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Going Mobile to Disappear

March 10, 2017

Being a showroom salesperson is a demanding job. In addition to intimately knowing the products on the showroom floor and in the warehouse, you are expected to remember where the product is, if it has special pricing, what products substitute for it and what companion products to sell with it. On top of that, you are typically on your feet for most of the day traveling well-worn paths around the showroom floor. Today’s digital distributors are utilizing digital tools like smartphones and tablets to address these challenges and grow in-store sales.

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Labor Shortages for LBM: How to Leverage ERP Technology for Efficiency

March 09, 2017

As the housing market continues its steady climb back to normal, pro builders are facing increasing challenges with labor—many trades who left the industry during the downturn didn't return, and the booming market is fueling demand more each day.

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Global Growth Tracker Survey Reveals 10 Characteristics That Enable Manufacturing Companies to Grow: Part One

March 02, 2017

A 2016 global growth tracker survey published results of the top characteristics that differentiate manufacturing organizations poised for sustainable growth. We call these companies "manufacturing grow getters," and defines them as organizations and people who understand what it takes to get set for growth in today’s dynamic business environment. "They know what growth looks like for their business and have the vision and drive to act on it," says the study.

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Johnstone Supply Partners with Epicor Eclipse

February 28, 2017

Johnstone Supply is the top HVAC/R wholesale cooperative in the country and a recognized national leader in the HVAC/R distribution industry. Over the years, Epicor and Johnstone Supply have worked together to create Epicor Eclipse features, functionality, and services designed exclusively for Johnstone’s member-owner distributors, such as automatic updates of product, pricing, and costing data, inventory sharing and visibility, automatic updates of purchase orders with advance shipment notification, dedicated Johnstone implementation processes and training resources, and Johnstone data conversion specialists and system setup experts.

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Internet of Things, Let’s Make Connections

February 27, 2017

The Internet of Things is literally connections; connections between machines, connections to the Cloud, connections to business applications, connections between people. At this time I see three phases of IoT; the launch phase, where we are today is to monitor and alert, phase two, intelligence within things, and phase three, self-learning things. In parallel to these phases will be continued development of artificial intelligence, augmented/virtual reality and robotics to take IoT into the next stage.

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How to Free Your Data

February 27, 2017

Business Intelligence (BI) applications while not new have certainly become more accessible to the small to mid-sized business. The features are just as powerful as the applications which cost tens of thousands of dollars but provide an implementation and user experience which is modern, mobile and cloud-based.

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Q&A with Market Researcher Taylor Short, Software Advice

February 16, 2017

To thrive, manufacturers in today’s accelerating global markets must master the management of change. In fact, organizations using a manufacturing execution system (MES) are proving to be a powerful tactic to ensure that decision makers receive the information they need quickly, accurately, and on demand. This helps provide the intelligence needed to understand and manage change.

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Internet of Things, and the Data We Love

February 10, 2017

The Internet of Things is a fast growing platform of connected devices, machines and cloud technology, which is helping businesses better manage process, machines and decision making. But what is the Internet of Things (IoT)? I like to describe it as, 'Devices connected to the internet to be used for the collection and analysis of data for the automation or control of a process.' Yet the term "Internet of Things" did not come about recently. Twenty years ago, a group of MIT professors described a world where "things" are connected, sharing data. These devices will produce data that provides organizations insights that were previously out of reach. Insights facilitated by collecting and analyzing the data from connected devices, is what the Internet of Things is all about.

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It’s Time to Transform

February 08, 2017

As a Distributor you have very big challenges in front of you as the competition is increasing and margins are decreasing. You wish this were reversed but it’s not. The Cloud is driving some of this pressure as your competitors are implementing new software solutions to help them improve margins and stand out from the crowd. Maybe it’s time to look at how BI software in the Cloud, sometimes referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS), can help you.

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Put Your Head in the Cloud

January 31, 2017

Cloud computing continues to drive business transformations across the Distribution industry. And that is not marketing hype. Look at the latest industry news, you’ll find multiple stories on how the "Cloud” is changing Distribution. Some of the times for the positive and other times for the negative. If you haven’t felt the impact of the Cloud within your business you will, either in how you run it or how your competition is using it.

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The Connected Retailer: Meeting Customers Where They Want to Be

January 12, 2017

Will your next customer find you or find out about you on Twitter? Facebook? Snapchat? Your own website? At your store, can they pay simply by waving their smartphone over your card terminal? If you don’t have all the answers to these questions, you’re not alone—but you will need a plan to better connect to today’s consumers. 

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Solving the Problem of Data, Debate, and Decisions

December 16, 2016

ERP helps elevate the debate with greater insight Research commissioned by Epicor reveals it is natural, even healthy, for senior management team members to have differing ideas. But it is nonetheless important to make sure these conflicts are not based on biased agendas that might hinder business growth, and are instead elevated to productive debates driven by timely, objective facts that are easily and efficiently accessed

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