Travel, Backscatter Imaging & Opting Out

As the CEO of B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net, I travel on a regular basis. One of the difficulties while traveling is the improved security procedures. Yes, we all want to be safe, but security measures can often be intrusive and irritating. Much discussion has been given recently to the controversial backscatter imaging, and I have been through the machines several times. After doing some research on the radiation received, the “naked” images generated and the overall inconvenience of the process, I found out that passengers have the right to Opt-Out of backscatter.

Recently, while standing in a metal detector line with all my belongings in their respective trays, the backscatter attendant called me over. I pretended to not hear him, but he persisted. He insisted that I come over to his line, at which point I told him “I choose to opt-out”. I assumed he would say, “Oh that is fine, carry on with the metal detector, and have a great day”. He did not.

The backscatter attendant yelled to the other security employees, “WE HAVE AN OPT OUT!” He told me to leave my belongings on the metal detector line and stand in the center of the, now closed, backscatter line with my arms extended. The attendant put on a pair of purple rubber gloves, (which is never a good sign), and we proceeded to have a very intimate 15 minutes, in plain view of everyone in security.

When the groping was over, my next stop was explosives screening. Two security representatives unpacked my entire suitcase and briefcase. All of my clothing, suits, shoes, undergarments, etc. were spread out onto tables for full viewing. Ten minutes went by as security swabbed my belongings for explosives. When they were done they said, “You are free to go, pack up your possessions.”

Opting-out added over 30 minutes to the security experience, and although some might find the groping gratifying, I prefer to have candlelight and wine before I am touched that intimately. I recently read that this Wednesday, (the busiest US air travel day) is National Opt-Out day, in protest of the backscatter machines. If it took me an extra 30 minutes to get through the security process, please plan accordingly if you are heading home for Thanksgiving. With that said, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Make sure to have your Credit and Debit Cards topped up!!! Black Friday & Cyber Monday are fast approaching. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. The term dates back to at least 1966, although its usage was primarily on... the East coast. The term has become more common in other parts of the country since 2000. Because Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November. According to Reuters, in 2007 135 million people participated in the Black Friday shopping rush.
The term "Black Friday" may have originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).
Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. The term made its debut in 2005 in a Shop.org press release entitled "'Cyber Monday' Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year". According to the Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, "77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially last year on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)". In 2006, Shop.org announced that it launched the CyberMonday.com portal, a one-stop shop for Cyber Monday deals. In 2009, comScore reported that consumers spent $887M online on Cyber Monday (excluding travel), the second highest spending day of 2009.

B2BGateway.Net at Intuit ISP Summit 2010

Ok so maybe the saying is not true “It’s always sunny in Southern California” ….. When the B2BGateway staff attended the Intuit Summit in Los Angeles on October 4th – 7th the sunshine was the only thing missing from the business trip. Just a week before downtown Los Angeles set a new all-time temperature record of 113°F however things changed, as a new record was set in Los Angeles during the week of the Summit. A record amount of rainfall fell over much of the area for the entire time of the trip.

The Intuit conference afforded an excellent opportunity for B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net to speak to key strategic partners such as Right Network, Acctivate, Out of the Box Technology and Fishbowl to name a few as well as meeting face to face with many people to educate them on EDI Solutions by www.B2BGateway.Net.

Just like our EDI solutions the B2BGateway staff went out of the way to make it work. The rain was not going to put a damper on the success of the Summit for B2BGateway.Net. Although we did not get to experience one thing that Southern California is known for the Sun, and we were wet from the rain anyway, we figured we should try the 2nd thing that Southern California is known for………


SURFING!

Intuit ISP Summit 2010

B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net will be attending the Intuit Solution Provider Summit 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California from the 4th to the 7th of October. As an Intuit Gold Developer, B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net has been providing quality integrated EDI solutions for all QuickBooks products (including: QuickBooks Enterprise, Online Edition, Point of Sale, Premier, Pro, etc…) since 2000. B2BGateway.Net have also been awarded the highest customer satisfaction rating, regardless of product, of all QuickBooks Solution Providers. If you are attending the Summit make sure to stop by our booth and say hello.

Big Lots ASN Upgrade

We have just started work on an ASN upgrade for Big Lots. The upgrade is due to come into force in January 2011. We will of course keep all our clients trading with Big Lots up to date. If you would like any further information please contact your B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net Support Engineer.

Happy Birthday Sheila

We would like to wish B2BGateway.Net's www.b2bgateway.net Sheila Donaghey a very Happy Birthday!!

Fancy a Coffee on us?

B2BGateway Ltd. (a subsidiary of B2BGateway.Net)is holding an EDI Seminar next Wednesday 22nd September at Bewley's Dublin Airport Hotel, Ireland. The seminar is dedicated to IT Consultants, Accountants, Software Resellers and 3PL Professionals. Why not come along and have a coffee on us while we explain the advantages of implementing EDI solutions for your firm. For further details and to register your interest in attending, please contact Nicola Cahill at Tel. +353 91 788661 www.b2bgateway.net

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Kevin, Justin, Jim and all the B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net cycle team who completed the 100 mile Narrangansett Bay Wheelman Bicycle Century yesterday.

Staying Fit at a Desk Job.

It can be really hard to try to find time to stay active during the work week. At the Rhode Island office we are lucky to have a YMCA less than 2 minutes down the street. There is a bunch of B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net employees that make their way to the gym before or after work. The best time for me is my lunch break. Getting into the office at 8 AM and not leaving until 5 PM (or later), at the end of my day, I want to be sitting on the couch watching mindless TV and the last thing I want to go is hit the gym. The hour lunch break is just enough time for me to do some cardio on the elliptical, treadmill or bike, shower, then get back to work. We are very lucky to have the YMCA down the street from the office -not everyone has a gym so close to their work!

Good Hair Day

Whenever we get a new contract, the first thing I do is Google the Company Name. I think it is really important to understand what product the client is selling. One of our clients, T3 Micro, sells salon quality hair dryers and tools. So next time I was at the Salon, I asked my stylist what kind of hair dryer she had and she actually did have a T3 Micro dryer AND a T3 Micro hair straightener. She told me how the other stylists in the salon used T3 Micro tools as well. From this, I was actually able to relate something she uses every day to B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net.

How to Keep the Workplace Fun!

I can’t really say there is ever a slow day at B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net. But sometimes you just need to take a quick break from your work. In the B2BGateway office, we have come up with some creative break options. In the break room we do have a TV, with cable, so that is an easy go to. You can catch up on some news or weather or even a few minutes of your favorite day time soap! In the break room, we also have a Nintendo Wii. We only have a few games: Sports Resort, Mario Cart and Samba de Amigo – my personal favorite. It is really fun to play a quick game against a Programmer or Support Engineer, even more fun when you win!

B2BGateway.Net Book Exchange

In the B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net Rhode Island office, we have started a book exchange. We have a book shelf setup in our break room and everyone is welcome to leave or take books. Ryan Anderson, B2B Support Engineer, came up with the idea a little over 6 months ago. Now we have a nice little collection of books. I do not always have the time to run out to the library or Barnes & Noble, so it nice that I can peruse our selection for my next read – very convenient! It is nice to take a break from the usual work talk and chat to other employees about their recent reads and see if they recommend anything. Maybe a B2BGateway.Net book club will be next!

B2B Outings

I love planning, any kind of planning. Parties, events, activities, travel, ordering lunch for the office – you name it, I love it! I even like researching hotels and restaurants for coworker’s travels. But if someone told me they thought planning a work event was easy, I would have to refrain from slapping them in the face. B2Bgateway www.b2bgateway.net has a very diverse group of employees and trying to plan something that will accommodate everyone can be a rough task. When planning a work outing, I always have to stop and think “Will the Sales Team like this?” or “Would the Setup Programmers be interested in this?” I feel like I have exhausted the Google search “Corporate Events”. But this hasn’t jaded my love of planning. Over the past 3 years we have had some really memorable work events. The first B2BGateway event I went t to (this one I didn’t plan, but kudos to the person that did) was F1 Boston (www.F1Boston.com). The indoor kart racing track, jumpsuits and helmets included. Over the next few years, I helped planned a trip to Dave & Buster (www.DaveandBusters.com), bowling and the biggest event to date, our 10 Year Anniversary. 2009 marked our 10 Year Anniversary and we took a day trip to Block Island, RI. I am in the works for planning our next work event and as always, I am open to ideas!
Riona

Century Bike Ride

On Sunday September 13th, Jim Partridge, Kevin Hoyle and Justin Hoyle of B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net will be participating for the third year in a row in the Narragansett Bay Wheelman Bicycle Club’s Century (www. nbwclub.org). The annual, one day 100 mile tour is through the scenic coastal shoreline, forests and marshlands of southeastern Rhode Island and Massachusetts. There will be over 2,000 cyclists participating this year. Although, the tour is recreational ride and not a race, we wonder what B2BGateway member will finish first! Jim, Justin and Kevin – good luck!

Rhode Island Office

I have been with B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net for a little over 3 ½ years now. I started working in our European Office in Dublin, Ireland. Our EU office has since moved to Galway, Ireland and I have since moved back to Rhode Island. Our Rhode Island office is located in Wyoming, which is a small town in Southern Rhode Island. The town does have other places of business; a grocery store, three pharmacies, a few gas stations, hair salon and two gyms. But I think it is pretty safe to say we are the only Business to Business company in the area. Whenever I am out at lunch and someone happens to ask where I work, I let them know about our office “right down the street”. Most people are extremely interested to hear about what we do. When I first say we are software as a service company specializing in EDI, I lose them. But then I explain to them a real life scenario of B2BGateway.Net being part of the process of getting certain items into the local Stop & Shop or CVS, they are back and interested again. At B2BGateway.Net, we are helping making every day easier for someone somewhere. Like making sure CVS gets the ASN on time for a shipment arriving the next day at CVS Wyoming. I take great pride in knowing we helped make the process a little smoother and I also think the people of Wyoming, RI can take some pride in knowing this is all happening in their little town.
Riona

Fonality

In early 2009, we switched our phone system over to Fonality (www.Fonality.com). Fonality has used B2BGateway.Net’s www.b2bgateway.net EDI services since 2008. When we learned about the flexibility of the Fonality’s phone system, we thought it would be a perfect match for B2BGateway.Net. We currently have three offices, two in the United States and one in Ireland. We really needed a phone system that would seamlessly link the three offices together. With Fonality, we can easily transfer a call from the Rhode Island office to Ireland. Another great feature is the availability to take the phone with you anywhere. If you are traveling or working in another office, as long as you have an internet connection, you will be able to use your phone. It is nice to not have to worry about forwarding your calls or making sure wherever you are they have a phone for you to use. Fonality has definitely helped B2BGateway.Net in a big way!

AAFES 5010

Over the next few weeks, B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net and AAFES (www.AAFES.com) will be working together on AAFES 5010 upgrade. B2BGateway.Net has been working with AAFES for almost 10 years and are on AAFES recommended EDI Provider List. The 5010 upgrade will take place behind the scene and will not disrupt the daily transmission of EDI documents. The upgrade to 5010 will include the 850 Purchase Order, 860 Purchase Order Change, 856 Advanced Shipped Notice and 810 Invoice. AAFES and B2BGateway.Net hope to have the upgrade completed by the end of September. If AAFES contacts you about the upgrade, please let your Support Engineer know and they will be able to assist.

Interbike Show

Brian Alty and Justin Hoyle from B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net will be attending 2010 Interbike International Trade Expo in Las Vegas (www.interbike.com). The expo is taking place over September 22 – 24. The show brings 1000s of cycling related brands from around the world. It features Industry leaders and innovative products in the bicycle industry. Interbike started in 1982 by Steve Ready and Herb Wettenkamp. Interbike is the largest bicycle industry trade show in North America and is held annually. Justin and Brian are looking forward to seeing a few of B2BGateway.Net’s partners and clients that will be exhibiting this year: Le Saint Logistics (www.lesaint.com), Nuun (www.nuun.com), Luna Sports (www.LunaSportsGear.com), Niner Bikes (www.NinerBikes.com), Look Cycle (www.LookCycle.com) and Sidi America (www.sidiamerica.com) to name a few.

Target DVS

In early 2010, Target.com announced a transition from Its Channel Intelligence TargetVantage Platform to an in-house solution for DVS vendors. At B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net,we took early initiative by contacting Target and letting them know we were prepared for the migration. As Target moved closer to starting the migration, they kept B2BGateway in the loop by providing updates and copies of the new EDI mapping specifications. One of the changes that came with the migration, was new requirements to their packing slip. B2BGateway was able to create the packing slips according to Target’s specifications and we are able to offer this service to our clients. As we head into September, we will be reaching the tail end of the migration and should have all vendors moved over to the new platform. If you are a current Target DVS vendor and need an EDI solution, please visit www.b2bgateway.net or call us at 401-491-9595 for details about our services.

B2B & Twitter

When I first heard B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net was on Twitter (twitter.com/B2BGateway). I thought “Reeeeeally? Seeeeriously?” I had always thought Twitter was reserved for those self-obsessed celebrities that feel like everyone is so interested in their random thoughts. You know, the John Meyers, Miley Cyrus’, Paris Hiltons of the celebrity world. I just did not see where B2BGateway.Net was going to fit in. Then I was asked to setup an account of my own and check it out. Bad idea. Now I am totally obsessed! It is not just celebrities tweeting about nonsense; it is a great, simple way for businesses to keep customers up to date on just about everything. Through Twitter, B2BGateway.Net can follow QuickBooks, Netsuite and Interprise and stop on top of new ERP trends and changes. We are also able to following 3PLs like Kuehne & Nagel. It truly is a nice way of staying connected to everyone in your industry. Although I hate to admit it but there are some celebrities I follow on Twitter, ie Lindsay Lohan – she is a train wreck, how could you not be interested?

Riona

Site to Store

I recently went online to Walmart.com to make some purchases. Rather than having the goods shipped to the store for pick up, I had them shipped directly to my house. While placing the order online, it brought me back to the testing we have done for all of our clients using B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net as their EDI provider. The stacks of packing lists on my desk, the piles of labels scanned for approval, and the regular use of terms such as S2H (Site to Home) and S2S (Site to Store). When the shipment arrived, I had no choice but to review the quiet zones on the labels and the format of the packing list. Call me a dork but you know you would have done the same…

Developing the Gateway

In yet another of our behind the scenes look at the inner workings of B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net, today we will focus in on the Development Programmer. Those brave enough to work in development are known for staring at their computer screen for hours on end focusing in one a single goal. That goal may be a simple as adding a new report to the Client Portal, or as complicated as creating an integration with a brand new accounting package. If a Client needs to use a product, be it the website or a desktop application, it’s safe to assume that a Development programmer had a hand in it.

Of course, their job doesn’t just stop there. Each time a new feature is rolled out for the Clients to try, those sly programmers are thinking of ways it can improve. The life of the Development programmer, while sometimes reclusive, is never short on excitement. Each day brings a new challenge to the Development programmer, but that’s what they’re there for

Tom

Label in Large Retailer

I was at in Target recently and they were stocking the shelves with a product that is supplied by one of our clients. I took a closer look at the box the products were coming out of and right there was a UCC 128 Label created by B2BGateway.Net’s Warehouse Support Site. It happened to be a setup I worked on and it was really rewarding seeing the label in use. I wanted to share my joy with the person stocking the shelves but stopped myself – they probably would not find my UCC 128 Label story all that interesting. If you need an EDI or UCC 128 Label solution, please visit www.b2bgateway.net

Riona

Order-Entry Vs. EDI

Have you ever worked in a order-entry department? I did for a short time and it wasn’t much fun. I wonder if anyone really still does that anymore. I guess there must still be old fashioned phone order catalogs. At B2BGateway, we can eliminate the need for order-entry and make your business flow. Typically our customers are small companies who sell to retailers and they have no choice about EDI. In order to sell toilet paper to Walmart, you have to be EDI compatible, so they go into it unwillingly. I think many of them may find advantages to the automation after they realize how it works, particularly when they don’t have to hand key in anything! Of course, we are the gurus where Retail EDI is concerned, but we can also help the Dot com guys. There are many webstores out there selling through the dot com companies, and they need help! Imagine if you sold TVs. Imagine, Joe Schmoe logs in to Buy.com and orders 10 flatscreens for his new 10 room Villa. That order is automatically sent to through B2BGateway system, imported into your system, you click a button, it triggers the order to your warehouse, the warehouse presses another button triggering the ship notice to B2BGateway, and immediately on to Buy.com and Joe. Joe gets his TVs, Buy.com sends an electronic payment to your bank, life is sweet!

Tracy

Kardashians: Serena & Lily Fans

As a long time employee of B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net, I always think it’s nice to see our clients in the news or to physically see the products in stores. This case is a little different but I guess the saying applies, no press is bad press. I, I mean...someone I know, was recently watching the informative and educational television show, Kourtney & Khloe take Miami. At one point, one of the Kardashian sisters discovered their stand up baby daddy, who had punched a mirror, had gotten blood on her bedding. Along with some swearing and screaming, she yelled "someone got blood all over my Serena and Lily sheets!". I hear about Serena & Lily (www.serenaandlily.com) all the time, but normally only when they are talked about in reference to EDI so it was funny to hear them referenced in such an unusual scenario.

Riona

Scott Pilgrim Vs. EDI

Scott Pilgrim vs EDI
I talked earlier about the biggest movie of the summer, Inception, and about its multiple layers. It’s polar opposite was released a few weeks ago in Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Scott Pilgrim is about as single layered as a movie can get. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The story is still interesting and it’s filled with characters that you can actually care about. But sadly, it’s also a movie that is being overlooked for the bigger films like the Expendables. Bigger does not always equal better. Take B2BGateway.Net for instance.

Sure, we’re not the biggest EDI company on the market, but we have the highest customer satisfaction. We don’t have thousands of support people on the phone, but we have dedicated Support Engineers who knows your business and can help at any time. Our programming staff couldn’t fill a warehouse, but they consistently go above and beyond to make sure the client has the easiest transition into the Electronic Data world.

So yes, smaller can mean better. It’s not quantity, but quality. And we here at B2BGateway.Net thrive on quality. And lucky for our clients, so do they.

Physical2Digital Gateway

The idea of Digital Distribution has been around for some time now, but it’s only been in recent years that the idea of digital goods has become a reality. Netflix allows users to stream full movies and TV series digitally. There are online stores that sell complete movies, songs, and even games without the need to step foot into an actual store. Just the other day I purchased the Scott Pilgrim game on my Playstation without so much as getting up from my couch. While this distribution method is a new idea for many people, B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net has been moving massive amounts of data online for even longer.

Really, what is comes down to is that all of these online sales are a different implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Just like I can buy a game without needing a physical disk, our clients can get orders, send ASNs and Invoices without needing a single sheet of paper. Not only does this help keep things in order, it is also an incredibly convenient way of doing business. So yes, we help people do business through EDI, but we also help businesses run better by taking away the aches and pains involved with physical media.

So Playstation? You’re welcome.
Tom

Trillian or AIM?

Since we depend on messaging software at B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net, it's important that it be reliable.Recently, I discovered that Trillian version 3.1 is not compatible with Vista operating system! I’ve been running Vista for about a year and accepting the limitations, until this past week when more issues started to arise. The major issue is that the messaging history is not saved. I spent some time this week researching a solution and discovered that 3.1 is not meant to be compatible with Vista, and has this limitation, and it’s recommended that I upgrade to Trillian Astra. I completed the install and so far, I am not thrilled with the new version. It’s very retro-like and I find it difficult to see who is sending me a message and navigate between windows. I am going to spend some adjusting colors and my profile settings, but so far I am not pleased! Should I go back to AIM?

Tracy

Outsourced B2B

I recently watched the movie Outsourced and found it to be a bit enlightening and brought out a few chuckles. Imagine that US company you work for has decided to outsource it’s customer service team to India, and you are sent to train your replacement. Your soon to be “former employer” doesn’t think this request is unusual at all. So, you go off to India to train your replacement and the new support team. At the same time, your replacement sees nothing strange about this either. While in India, you get a sense of Indian culture, work environment, and even fall in love. I have to say I fell asleep before I got to the end, but was worth a few chuckles all the same. Don’t worry, B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net has no plans to do this, right?

Sky 'Gateway' Diving

Yesterday, I watched my 60 year old Dad go sky-diving, something I believe a few B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net employees have also accomplished ( The heights B2BGateway.Net will go to to deliver your EDI document!). He’s always wanted to do it, and apparently turning 60 motivated him to accomplish his goal. My husband and my two boys took a road-trip to Pepperell, MA to support him in his quest. It was exciting watching my Dad come floating down from an airplane on a parachute, and a little unnerving at the same time. It’s unreal to see how high the plane is when the jumpers exit the plane. I asked him what it was like and he said. “It was insane! I’m about to jump, and literally I felt like I was crazy. What am I thinking, it was totally surreal!” My Dad has always been a risk-taker, and unfortunately has had quite a bit of bad luck. A few years ago, he decided to put a new roof on their house, and fell off the roof. Luckily for him, he was pretty bruised, his leg looked pretty mangled on the surface, but he survived. My Dad’s also a big skier, and he was probably one of the first skiers to wear a helmet, which was a smart move on his part, considering the tree bark we often found in his hat. So, you can see why my family thought about having his head examined when he planned the daring expedition. In all seriousness, my Dad is awesome, and I love the risk taker in him, along with his persistence, despite the numerous follies to his name. His Grandkids are his biggest fans, yeah the kids with the full body suits, and helmets, those are my boys!

Tracy

B2BGreenway

“Go Green.” It’s a phrase that’s been thrown around a lot recently. It seems every company in the world is being graded on how environmentally friendly they are. Even a big network like NBC dedicates a week every year to a green peacock logo and making all of their shows touch on the environment in some way.

Being a company that works in Electronic Data, we’ve been a green company since the start. Paper has a safe home here whenever it shows up. Packs of paper like to sit and make a home on our shelves. There aren’t any smoke stacks poking up out of our offices. We are intrinsically one of the most environmentally safe companies that you will come across. Which is good news for that pond across the street. No EDI spills for B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net. Too bad we don’t have a network like NBC to really show it off.

Besides, I have a hard time believing NBC will be able to top having Al Gore appear on 30 Rock rushing off to save a whale. ...I wonder if he does corporate gigs.
Tom

Support Engineer

I’ve been a Support Engineer with B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net for 7 years and feel I have a pretty good idea of what the position entails, but it’s still pretty difficult to explain. The role requires a person who is outgoing, open-minded, creative, technical-minded, motivated and slightly spontaneous. At the same time, being an SE, you have to care about your customers, take the time to get to know them, and understand that they have deadlines to meet and depend on B2BGateway to make their business gel. To be good at any job, you have to take ownership over it and your customers. The reason B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net is such a great company, is because of the people who work for it.

Tracy Sheehan, Support Engineer B2BGateway, MA Office

Special Limited Edition Foil Covered EDI

Collecting comics is a fun hobby for those of us that like to obsess over the little things. Few things make a comic collector more proud than when they can pull out their box of pristine comics and show them off. If I can find a way to sneak in the fact that I have the entire run of the New Avengers, I will. And a lot of collecting means keeping track of what issues you’re missing and how many copies of X-Men #1 you have.

That’s why we understand detail minded people. At B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net, we can help keep our clients in the loop on every document that they trade. Special reports can be setup to accommodate requests for more visibility to make sure each of their documents is in mint condition. Rest assured, all of our clients’ documents will be meticulously organized and filed away for easy access later. They can pull it out and impress their friends any time. Just imagine the “Ooohs” and “Aaaahs” from seeing the kind of EDI that we keep.

And with EDI, you won’t need to worry about having the corners of your favorite 850 being bent.
Tom

B2B Brother

In the summer, I become a fan of the show “Big Brother”. It helps me relax after finishing my work day at B2BGateway. The premise is group of people living in a house together, competing in competitions, forming alliances, with the goal to be the last house guest remaining. Every Thursday night, they hold the live Eviction ceremony. This past Thursday, I was a bit excited when a reference was made to one of B2BGateway’s www.b2bgateway.net customer’s products. Lane, a big guy from Texas was “on the block”, and during his speech to save himself, he made a reference to “Muscle Milk” and how he could really use some instead of the Soy protein powder they have in the house. Lane sends a shout out to Cytopsport!

Tracy

HTC

About 6 months ago, I was having problems with my Samsung Omnia Smartphone, and was in the market for a new Windows compatible model. Kevin Hoyle, the B2BGateway CEO www.b2bgateway.net recommended the HTC Droid Eris. To my surprise, I have been more than pleased with it. I was a little hesitant to go with the HTC, as opposed to the Motorola model due to the touch-screen only keyboard and lack of Navigation, however decided on it due to the price, and the fact that it was smaller in size. A couple months later, the upgrade to Version 2.1 became available which enabled the Navigation feature. I was thrilled to upgrade! The phone is easy to use, navigate, and the applications available are super cool! I have a CopyCat application that my kids love. It’s very simple, it repeats everything you say and has appropriate responses to patting and also beatings. I also love Pandora radio and Fetch it is my favorite. If I misplace my phone and the ringer is off, I can send a text to it from another phone, and it will turn my ringer on! It’s the best!

Label Gateway

Next time you find yourself wandering around your local Best Buy, stop for a moment and think about how all those products got to the store. They had to be packed by a warehouse, loaded into a truck, and driven to their destination. And you know that each one of those boxes have a shiny new UCC-128 Label slapped on there.

And it’s entirely possible, that the label that was on the box that got those products to the store was printed off of our Warehouse Site as part of B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net. We specialize each label to match the specifications required by the Trading Partner so our clients can be sure they have the information necessary go get that product off the loading dock and onto store shelves. Our labels have passed countless tests by the actual Trading Partners as well as third party testing services. Formatted to fit any normal 4”x6” label printer, they’re ready to go at any time off of our easy to use website.

So before you hit the checkout counter with your Die Hard box set or your phone case, take a moment to think about where those items came from before it made it into your hands.

iB2BGateway

You would have to be hiding pretty far under a rock not to have heard about Apple’s newest gadget, the iPhone 4. Apple has become incredibly adept at creating an event around the launch of their products. People lined up overnight just for the chance to spend a whole mess of money on a fancy phone. Apple did their job and got people amped up. What they apparently forgot to do was test the actual phone part of their smart phone.

Almost immediately after the launch, people started complaining about dropped calls and terrible reception. Even worse was when the internet discovered that the reception actually dropped whenever the phone was actually in someone’s hand. That’s kind of a big miss in their QA department. Apple has since tried to make good by giving out free bumpers with the phones to try and mitigate the problems.

That’s an incredibly high profile example of what we try to avoid at B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net. Without proper testing, I’m not sure a single piece of our software would run properly. So we make sure to take that extra time to test properly and eliminate as many future problems as possible. Of course, there’s not enough time in the world to test every possibility, but we take care of the most common problems.

Don’t worry though, unlike Apple with their phone function, we fully test our EDI functions before they’re rolled out to the clients.

Tom

Mt Washington

This past weekend, I actually made it to the summit of Mt Washington! I had previously tried hiking to the top twice when I was younger. The first time, was when I was only about 7 years old and I went with my parents and three sisters. We made it about halfway up before my Mother made us all turn around because she felt it was far too dangerous for children. My second attempt was when I was 11 years old. This time my Father took me and we decided to try a different trail than the first time. The day started off cloudy but as we climbed higher the clouds started to dissipate. While taking a short break about a half mile from the summit, I realized how high up we were. I ended up panicking and making my Dad turn around. 15 years after my last failed attempt, I was determined to make it to the top. Hiking alongside me was my sister, Micaela, her boyfriend, Steve and fellow B2BGateway (www.b2bgateway.net) employee, Justin Hoyle. It was much harder than I had anticipated but just as scary as I had remembered. It took a full 8 hours to hike but I can now say I have conquered my fears AND managed to climb (or more truthfully, crawl, scratch, scramble and claw my way up) the highest peak in the Northeastern United States (6,288 ft or 1,917 meters). That said, I think I might just take the train or drive up the next time!!!!

B2(+5)Gateway

With Windows 7, Microsoft has taken a huge step away from the common view that Windows is always buggy and hard to work with. XP was a good first try, but it had its share of problems (as I’m sure many of you are aware). Vista was a great stepping stone, but it was hindered by launch issues and a stigma that it couldn’t shake. So in steps the most user friendly Windows yet, with the innocuous name of “7.”

We’ve noticed a gradual trend of our client towards the shiny new Windows 7, and why not? It’s one of the better Operating Systems around. And here at B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net
, we have to make sure that we’re on top of new developments in the computer arena. So we have several Windows 7 machines at the ready for testing and debugging. Thankfully, just about everything that worked with XP works with 7. But if there comes a day that something Windows 7 specific is required. We’ll be ready.

Tom

StarCraft2BGateway

If you were on the internet a few weeks ago, you might have noticed a slight slowdown. That was almost certainly caused by the launch of a little game called StarCraft 2. The original StarCraft came out way back in the yesteryear of 1998. Back when apples were pied and baseball was still full of steroids. So it only took 12 years. Hey, at least it came out faster than the sequel to Chinatown (look it up kids).

Anyway, StarCraft is what is referred to as a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game. You are tasked with building a base, creating an economy, and amassing a force that is either bigger, or better managed than your opponents. The game ends when all of one side’s bases are destroyed. But what makes it interesting is the balance that comes with each of the three factions and having to react to the changing landscape around you. If you’re attacked from the North, but have no defenses there, you’ll get plenty hurt. And sure enough, you’ll have defenses there for their second try.

Our people at B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net are juggling many tasks at the same time as well. So no, we don’t need to worry about fortifying our physical position against the alien bugs, but we do need to fortify our systems. We are constantly adapting to the changing landscape around us and making sure we are one step ahead of any kind of problem. Having to adjust strategies on the fly is not something limited just to video games, and we take that philosophy into work everyday.

And our clients will be happy to know that playing StarCraft II during work hours is not encouraged. But I can tell you that I’d have my defenses to the North locked down.

Getting To The Finishing Line!

With summer winding down, and the temperatures starting to drop, it becomes easier to get up in the morning and head out to a race. My specialty is the 5k. Mainly because I don’t want to run any longer than 30 minutes. But even with that short distance, there’s a lot of forward thinking involved. Sure, I could start out sprinting and be in first place. But something tells me that I would fall back to last way before I even got close to the first of the five k's. It’s all about pacing and planning ahead to have the energy to finish the race.

We here at B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net bring that same kind of thinking into the workplace. Sure, we could burn through all of our assignments and get it out the door. But then we would almost assuredly have problems and bugs coming back to hit us. Dropping from first to last right there. Instead, we take our time, plan ahead, and avoid as many of those issue as we can up front. That leads to happier programmers, happier clients, and maybe a free pizza lunch. It behoves us to plan ahead and take our time. If we don’t we sure won’t be finishing first.

Too bad for me though, that free pizza doesn’t do anything to help my race time. But it is delicious.

Tom

Do You Feel Loved?

What makes B2BGateway http://www.b2bgateway.net/ stand out from the competition? How many times have you called a help desk, only to wait on hold, speak to someone who can’t even pronounce your name correctly, asks you to confirm your address, give a secure password just to verify your identity? Does it make you feel loved? What if you needed a new cell phone, and you were able to call your own personal PSE(Phone Support Engineer) who knows your name, where you live, and hell, maybe even what you do for a living. Would you ever leave that cell phone provider? At B2BGateway http://www.b2bgateway.net/, you get just that, your own Support Engineer who knows you by first name, what you sell, and by golly, is happy to hear your voice!

Tracy Sheehan, Support Engineer B2BGateway, MA Office

Was that a Curveball?

To be a successful pitcher in baseball, you need to have a staple of pitches that you can go to and get a batter our. I speak from experience of course. My Playstation pitcher wasn’t doing great until he developed a curveball.

Having multiple options to go to during a crisis is necessary for any business. And we’re no different at B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net. Sometimes it’s as simple as changing one letter in a piece of code. But other times, we are forced to think outside the box and come up with a new kind of solution that we’ve never had to think of before. That’s when we have to reach into our bag of tricks, and find that piece that we haven’t had to use before. And while a pitcher doesn’t always get the batter out, we don’t have that luxury. I have a feeling that our ERA would be record breakingly low.

If only I can get my virtual pitcher out of the Astros. Oswalt got traded, why can’t I?

Tom

Close Encounters of the EDI Kind!

As a setup programmer for B2BGatewaywww.b2bgateway.net , I frequently do work with the same clients. I work almost exclusively behind the scenes. I see the data - product descriptions, UPCs, vendor numbers - but rarely do I learn anything about the client outside of their data. Many of these clients trade with large retail chains which we see everyday such as Best Buy, CVS or Target.

It has become a semi-regular occurance in my life to be walking through a store and come across a product with a hauntingly familiar name. I usually stop and stare for a moment before picking the product up to verify my suspicion. There is a certain sense of accomplishment in recognizing a client product "in the wild". I like to think I had a hand in getting the product to the shelf through the code I spend my days writing. The retailler had to send a purchase order to the client. The client had to send the order to their warehouse for shipping and invoice the retailler. All of these documents process through code I put time and effort into. The more involved or unusual the setup, the more rewarding it is to see the end result on a shelf somewhere.

The clients I work with sell products ranging from food to pharmaceuticals to sporting goods to pet supplies. I can encounter these types of products virtually anywhere. Seeing the result of my work in the real world helps to bring EDI to life.

Jill

Cheng Du!

About a year ago, my favorite Chinese restaurant closed due to a fire. It was one of the worst weeks of my life! There had been two deaths very close to me, and all I wanted was my favorite Chinese food. I went online to check out the menu, only to find out the fine establishment had burned down a few days before. Just my luck! But, as luck would have it, they just opened again! And, this time in a bigger building, with a really nice bar and atmosphere. I went on Sunday night for my anniversary, and to my surprise, it was awesome! Just as I remembered it. Cheng Du is on Washington Street in Stoughton, just a short drive from B2BGateway’s Brockton office www.b2bgateway.net. It’s worth the trip!

Tracy Sheehan, Support Engineer B2BGateway.Net, MA Office

Restoring My Faith In Humanity

B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net connects to Home Depot for a great deal of our clients.
B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net has been connecting to Home Depot since way back in 2000. As I am a very cheap and an impatient person, I spend a great deal of time at Home Depot. Being impatient, I can’t wait for a professional to come and fix something that is broken at my home. Being very cheap, I can’t see paying for that same professional to fix something at my home,… so I do it myself.

At Home Depot, you can walk into the store with no idea how to fix something. If you stand in the right department for long enough someone will help you. Once I stood in the plumbing department staring at a shelf of fittings and another shopper asked me if I needed help. He didn’t help me for any other reason except that I looked like I needed help.

There are not many places left where you can have a perfect stranger walk up to you and ask if you need help. The place that really restores my faith in humanity is the Home Depot parking lot. Without fail, if you are wrestling to get a large sheet of plywood or some other heavy or unwieldy object into your Mini Cooper, someone will offer to help you. I have had people run across the parking lot, (people who would not run if their house was on fire), to offer assistance.

In turn, I have decided to embrace the Home Depot Parking lot code. Now when I load my Mini Cooper up with three 55-Gallon drums of paint, two 4X8 sheets of plywood and a large box of band-aids, I always look around to see if anyone else needs help. Although Home Depot is a “for profit” publically traded company, they have inadvertently created an environment where people treat each other with respect and go out of their way to help each other.

Kevin

Peter 'Gateway' Parker

There’s a very good reason that Spider-Man is one of the most popular comic book characters in existence. He is the everyman. He has issues with his day to day life. Paying rent, keeping a job, keeping a girlfriend. And on the other end, he has to be a superhero saving the day and has to put other people’s needs ahead of his own. He may not be as strong as Superman or as smart as Batman, but we love him all the same.

Now, I don’t want to brag, but B2BGateway.Net www.b2bgateway.net fits the same role that Peter Parker is in. We may not be the biggest EDI company in terms of personnel (as you’ll hear from some of our jealous competitors), but we’re the best around in making EDI easy for our clients. We’ll drop everything to help a client in need and put their needs ahead of our own. Sure, that pizza looks delicious, but if these orders need to go out, then that’s what we need to worry about. If only we could get the web slinging down...

B2BCeption

One of the best movies this year was release a few weeks ago in Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Nolan is known for having multilayered, and sometimes confusing, plots. Inception doesn’t shy away from that. For those not in the know, Inception deals with a group of people that can enter dreams and gain the information they need from their target. But a bigger problem comes when they need to create information in a target’s head without him knowing it was planted. It can only be accomplished by going into dreams inside of dreams. Layers inside of layers.

In a way, the multiple layers idea is much like what we do at B2BGateway.Net. On the top layer, our sales team talks to prospective clients and explains the world class service we provide. Go one layer deeper, and we have our Support Engineers that help all of our clients through the EDI process and through any speed bumps they may hit. Another layer down we’ve got the Setup team that gets everything rolling. At this point, we’re three dreams deep and things are so far removed from reality, they might not even exist. But let’s continue, another layer and the Maintenance team helps keep everything running smoothly. And go one layer further, and the Development team is in the background making the website and desktop apps for the client.

Much like the dream levels, the further down you go, the more abstract it becomes. If we’re doing our jobs right, the clients are only aware the Setup team exists, and maintenance and development are hardly seen. So, while we’re a lot like the movie Inception, we sadly don’t have Leonardo DiCaprio. But who knows, he might be a level deeper than Development.

Tom Lynch, Infra Programmer, RI Office

Cool Off

Cool off manufactured by Its2Cool Ltd, is an award winning new product. Using all natural herbs, cool off produces a “Quick Chill” when applied to the skin on a hot day. Can’t escape the mid-day sun? Too much heat? Disbeliever? Try it yourself! Purchase Its2Cool at the following stores Amazon, CVS, HEB, Duane Reade, Mclanes, and Vistar. Its2Cool has been an EDI client of www.b2bgateway.net since January 2010.

Ryan Anderson, Support Engineer, B2BGateway.Net, RI Office

How to Explain EDI

Just how do you explain EDI?

When I first came to B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net , people would ask me what I kind of job I have. The first time I would try to explain EDI as a system of electronic interface that sends invoices and purchase orders between companies. These folks would then just look confused, say “Oh. Ok” and walk away knowing that it sounds about as exciting as selling insurance. I know that there is more than that to EDI but I found it tough to explain it in a single sentence.

I then looked at Wikipedia and used how they explain EDI in a single sentence: “Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e. from one trading partner to another trading partner without human intervention.” With that response I got an even more confused reaction and even a few people had their eyes glazed over like it went way over their head.

When I realized that I didn’t have to explain EDI to explain what B2BGateway www.b2bgateway.net does. So I now say to my friends and family: “We help companies do business with other companies electronically.” That sentence is something everyone understands.

It is then I realized that is also what we do here for our clients – we help make it easy for them to do business with other companies and increase their business.

And it only took me 3 years to figure that all out and I still have a lot to learn about EDI.


David Adams, Support Engineer, B2BGateway.Net, MA Office