modern VANs allow companies to enjoy the following benefits:
- Protocol mediation: You use the protocol that you want. Partners can use different protocols of their choosing; the VAN routes the data seamlessly.
- Credential simplification: You and your partners only manage one certificate and password each, to your own mailbox.
- Self-service and APIs: Axway’s VAN has a self-service portal that supports on-demand partner setup, real-time reporting, and APIs that can enable programmatic options.
In a world where direct connections are difficult to scale securely, a VAN can be the bridge that simplifies your ecosystem without sacrificing control.
Final thought: B2B is about more than data, it’s about trust
The EDI itself isn’t broken. But the way we manage our ecosystems hasn’t kept pace with the complexity we now face.
At Axway, we’re helping customers shift from fragile, high-effort ecosystems to modern, manageable networks. With the right combination of automation, shared standards, and flexible deployment, we can reduce operational friction and raise the bar for trust across the trading community.
Ready to transform your certificate management? Join our AS2 CEM user group sessions for the North America and EMEA regions this September. These sessions will feature a live demo on using the CEM standard from Axway and a customer testimony from Cencora, sharing their perspective on the importance of the CEM standard in their trading community.
Register now to see how automation can streamline your trading partner operations.