Article Number : 4740 |
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| Date | 8/13/2009 8:46:56 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=4740 |
| Abstract | By Louis Iannaco It seems every day new technology is being created or a software program is launched. This begs the question: What are some of the latest happenings... |
| Article | By Louis Iannaco It seems every day new technology is being created or a software program is launched. This begs the question: What are some of the latest happenings in the world of B2B software? “The current stage of adoption is high amongst retailers, distributors and manufacturers that are using software to run their businesses,” said software consultant Pam Bowe, president and CEO, The Bowe Co. “For them, the addition of EDI/B2B to the capabilities and efficiencies of a well-integrated software package are a natural progression.” Bowe added that the members of fcB2B (The Floor Covering Business to Business Association) have focused on refining the process of implementation based on the experiences of those initial adopters. “We are now ready to move forward with enhanced versions based on the business practices and usage scenarios we have documented over the past three years. At our recent technical workshop and annual meeting, a defined set of best practices and enhancements was discussed.” Currently, the fcB2B members are handling a limited number of transactions sets, which has allowed them to better determine which should be the next groups of transactions. “Given we are now focused on five (price catalog, purchase order, acknowledgement, advanced shipping notice and invoice) we will begin to add from over 300 available standards for EDI/B2B,” Bowe said. The players and products Dev O’Reilly, president and CEO of RollMaster, believes in giving customers full control of their B2B system. “Our server-based software RollMaster and net- based software NetFloor are both B2B compatible and capable of pricing downloads, purchasing, shipping acknowledgements and invoicing. We don’t depend on any third-party software companies, which allows us to give dealers full control of their system and B2B.” One example of this, he explained, is how the dealer has the ability to modify the pricing before it gets into his system. “Another example of the control we give the dealers is when the invoice comes in from the B2B vendor, he is able to cross reference it on the screen with the purchase order and what was received, then automatically post it to accounts payable (AP) or make modifications before posting it to AP.” QFloors president and CEO Chad Ogden noted that the software company offers B2B product catalogs (download and update), vendor invoicing imports, B2B electronic purchase orders (P.O.s) and P.O. acknowledgments. According to David Marshello, director, Professional Services & RFMS University, the company’s B2B software is “in full compliance with the latest set of B2B standards and allows dealers to download product catalogs tied to their price agreements, receive and process invoices, send purchase orders and receive acknowledgements, and receive and process ship notices. The B2B program is fully integrated with the RFMS core business program and captures this important business data electronically, eliminating manual data entry and errors.” Edgar Aya, president of Comp-U-Floor, said the company’s software features a price catalog, invoice, purchase order, purchase order acknowledgement as well as functional acknowledgement. “All our new clients are required to adopt the B2B standard from inception and use the price catalog to load their products into their Comp-U-Floor software,” he said. “Receiving and processing invoices is only limited by the number of vendors that currently offer electronic invoices. Clients who receive electronic invoices from their vendors love the functionality and simplification that results from not having to manually enter their invoices and ease in reconciling the invoice for payment.” Aya said the company has been less successful in having its clients adopt the B2B standard to place and receive electronic purchase orders. “There are still a few issues currently being addressed by some of the B2B members for vendors, dealers and software companies to be able to process purchase orders online.” Cathy Welsh, operations manager for CDMS, said about one-third of CDMS’ customers utilize B2B in some manner. The firm offers price and product updates, invoices, purchase orders and purchase order confirmations. “We’re currently implementing advanced ship notices for those suppliers sending them.” RFMS’ Marshello said the company has more than 600 clients using the B2B software program. “All depend on the product catalog downloads to keep their purchasing and inventory accurate and their showroom priced based on the latest price agreement. Many of these dealers also receive and process their invoices electronically due to the price checking accuracy and time-savings features offered.” Ogden noted that because QFloors does not charge extra for B2B capabilities, a high percentage of its customers are using B2B in some manner. “Approximately 90% use B2B for their product catalogs. A smaller percentage, about 20% or so, consistently use it for vendor invoices. And an even lower percentage consistently use it for ordering.” QFloors offers free monthly training sessions, which include training on these aspects of B2B technology. “We’ve found that those who use it, without exception, are extremely pleased with it,” Ogden said. “They really love the speed and convenience of B2B and tell us they would never go back. Some are just more resistant to change.” RollMaster’s O’Reilly believes about 67% of its clients utilize B2B in a meaningful matter. “Though these dealers are getting a lot of benefit from B2B, most still have room for improvement. The lack of participation by their local flooring distributors is a common complaint.” Things improving Compared to the past, software executives agree, participation in B2B is increasing. “Over the past three years we have seen usage double for new users and for existing software users the adoption has been close to 50%,” Bowe said. Said Welsh, “This past year has seen additional suppliers begin working on their B2B transactions, such as United Tile. Continued work on adding, perfecting and cleaning up the existing standard documents is ongoing. Some of the new features approved over the past few years in the flooring standard are still not programmed into the supplier systems at this time. “The biggest difference over the past three years in flooring B2B is the amount of suppliers that have taken an interest in and are doing some or all of the B2B transactions,” she explained. “The members in the fcb2b association have also grown.” Aya agreed. “B2B has been gaining ground. As new vendors adopt the B2B technology and offer catalogs, invoices and purchase orders online, it will become more attractive for dealers to also embrace the technology. The processing savings for those Comp-U-Floor dealers who use the B2B standard are easily quantified: Their price listings are automatically maintained, their invoices are automatically received and easily reconciled, and placing a purchase order becomes an easy task with fewer errors.” Marshello concurred. “Dealer participation in the B2B program has been growing at a 25%-plus pace year-over-year. And the number of suppliers joining in the effort continues to increase as well. A year ago there were 17 suppliers offering B2B, while today there are 21 with two mills and three distributors in final testing.” Ogden noted that the major factor that has changed with QFloor’s B2B from last year is that more manufacturers and distributors have gotten their B2B technology up to speed. “Thus, our customers have a much larger group of distributors and manufacturers that they have the option to do B2B with now. In addition, QFloors extended its style names from 50 to 80 characters, which helps users find products more easily.” As far as a comparison from three years ago, he believes the ordering process has become more stable. “The B2B purchase orders and vendor invoicing have become integrated. As mentioned previously, many more distributors and manufacturers are getting on board. The product naming from the manufacturers has greatly improved, resulting in fewer errors and increased ease of use. The product catalogs and information coming from manufacturers have also been cleaned up dramatically.” O’Reilly believes while the adoption of B2B in the industry has generally been slow and is compounded by the lack of participation by flooring distributors, 2009 has marked the largest increase in B2B users. “In this tough marketplace, dealers are forced to make some difficult decisions such as reducing staff and overhead. In doing so, they are looking for ways to increase efficiency. B2B is one of our offerings that is helping them do so.” The future Aya noted that next for Comp-U-Floor is to “continue promoting the technology amongst our clients and continue our participation in the B2B standard subcommittees to improve the B2B technology.” According to Marshello, “The next frontier for B2B will be to make it more interactive for the dealer to offer new capabilities, like stock checks, price verification and roll balance selections before the electronic P.O. is submitted. The fcB2B has established a New Technologies committee to look into using Web service technology to make this a reality.” Ogden commented that technology wise, “we have everything in place and working well. We’re primarily focused now on encouraging more distributors and manufacturers to participate in B2B. And we will continue to do all we can to encourage our customers to try out all the B2B features and help them learn to utilize them. O’Reilly stated, “We’re upgrading our existing wholesale distribution software in an attempt to address the software problems that exist in this market segment. Additionally, we’re continually searching for B2Bcompliant distributors while also looking to advance our relationships and exchanges with existing retailers, distributors and manufacturers. B2B has also become a more integral focus of our sales, marketing, training and implementation plans.” Bowe believes it won’t be too much longer before the overwhelming majority of dealers/distributors/manufacturers are using B2B on a regular basis. “We have several retailers who are currently doing 80% to 90% of their business using fcB2B. It is their preferred method of conducting business and they have made the choice to work with vendors that are EDI/B2B enabled. “We’ve experienced a substantial growth within the distribution channel as more distributors realize the efficiencies of fcB2B from their vendors and to their customers,” she concluded. “Manufacturers and distributors are the fastest growing segment of membership in fcB2B and development efforts are under way to get active now.” |