Evaluate Software

By Steve Epner
Are you and your management team getting the information you need to make the right decisions at the right time for the right situation?

Blue Link
Landed costs are those sometimes hidden costs that are involved in making goods available for sale. Typical landed costs might include freight, duties, handling fees, and other charges that, if ignored, would distort the cost of the product being sold. While many software systems include basic landed cost tracking, a new breed of software systems is evolving to provide business owners with greater control over how landed costs are applied.

By Steve Epner
Have you ever felt intimidated by technology? Many people feel a great deal of anxiety when automation is brought into their workspace. Most people do not even want to admit to being intimidated. Yet, these same people have VCRs flashing 12:00 at home. Signs of intimidation are all around. We only have to look.

By Steve Epner
Remember 5 part forms? Remember the note at the bottom to “press hard to go through 4 carbons?” Do you realize the kids entering the work force today do not know what a carbon is?

Blue Link
Recent accounting scandals, highlighted by cases at Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom and Qwest, have emphasized the need for corporate governance, especially responsible corporate accounting.

By Steve Epner
I was thinking about all of the changes I have seen in my career. Since writing my first program in FORTRAN (Illinois Institute of Technology, 1965) to sending presentations over the Internet, information technology has been fast paced. There is always something new and exciting.

By Steve Epner
Over the years, we have heard it all. Computers are going to make our life easy. Barcodes will to eliminate inventory errors. The Internet will bring new, more profitable customers. Well, none of it happened – at least not for anyone I know.

By Steve Epner
Anytime we discuss automating a business process, the most critical subject is the “workflow.” It can make the difference between a successful implementation and a failure. You need to know what it is, why it is used and how to apply it to your business practices.

Activant
The modern office environment is a breeding ground for cutting edge technology. CEOs review profit reports on wireless devices as they travel. Branch employees communicate with headquarters via thin clients and the Internet. Shipping personnel capture proof-of-delivery signatures on personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Activant
Today’s technology allows businesses to collect and store more information than ever before. Data on customers, sales, vendors, purchases, items, invoices, shipments, and more is literally available at your fingertips. However with the existing business environment in the distribution industry and increasing competitive pressures, just having access to this business data is not always enough.

Activant
Congratulations! You recognize the value of offering your customers a Web site to connect to your business. Soon orders will be pouring in from your online “branch.” All you need to do is select who will build and host your new site. While this may seem like a simple decision, in reality it is as important as choosing your enterprise software solution.

By Steve Epner
E-commerce is such a changing target that anyone attempting to create a single definition for all users is doomed to failure. So is any individual who attempts to find the one process or path that everyone can use to be successful.

By Don Mitchell, CPA, CFE
As most everyone now knows, an identity thief is someone who gets and exploits another person’s or an organization’s financial data. He or she may steal Social Security, credit card, banking or other confidential information to tap existing accounts, or open and charge up new ones.

Activant
Why build a web-based storefront? Use of the web to conduct business has increased dramatically over the past several years as distributors recognize the value of incorporating a Web-based storefront into business processes. Offering your customers access to account and product information via a Web-based storefront can save you time and money, while providing a competitive edge.

Intuit Eclipse
We’ve heard the old cliché more often than we can remember: Timing is everything. But in today’s information-jammed business environment, it’s never been more true. In the distribution industry, for example, having the right information at the right time can give a company a powerful competitive advantage in an otherwise level playing field.

Activant
Do you need a web-based storefront? Advances in technology have always driven the way distributors service their customers. When the automobile replaced the horse and buggy, distributors began using trucks to make deliveries. The advent of the fax machine gave distributors a new way to take customer orders. And the affordability of computers made it easy for distributors to streamline processes that affect customer service.

Epicor
An ERP system is your information backbone and reaches into all areas of your business and value-chain. Replacing it can open unlimited business opportunities. The cornerstone of this effort is finding the right partner and specialist. Your long-term business strategy will form the basis of the criteria for your selection of an ERP system replacement. Your ERP provider must be part of your vision. It is the duty of a software provider to help you get there by doing their part to make sure your next system will be your last ERP system replacement. Here are the 11 criteria that allow you to identify and select the solution that will meet these expectations.

Sage Software
Implementing the proper business system can be as strategic and important to your bottom line as expanding your warehouse or bringing on new product lines. However, implementing the wrong solution or choosing an inexperienced solution provider can have a serious negative effect on your business — from lost opportunities and late orders to bankruptcy in some extreme cases. Consequently, it is imperative that wholesale distributors take time to clearly define their business processes and objectives before they start their search for new business software.

Sage Software
Implementing the proper business system can be as strategic and important to your bottom line as purchasing new equipment. However, implementing the wrong solution or choosing an inexperienced solution provider can have serious negative effects on your business—from lost opportunities and downtime to bankruptcy in some extreme cases. Consequently, it is imperative that manufacturers take time to clearly define their business processes and objectives before they start their search for new business software.

Activant
Buying, replacing, or upgrading your enterprise software can easily overwhelm even the savviest distributor. Yet, by assembling a good team, creating a strong plan, and following a few simple steps, you can make purchasing the software that will carry your business into the future a profitable experience.

Activant
As a distributor, you want to get the most out of every dollar you invest in your business. Yet, the vast majority of distributors use less than 40 percent of the functionality in their enterprise software solutions, rendering 60 percent of their investment worthless. When it comes to using your enterprise software solution, what you don’t know can hurt you. Lack of knowledge about your solution can cost you money in terms of inefficiencies and errors. Fortunately, you can recoup that loss with an investment in continuing education for your employees.

By Steve Epner
For many businesses the “pull a rabbit out of a hat” method for evaluating software seems easy. Doing it right – the first time – is not difficult, but will take time and effort.

Technology Group International
Picking an ERP package is a difficult and time consuming thing to do. It is not something that organizations engage in on a regular basis (at least hopefully). As a result, they tend to spend most of their time concentrating on their specific business requirements and how the software packages meet these requirements. Almost no time is spent attempting to ascertain how the software supplier actually runs their business.

Sage Software
When it comes to choosing the right warehouse management system (WMS)for your business, it’s important to understand your warehouse needs and the benefits of having an integrated WMS before starting the selection process. That’s why we’ve created this guide—to provide the critical information you need to make the best decision possible.

Intuit Eclipse
A simple guide to making a complex decision. The process of selecting a new distribution management solution can be daunting. After all, you’re deciding to commit significant resources to the purchase and installation of a system that will impact virtually every aspect of your business and its operations. So it makes sense to ask a lot of questions.

Technology Group International
One of the most difficult decisions any company must make is to determine when it needs to obtain new business software because it has simply outgrown its existing software. For most companies, this is an agonizing process. There are a number of reasons this is unpleasant.

Blue Link
Upgrading or replacing business or accounting software is a continuous and necessary component of today's business budget. In fact, "software applications ... were due for upgrades in 2004 by 40 percent of those recently surveyed," according to International Data Group.

Activant
For most distributors, the majority of their sales don’t require much consideration after an item has shipped. But occasionally everyone has to deal with those items that require attention long after they’ve left the warehouse.

By Steve Epner, CSP and Jeff Gusdorf, CPA
There is an old joke that says there are only two steps to software selection. Step one is to select a solution and step two is to throw it out. With forethought and a little effort – you can make a successful software selection, the first time, and skip step two altogether. The trick you see is all about people – it is your people who must participate in choosing a solution that meets your business needs and take ownership for its implementation and use.

Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group
The Successful Software Selection white paper series offers project teams the opportunity to garner consultant quality insight in manageable portions.  Based on The Software Selection Handbook, the white paper series pares down selection project elements into subsets based on areas of interest.  The series is ideal for committees just getting started on their selection project or teams well on their way to finding a new solution provider. Getting Started: Documenting Where We Are  reviews: documenting infrastructure, documenting applications, documenting process flows, conducting business area interviews, quantifying activity volumes and prioritizing requirements.

Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group
The Successful Software Selection white paper series offers project teams the opportunity to garner consultant quality insight in manageable portions.  Based on The Software Selection Handbook, the white paper series pares down selection project elements into subsets based on areas of interest.  The series is ideal for committees just getting started on their selection project or teams well on their way to finding a new solution provider. Getting Started: Project Management reviews: keys for project success, project sponsorship, the documentation of goals and the identification of constraints.

Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group
The Successful Software Selection white paper series offers project teams the opportunity to garner consultant quality insight in manageable portions.  Based on The Software Selection Handbook, the white paper series pares down selection project elements into subsets based on areas of interest.  The series is ideal for committees just getting started on their selection project or teams well on their way to finding a new solution provider. Getting Started: Project Teams reviews: document organizational structure, creating teams, creating project plans, preparing orientation materials and kick-off meetings.

Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group
The Successful Software Selection white paper series offers project teams the opportunity to garner consultant quality insight in manageable portions.  Based on The Software Selection Handbook, the white paper series pares down selection project elements into subsets based on areas of interest.  The series is ideal for committees just getting started on their selection project or teams well on their way to finding a new solution provider. Vendor Selection: RFPs and Reference Checks reviews: screening vendors, creating the RFP, Analyzing the RFP responses, checking references.

Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group
The Successful Software Selection white paper series offers project teams the opportunity to garner consultant quality insight in manageable portions. Based on The Software Selection Handbook, the white paper series pares down selection project elements into subsets based on areas of interest. The series is ideal for committees just getting started on their selection project or teams well on their way to finding a new solution provider. Vendor Selection: Demonstration Planning reviews: planning for your demonstration, the demonstration, selection conferences and site visits.

Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group
The Successful Software Selection white paper series offers project teams the opportunity to garner consultant quality insight in manageable portions. Based on The Software Selection Handbook, the white paper series pares down selection project elements into subsets based on areas of interest. The series is ideal for committees just getting started on their selection project or teams well on their way to finding a new solution provider. Vendor Selection: Contract Negotiations reviews negotiating the best package for your business.

Activant
Better Business Practices -- By the very nature of their businesses, distributors have unique processes including order management, inventory management, warehouse management, purchasing, financial management, customer relationship management, business reporting and analysis, e-business, and much more.

Activant
In recent years, the role of the distributor has changed significantly. Increasing demands for expanded customer service, coupled with shrinking margins and cutthroat competition, have forced many distributors to either become more efficient or perish.

By Steve Epner
There is only one thing that can be said about conversions: “There is no such thing as an easy conversion!” Conversion is a word that strikes fear in the heart of anyone who has ever participated in one. Vendors tell you: “No problem, we do this all of the time.” Then they cross their fingers and hope they are not around when it hits the fan.

By Steve Epner
It happens every few years. The ole, reliable computer system is not keeping up with your needs. Someone wants more of this, and others want more of that. There are new features that are being discussed by other business people at trade shows and the company president wants to be up-to-date. What should we do?

Activant
Managing inventory is a delicate balance between supply and demand: Stock too little of an item and you will not be able to meet your customers’ needs. Stock too much of an item, and valuable dollars and warehouse space will be taken up by slow-moving or dead stock.

Intuit Eclipse
There probably isn’t a business today that hasn’t spent the past few years trying to find ways to “do more with less.” But if you’re in the wholesale distribution business, you’ve most likely amended that slightly. Because your real goal is to do more with less — without dropping the ball. And as just about every distributor has learned the hard way, plenty of opportunities to drop the ball seem to present themselves every day.

By Steve Epner
Here we go again. Once again, the doomsayers are predicting the end of Distribution. They believe that distributors will finally be eliminated from the supply channel. It will not be accomplished by some “underground” conspiracy of manufacturers trying to go direct.

By Jon Schreibfeder
Compliments of Microsoft Business Solutions
Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service.
This report is the sixth in a series of white papers designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service
and profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices. The author, Jon Schreibfeder, draws from decades of experience helping more than 1,000 distributors achieve better inventory management. A popular speaker at distribution conferences, Mr. Schreibfeder has literally “written the book” on this topic, with Achieving Effective Inventory Management now in its second edition. As a leading provider of specialized distribution and business management systems, Microsoft Business Solutions is pleased to sponsor this series.We are committed to serving the success of companies in the distribution industry through education and world-class technology.

By Jon Schreibfeder
Compliments of Microsoft Business Solutions
Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service.
This report is the fourth in a series of white papers designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service
and profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices. The author, Jon Schreibfeder, draws from decades of experience helping more than 1,000 distributors achieve better inventory management. A popular speaker at distribution conferences, Mr. Schreibfeder has literally “written the book” on this topic, with Achieving Effective Inventory Management now in its second edition. As a leading provider of specialized distribution and business management systems, Microsoft Business Solutions is pleased to sponsor this series.We are committed to serving the success of companies in the distribution industry through education and world-class technology.

SAP
Earned income programs in the foodservice industry are growing more complex and sophisticated. Multiple parties are involved in the process, including distributors, manufacturers, customers, and group purchasing organizations. Moreover, the volume of transactions being pumped through these programs is rising rapidly.

By Jon Schreibfeder
Compliments of Microsoft Business Solutions
Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service. This report is the first in a series of white papers designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service and profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices. The author, Jon Schreibfeder, draws from decades of experience helping more than 1,000 distributors achieve better inventory management. A popular speaker at distribution conferences, Mr. Schreibfeder has literally "written the book" on this topic, with Achieving Effective Inventory Management now in its second edition. As a leading provider of specialized distribution and business management systems, Microsoft Business Solutions is pleased to sponsor this series. We are committed to serving the success of companies in the distribution industry through education and world-class technology.

Intuit Eclipse
In the wholesale distribution business, the warehouse is where the action is. It’s a place where hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inventory remains in constant motion — from the moment an item arrives, gets put away, picked, packed and staged to the moment it’s loaded onto a truck. And as a result, your ability to keep track of the entire process can make or break the success of your entire business — because errors in the warehouse can both slow your operations and undermine customer satisfaction.

By Jon Schreibfeder
Compliments of Microsoft Business Solutions
Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service.
This report is the third in a series of white papers designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service
and profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices. The author, Jon Schreibfeder, draws from decades of experience helping more than 1,000 distributors achieve better inventory management. A popular speaker at distribution conferences, Mr. Schreibfeder has literally “written the book” on this topic, with Achieving Effective Inventory Management now in its second edition. As a leading provider of specialized distribution and business management systems, Microsoft Business Solutions is pleased to sponsor this series.We are committed to serving the success of companies in the distribution industry through education and world-class technology.

By Professor Stephen Pearce
Activant
In this era of intensely competitive distributor markets, increasing offshore competition, and generally shrinking profit margins, effective inventory management is more important than ever for distributors. No longer can we depend on the inflation of just a few years ago to make inventories more valuable with each passing year. In fact, in today’s economic climate, characterized by a rather low rate of inflation, a bloated inventory that does not reflect the appropriate product mix to serve the needs of a changing customer base becomes more of a liability than an asset to a distributor.

By Jon Schreibfeder
Compliments of Microsoft Business Solutions
Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service.
This report is the second in a series of white papers designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service
and profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices. The author, Jon Schreibfeder, draws from decades of experience helping more than 1,000 distributors achieve better inventory management. A popular speaker at distribution conferences, Mr. Schreibfeder has literally “written the book” on this topic, with Achieving Effective Inventory Management now in its second edition. As a leading provider of specialized distribution and business management systems, Microsoft Business Solutions is pleased to sponsor this series.We are committed to serving the success of companies in the distribution industry through education and world-class technology.

By Jon Schreibfeder
Compliments of Microsoft Business Solutions
Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service.
This report is the fifth in a series of white papers designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service and
profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices. The author, Jon Schreibfeder, draws from decades of experience helping more than 1,000 distributors achieve better inventory management. A popular speaker at distribution conferences, Mr. Schreibfeder has literally “written the book” on this topic, with Achieving Effective Inventory Management now in its second edition. As a leading provider of specialized distribution and business management systems, Microsoft Business Solutions is pleased to sponsor this series.We are committed to serving the success of companies in the distribution industry through education and world-class technology.

SAP
Wholesale distributors rely on rebates, or chargebacks, from manufacturers to protect their profit margins. However, many distributors don’t claim all of the funds to which they are entitled because their manual procedures are prone to error. This narrows margins and negatively affects profits. Using an automated chargeback management solution, wholesale distributors can eliminate errors, ensure that they file claims for all rebates due to them, and improve the quality of information used for making business decisions.

By Marc Semanoff
Every business is looking for the key to getting ahead in the current tight economy. What is the key to getting ahead of the curve? Process standardization is one place to start. With standardized processes how you exchange critical business transactions -- such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notification and payment with customers and suppliers – is unified.

By Marc Semanoff
Every business is looking for the key to getting ahead in the current tight economy. What is the key to getting ahead of the curve? Process standardization is one place to start.

Activant
With skyrocketing labor and logistics costs and constant pressure on margins, warehouse efficiency is a must. Distributors searching for a way to control overhead while improving accuracy and integrity in their warehouses should consider investing in a wireless warehouse management solution. Designed to streamline and organize processes, a wireless warehouse can help you improve picking, packing, put-away, and receiving processes through directed activities.

International Business Systems
This brief focuses on the conversion and distribution industry for paper products, packaging materials and office supplies. It describes this vertical industry's general market situation and some major trends from a business system perspective. It also provides an overview of the IBS business software solution and includes some details of how IBS addresses business system needs from the warehouse to end consumers.