Traceability is a critical aspect of the distribution process. It refers to the ability to track products and materials from their origin to their final destination. Traceability allows power distributors to identify the source of any quality or safety issues, determine the location of inventory, and comply with regulatory requirements. However, bad traceability can have…
How goods move through your warehouse facility affects your organization’s overall profitability. That may seem like an overstatement, but a quick look at the data related to labor, errors, and even simple floor space show that warehouse operations are crucial to productivity and, ultimately, profitability. Assess Your Warehouse Layout Before making any changes to your…
Maintaining accurate warehouse inventory and providing visibility across the company sets the stage for distributors to meet customer expectations. Knowing what’s in stock and available to sell allows the sales team to take orders with the confidence that they can be fulfilled on time. And the procurement team can compare real-time inventory availability to the…
Your business is distribution, but increasingly, every business is in the technology industry. In order to build a resilient operation that can withstand pandemics, supply chain disruptions, and whatever else may come along, you need the right technology stack. Historically, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems have been separate, siloed platforms.…
You manage operations for a distributor company, and you want to help operate more efficiently. But you’re not sure just how bad the situation is. Maybe it’s better than you think? You’re also not sure of the data you need to evaluate the situation. That’s where distributor scorecards generated from a business intelligence platform come…
In choosing the proper IT infrastructure for your wholesale distribution company, you need to first understand your options, and the pros and cons of each type of architecture. The technology landscape and options can be confusing. In this post, we take a look at three common methods wholesale distribution companies use in structuring their IT…
The capability to leverage business intelligence and business analytics tools is critical for distributors. Intelligence helps you understand how well you’re operating and the reasons why. Analytics helps you predict what will happen and make the necessary adjustments ahead of time to achieve your business objectives. You can determine how things are going with vendors,…
Customers are accustomed to integration at every level. Virtual home assistants connect everything from refrigerators and thermostats to your customers’ phones. They fully expect a smooth technology experience when making purchases from you, including accurate inventory, correct pricing, and up-to-date product information. If that doesn’t happen, your sales and your bottom line will suffer. If…
Digital transformation is no one-size-fits-all affair. DX use cases, strategies, and processes vary dramatically between verticals — and these differences have major implications. In this blog post, we’ll look at digital transformation from the perspective of the different industries we serve.
There’s no denying that distributors face an awful lot of pressure. But – the flip side of this is, the industry has been slow to embrace digitalization – which means, distributors that can manage to nail their DX strategies ASAP will be poised to win for years to come.
Here, we outline some of the key ways distributors are using technology to achieve their most critical objectives.
