Track Smart: Supplier Data Synchronization
with bSync Ensures Big-Box Sales

Posted on January 5, 2021May 11, 2023 by Gopi Krishna

If you’re a major product supplier to big-box retailers, you likely know the joy of receiving an order and reveling in fulfilling it. Conversely, you probably also know the frustration of having your orders rejected before delivery. This is a scary situation and one that leaves suppliers feeling the sting of lost sales, order cuts, and penalties.

Usually, order rejections are a result of data discrepancies between supplier and retailer systems. Given that each product requires numerous data attachments, many dependent upon preceding requirements, ensuring that all the proper metadata is in place is complicated. Pricing, Discount, Promotions, Quantity, Compliance, Rebates, Date Ranges and other data must be accurately set up before the order leaves the supplier’s warehouse. One mistake can be detrimental.

Automated Data Tracking with bSync

Because giant retailers have stringent acceptance standards, the onus is on suppliers to adapt and meet strict data guidelines. The consequence of non-compliance typically results in thousands of dollars in penalty fees every time an order is rejected.

Vertex solution scientists set out to solve this problem. The result is bSync, a cloud platform that manages product and pricing data synchronization requirements, virtually eliminating data mismatches between the supplier and retailer. bSync provides a convenient one-stop shop for Data Analysts and Item Analysts to apply metadata to products, ensuring that all the information is correct and will meet retailer expectations.

bSync allows data analysts to concentrate on their core jobs and not spend time chasing down ancillary pieces of data like promotion dates, product descriptions and prices. bSync puts all the information into one easy-to-navigate platform, increasing efficiencies for everyone. By replacing manual processes with a digital platform, mistakes are avoided.

With bSync, suppliers can track smart and complete sales.

Track Smart: Supplier Data Accuracy with bSync Ensures Big-Box Sales

What if you could drastically reduce data matching errors by effectively monitoring item data at every stage of the process? With bSync, you can.

As service level agreement (SLA) data items are completed, bSync notes them. If exceptions occur, bSync alerts analysts. If a compliance issue needs to be addressed, bSync informs people. All these safeguards allow analysts to address issues long before they become problems. Quantities, discounts, special packaging, or whatever data needs to be accounted for is noted. All the pieces are aligned in one system, not in numerous Excel sheets or emails.

With bSync, suppliers are assured that when order data is completed, the information is correct so that products can be delivered to retailers and put on shelves for consumers to buy.

Key Features

Automated workflows
Exception management
Price tracker including base and net price intelligence
Customized approval process
Reports and dashboard
Integration
Collaboration
360° product view
Dashboards for reporting insights to enable intelligent decisions and actions

Let bSync help you get your products onto retail shelves and into buyer’s shopping carts.

Using Salesforce to Drive your Manufacturing Growth

Posted on October 17, 2021April 19, 2023 by Sudip Nandy

You may already think of Salesforce as a powerful Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) application, but it can also help manufacturers to identify, prospect and track opportunities, customers, and cases to drive revenue and growth opportunities. Manufacturers who take advantage of the full breadth of Salesforce’s functionality realize improved revenues and growth margins – all while lowering their SG&A and Operations Costs.

How Can You Improve Your Revenue?

Vertex Computer Systems has helped manufacturers conduct B2B marketing campaigns that expand their ability to understand and respect their customers and ultimately contribute to the continued success of those valued partners. Similarly, Salesforce Sales Cloud can be utilized to attract and engage new customers before, during, and after the sale. If you’re serious about keeping track of your customers at every stage, Vertex has the Salesforce expertise to help you leverage customer relationships to grow sales and improve customer satisfaction.

Because Salesforce provides a true 360° view of the customer, manufacturers can get a clearer understanding of customer needs as well as their journeys through the sales process. Would you like to shorten the cycle from prospect to sale? Salesforce provides standard and custom pricing solution options to help manufacturers accelerate deals. The Partner Portal’s Community Cloud can also enhance collaboration with a manufacturer’s business partners for greater efficiency.

Key Salesforce Features That Help Manufacturers Grow Sales Revenue

B2B marketing campaigns
Lead scoring and automated assignments
Lead-to-Cash process optimization
Custom pricing solutions to accelerate deals and maximize gross margins
Partner Portal access via Partner Community for maximum collaboration
Streamlined/automated customer service experience
True 360° view of the customer providing revenues, returns, support costs, et al

The other side of the profitability equation involves the standardization, optimization, and automation of processes. If you’re interested in lowering your SG&A and operations costs, Salesforce can help. Did you know you can eliminate manual spreadsheets, replacing them with real-time processing, reporting, and alerts? Salesforce provides your Manufacturing team instant access to the same up-to-date detailed information. That’s just one way of many that Salesforce enhances operations.

Key Salesforce Features That lower SG&A and Operations Costs

Eliminating manual spreadsheets with real-time processing, reporting, and alerts
Demand Forecasting – both revenues and units
Contract management
Simplified order processing/ERP integration
MS Outlook/Gmail integration
Reduced customer service and support costs
Integrated, automated, and streamlined credit checking

If you want to leverage Salesforce to quickly move the needle for your manufacturing firm, give Vertex a call. You won’t be disappointed.

How The Internet of Things (IoT) is Transforming the Way We Do Business

Posted on September 9, 2021September 17, 2024 by Sudip Nandy

In just a few short years, small internet-enabled devices, known collectively as the Internet of Things (IoT), have transformed how we live in ways that continue to grow and evolve.

The IoT revolution really began with consumer-facing products – smartwatches, thermostats, and television remotes. While today your IoT-enabled refrigerator might tell you that you need to get more milk or your smart garage door opener may send you a text asking if you meant to leave the door open, the IoT is now set to transform and revolutionize business processes and operations.

While the roots of Industry 4.0 started in the 1990s, it is the rise of interconnected systems communicating via the internet that is truly leading to a revolution in manufacturing. Not only can machines on factory floors communicate more intelligently with each other across physical and geographical barriers, but these smart machines are also able to monitor, detect and predict faults, suggesting preventive measures and remedial action before downtime occurs.

The IoT also allows manufacturing processes to be completely virtually visualized, monitored, and managed from remote locations. Industry 4.0 puts machines, people, processes, and infrastructure into a single, connected manufacturing process, which provides businesses with full disclosure over the entire workings of their manufacturing and production. Using this information makes overall management highly efficient.

Supply Chain Management

Just one way that the IoT will create efficiencies for the world of business, be it B2B or B2C, is in supply chain management.

From factory to shelf, the IoT cannot only make existing processes more efficient, but it can also detect potentially expensive problems in advance of them impacting your business. Picture a small component in a factory. As a ‘dumb’ cog in the machinery, the part could fail without notice, shutting down an assembly line for several days. As a ‘smart’ cog, a similar part could tell engineers that it was set to fail days in advance, automatically place an order for its replacement, and direct staff to its location in the factory to replace it.

The same technology makes it easier for businesses to track inventory around the world, creating opportunities for supply chain and logistics optimization. Connected manufacturing and the IoT provide employees with visibility over company assets worldwide. Standard asset management tasks such as transfers, disposals, and adjustments can be streamlined and managed centrally and in real-time.

Similarly, the IoT has been used to handle logistics for the maintenance of a shipper’s fleet. With equipment requiring regularly scheduled maintenance, knowing where a given truck is on a given day, scheduling it for service, and making sure that there are enough trucks in the right place to cover customer needs. Easier scheduling, reduced downtime, and balanced fleet usage all translate to savings.

Asset Tracking & Waste Reduction

IoT sensors on both vehicles and product packaging can provide insight into where a company’s inventory is at any given time. When a company always knows exactly where their inventory is, they can be agile with moving it to where the need is the greatest. Furthermore, the same sensors are able to detect changes in temperature, light, and other environmental factors, ensuring that potentially perishable items do not go to waste.

With real-time insight into buyer behavior, retailers can stay up to date not only with on-shelf product stocking, but also by tracking which goods are most popular in a given setting, allowing them to increase their profits with efficient sales and stock management.

Advanced Workforce

Frontline workers need access to accurate and up-to-date information in order to solve problems and increase productivity. Access to information, guidance, training, and support which was previously delivered in person can now be delivered directly to the shop floor.

Manufacturers and industrial companies of every size can now access digital transformation initiatives in order to maintain business operations and business continuity. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) can now be a part of the toolkit available to workers on the shop floor and are crucial to making the most of a workforce that is increasingly spread across the world.

Advanced Analytics & AI

With information coming in from sources as disparate IoT sensors on factory floors, lighting systems, sales data, supply chain, and customer demand, there are massive amounts of data to sift through. Thanks to advances in data and analytics, manufacturers are more capable than ever of using that data to make informed decisions to improve internal processes.

Taking it to the next level, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be leveraged to further process your data, using it to reach conclusions that go beyond the obvious. Some examples include forecasting market changes and predicting machine downtime.

Customer Engagement and Real-Time Insights

Stepping outside of the shop floor, as the IoT and its associated cloud platforms become more prevalent, companies will be able to gain deeper insight into how their products are being used, potentially leading to new marketing channels, improved customer service, product improvements, and ultimately, increased customer satisfaction.

Transform Your Business

As the IoT landscape continues to evolve, market research from Gartner and Cisco predicts that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will grow even larger, improving asset management, operational visibility, safety, and security. With all of these interconnected devices, the amount of data grows exponentially. By partnering with a technology company experienced in supply chain management, big data, machine learning, and data visualization, you can transform your business for the 21st Century.