Kitchen Food Company

See how B2BGateway.Net helped Kitchen Foood Company to fully integrate EDI with their new NetSuite ERP system for seamless communications with customers such as Coles, General Mills and Woolworths Supermarkets https://goo.gl/91zsqY

B2BGateway client Picasso Foods wins Woolworths Food Company Supplier of the Year!

Picasso Foods Australia Pty Ltd. is an Australian food manufacturer of fresh-prepared food. Its products include prepared meals, pizzas, craft breads, pasta sauces, antipasto, chargrills and marinated olives. The company differentiates itself through innovation, new product development and delivering fresh products to supermarkets across Australia. Last month Picasso Foods won the Woolworths Supermarkets Food Company Supplier of the Year!

Woolworths Supermarkets is a large grocery/supermarket chain store in Australia owned by Woolworths Ltd. The Woolworth’s Supplier of the Year program is based on the simple objectives of providing scoring criteria aligned with Woolworth’s key business objectives and scoring suppliers on this. Through their Supplier Partner Program Woolworths is seeking a cycle of continuous improvement to facilitate mutual growth of both the retailer and its suppliers.

Jim Laftsidis, General Manager at Picasso Foods recently wrote, “On Tuesday night we attended the Woolworths Supplier of the Year awards night and are very proud to announce that Picasso Foods was awarded the Woolworths Food Co Supplier of the Year Award!! This award is another crucial step in fulfilling our positioning strategy, but our ongoing relationships with companies such as B2BGateway is at the heart of us having the capability to deliver. We certainly look forward to continuing to build and working with the B2BGateway team, and capturing future opportunities for both our businesses.”

B2BGateway would like to wish Jim and all the team at Picasso Foods a very hearty congratulations and we look forward to supporting their rapid growth for many years to come.

If you would like to know more about how B2BGateway can support and help grow your manufacturing and wholesale distribution business, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from all at B2BGateway!

Blockchain and its potential benefits to the Supply Chain

What is Blockchain?

According to Wikipedia a blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a continuously-growing list of records called blocks. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block. The data in a block cannot be altered retrospectively.

The first blockchain was conceptualized by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and implemented the following year as a core component of the digital currency bitcoin, where it serves as the public ledger for all transactions. Through the use of a peer-to-peer network and a distributed timestamping server, a blockchain database is managed autonomously.

Think of it like this: If the entire blockchain were the history of banking transactions, an individual bank statement would be a single “block” in the chain. Unlike most banking systems, however, there is no single organization that controls these transactions. It can only be updated through consensus of a majority of participants in the system. In short, blockchain is a record-keeping mechanism that makes it easier and safer for businesses to work together over the internet.

Benefits of Blockchain to the Supply Chain

Many commentators agree that blockchain technology has far greater potential than just supporting a digital currency such as bitcoin. The potential for improvements in the Supply Chain are limitless. Imagine a scenario where every time a product changes hands, the transaction could be documented, creating a permanent history of a product, from manufacture to sale. This could dramatically reduce time delays, added costs, and human error that plague transactions today. The benefits for pharmaceutical manufacturers (all stage product lifecycle track and trace) and OEM’s (product recalls), to name just two industries off hand, are enormous.

According to an article by Jon-Amerin Vorabutra the advantages blockchain technology brings to the supply chain community could be listed as follows:

·         Enhanced Transparency. Documenting a product’s journey across the supply chain reveals its true origin and touchpoints, which increases trust and helps eliminate the bias found in today’s opaque supply chains. Manufacturers can also reduce recalls by sharing logs with OEMs and regulators.

·         Greater Scalability. Virtually any number of participants, accessing from any number of touchpoints, is possible.

·         Better Security. A shared, indelible ledger with codified rules could potentially eliminate the audits required by internal systems and processes. 

·         Increased Innovation. Opportunities abound to create new, specialized uses for the technology as a result of the decentralized architecture.

B2BGateway at UK Logistics & Supply Chain Excellence Awards

The B2BGateway and Maclaren team who attended the recent UK Logistics & Supply Chain Excellence Awards in the Park Lane Hilton Hotel in London. B2BGateway was shortlisted as a Finalist in the Technology Awards Category.

B2BGateway to attend Exact Live 2016 in Utrecht

B2BGateway, the leading, global EDI and automated supply chain solution provider will be attending this years Exact Live tradeshow in Utrecht, The Netherlands from November 8-9.

Exact Live 2016 is a two day event which will take place this year in Utrecht. Day one is focused on bringing the eco-system of Exact, its partners and third party add-on providers together to discuss overall solutions and to provide 'one stop' seamless solutions to the end user. Day two opens up the event to Exact clients and prospects who can hear from many great speakers as well as learn about new updates and 3rd party software providers who can enhance the users existing system, depending on their unique requirements.

B2BGateway provides cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions for Exact Online users which remove the need to re-key data when exchanging standard business documents such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, inventory updates, etc., with trading partners. Roger Leyden, Director of Global Business Development at B2BGateway will be attending Exact Live 2016 in Utrecht. If you would like to meet with Roger during the event, please email Sales@B2BGateway.Net  

B2BGateway to attend Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore

B2BGateway, the leading global EDI solution provider will be attending the Natural Products Expo East trade fair which takes place in the Baltimore Convention Center from September 22-24, 2016.

Natural Products Expo East is the East Coast’s Largest natural, organic, and healthy products event with over 22,000 attendees and 1,800 exhibitors. Each year Natural Products Expo East draws top retail buyers from independent stores, natural market chains and big box retailers – all with the mission to find the newest and hottest products shaping the future of the healthy living marketplace. Market categories represented at Expo East include natural and specialty food and beverages, supplements, pet, natural living and beauty. New emerging trends include:

·         Foods and beverages with floral ingredients such as hibiscus, elderflower and chamomile.

·         Coffee fruit, the refreshing and flavorful anti-oxidant rich and anti-inflammatory fruit.

·         Snacks using avocado oil, which has always been GMO free and is paleo friendly.

The majority of large scale box store retailers and natural markets chains require all suppliers to become EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) compliant for the exchange of electronic business documents such as Purchase Orders (EDI 850), Purchase Order Acknowledgements (EDI 855), Advance Shipment Notifications (EDI 856) and Invoices (EDI 856). Suppliers can also use the EDI for seamless communication with their 3PL’s for Warehouse Ship Orders (EDI 940) and Warehouse Ship Advice (EDI 945).

By using B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI solutions the supplier can integrate with all relevant parties in their supply chain. Full integration removes the need for the supplier to re-key data when exchanging electronic business documents with trading partners, leading to greater accuracy, increased labor efficiencies and expediting the order-to-payment cash cycle with customers.

If you would like to meet with the B2BGateway team attending this year’s Natural Products Expo East, please email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

B2BGateway EDI Application Certified By Acumatica

B2BGateway's cloud based, fully integrated EDI solution is now an Acumatica Certified and Customer Validated Application. You can read the full press release here http://bit.ly/2crSRns

What should Intuit QuickBooks users and Pro Advisors expect for the future?

For B2BGateway clients and prospects this is a common question. For Charlie Russell, a Pro Advisor and frequent QuickBooks Inner Circle writer/contributor, it is a key issue. In a recent QuickBooks Inner Circle article he commented “While Intuit doesn’t often make specific development plans public, the answer is obvious, the future is mobile. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone given the explosion in the past few years of smart phones, tablet devices, and more. But what about those of us who still rely heavily on our desktop computers? Will we be left out?”

Late last year Intuit released the Intuit 2020 Report, which explores technology and other trends that will affect small businesses over the next decade. This wasn’t presented as a specific business plan for Intuit, but it is clear that mobile technology will be a strong component of any direction the company takes. Charlie continued “In the last few years we’ve seen this mobile trend in the making, with more and more QuickBooks features being released as a part of the Intuit App Center. Does this mean that we will lose our desktop products?”

Not necessarily, according to Scott Cook, the co-founder of Intuit. In last month’s Inner Circle Q&A session, answering a question about QuickBooks Online Edition, Cook said, “What we are trying to do is to enable the QuickBooks desktop user to get many of the benefits of QuickBooks Online Edition. The data that is in QuickBooks can also be up in the cloud where people can get to it and where other apps can get to it.”  The key here is anywhere, anytime access.

This doesn’t necessarily translate into abandoning the desktop. Although Intuit is working hard on mobile solutions, Cook says, “Part of our goal is to make it so you don’t have to be at the client location whenever we can make that happen.” For example, Intuit is working on eliminating the need for accountants to travel to fix something in the client’s books. A visit to the client will instead be for the “human touch, the things you choose to do.”

Charlie was reassured. “I take these comments as meaning that Intuit’s vision for my future doesn’t require me to conduct my business through a mobile phone or an iPad. I’ll have that option when I need it, but I won’t be forced that direction. And that works for me!”

Whatever the future brings, B2BGateway will continue to work closely with Intuit to provide our clients with leading edge integrated solutions that will directly address their needs. B2BGateway has been providing EDI for QuickBooks users since 1999. We have provided EDI connectivity for QuickBooks users to every major Retailer and Manufacturer around the world. In our previous implementations we have learned many important lessons and we have addressed almost every business need. If you have a special business need we have probably dealt with the same situation with a previous client. If you would like to know more about B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions for QuickBooks please email us at: Sales@B2BGateway.Net or visit www.B2BGateway.Net

What is Supply Chain Management (SCM)?

Would you like to understand the concept of supply chain management but don’t have the time to do so? The good news is that in some upcoming posts we will explain to you the key principles and terms of supply chain management (SCM) that you can read and learn in under 3 minutes!
In this post we will focus on introducing the term ‘supply chain management’ and how your organization may improve the competitiveness of your supply chain.

The term “supply chain management” arose in the late 1980’s and came into widespread use throughout the 1990’s. Prior to this, businesses used terms such as ‘logistics’ and/or ‘operations management’. In the late nineties individual authors undertook an attempt to express the essence of supply chain management in one definition. Its constituents are the subject of a management philosophy, target group, goals and numerous ways to achieve these goals.

The subject of supply chain management is, of course, a chain that represents a network of all the organizations that are involved, through links up and down the chain of different processes and activities creating value in the form of products and services for the end customer.

In broad terms the supply chain consists of two or more separate organizations legally connected with one another by the flow of materials, information and finance. These organizations may be companies that produce parts, components and finished products, logistics providers and even the final customer. Network connections do not usually focus on the flow inside a single chain, but consists of complex flows associated with a variety of customer orders, which must be operated in parallel.

In the narrower sense of the term supply chain, it is used for large companies with multiple locations, often located in different countries. Co-ordination of the flow of materials, information and finances in multi-national companies effectively is still a huge challenge. The objective of managing all links of the supply chain is to increase competitiveness. This is possible because individual organizational units are not responsible individually for the competitiveness of their products and services in the eyes of the end customer but the responsibility lies with the supply chain as a whole. Hence competitiveness shifted from individual companies in the supply chain.

There are two broad ways to improve the competitiveness of the supply chain. One is the integration (or co-operation) of the organizations involved, and the second is better co-ordination of the flow of materials, information and finances. Overcoming organizational barriers, adjusting strategy and accelerating flows along the supply chain are the main subjects in this context.

If you would like to see how B2BGateway can help improve your organization's supply chain processes, please email Sales@B2BGateway.Net today

B2BGateway offers organizations complete integration for all their supply chain communication needs.

B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI and automated supply chain solutions offer organizations complete integration with all their trading partners and business tools, regardless of market vertical served. Using B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI and data exchange technologies provides growing organizations with a complete ‘one stop shop’ approach to fulfilling all their communication needs.

B2BGateway offers complete supply chain automation solutions by providing full integration from the customers’ ERP solutions to Online Shopping Carts (Magento, Bigcommerce, 3dcart…), 3PL’s (Third Party Logistics), Online Marketplace (Amazon, Rakuten, Zappos...), Box Store Retailers (Walmart, CVS, Target…), Inventory Software Solutions (ACCTivate, Numbercruncher, Fishbowl), Manufacturers (Apple, Ford, Caterpillar…), Government and Financial Institutions.

To learn more about how B2BGateway’s complete communications solution removes the need for today’s modern organizations to have many, many separate solutions and touch points, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Will we see you at SuiteWorld 16?

B2BGateway is yet again a proud sponsor of this year’s SuiteWorld conference taking place in San Jose, CA, May 16-19. SuiteWorld is NetSuite’s annual user and partner conference and has rapidly become the world’s number 1 conference on Cloud ERP.

B2BGateway has been NetSuite’s EDI partner since 2001 and provides NetSuite users with cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions. EDI can be defined as the structured transmission of electronic business data such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, inventory updates, etc., between organizations and removes the need to re-key data.

If you are attending SuiteWorld this May, make sure to drop by booth #305 and say hello to the B2BGateway team. Alternatively, you can attend the B2BGateway presentation on how to use EDI to improve your organization’s supply chain efficiencies in the Expo Hall on Tuesday May 17 at 4.15pm.

For further information on B2BGateway’s EDI solutions for NetSuite please visit http://b2bgateway.net/EDI-for-NetSuite.asp or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

Dreamforce 2015: Dream or Nightmare?

I must admit, that being a Dreamforce virgin, I was quite apprehensive about attending this year’s Dreamforce show in San Francisco. To the uninitiated, Dreamforce is the annual Salesforce user and partner conference and this year over 170,000 people were registered to attend in downtown San Francisco. I have been to large shows many times before with up to 12,000-15,000 attendees, but Dreamforce is over tenfold this number. So much so that all hotels downtown were completely booked out and Salesforce had to hire a cruise ship to dock at one of the San Francisco piers for the week to provide additional accommodation to attendees.

With these kind of mind blowing numbers: How would we literally walk the floor? Is it possible to get lunch with so many people? Would the afterhours social scene, where we tend to do a lot of business, be impossible? Will it be possible to speak to anyone at their booths?

Unfortunately form the moment we signed up to attend, the signs seemed ominous – not a hotel room downtown to be had for love nor money. We ended up getting a hotel in Milbrae out by the airport. Next problem – how to get in and out of downtown from Milbrae? We hired a car but traffic on the 101 and the cost of parking was becoming a nightmare. However, once we landed and took up residency at our hotel we quickly realized that the car was superfluous to our needs and that the BART rail system would be more than adequate at a fraction of the cost of car hire and parking charges.

With the car dilemma over, things were quickly picking up. The BART system worked a dream for early morning starts and late night returns, the queues for practical functions such as registration, demonstrations and lunch were very comfortable. It was also a plus that the exhibition room floors were well laid out and extremely easy to follow with a lot of booths having their own private meeting rooms for more in-depth discussions.

At B2BGateway, due to the nature of our EDI solution which is predominantly used in Wholesale Distribution and Manufacturing markets, we found it more beneficial to meet the ERP and OMS partners that built their products on the Salesforce platform. It was wonderful to meet with such great organizations as FinancialForce.com, Rootstock, Ascent ERP, Kenandy, Sage and Accounting Seed.

Over the course of the week I must say our nightmare premonitions never came to fruition. The whole show for us was a complete dream and finishing it out with live performances by The Killers and The Foo Fighters was the icing on the cake. Here’s to Dreamforce 2016, hope to see you there!

If you would like to know more about how B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions can work with any ERP system built on the Salesforce platform please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net   

Using EDI to Connect with eCommerce Platforms such as Magento and Bigcommerce

 

AU Webinar: Using EDI to connect with your ecommerce Platforms such as Magento or Bigcommerce. Tuesday September 08 at 12pm Sydney time. Details and registration here http://bit.ly/1N47ht0

Webinar: EDI for Xero users

 

Webinar: EDI for Xero users. Tuesday, August 25, 12pm Sydney Time. Details and registration here http://bit.ly/1E0fyeH

 

 

B2BGateway continues global expansion with new office in China

B2BGateway, a leading cloud based EDI solution provider continues its global expansion by opening a new office in Jinan, China. The new office will further enhance B2BGateway’s EDI and automated supply chain solutions to clients and trading partners in Asia.

 

B2BGateway is a world recognized EDI solution provider since being established in Boston, USA in 1999. As EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has become best business practice in data transfer between trading organizations, B2BGateway believes the time is right to further enhance their offerings in the Pacific and Asian regions after recently opening an office in Sydney. B2BGateway’s EDI solutions are used primarily by clients in wholesale distribution, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, automotive, government and non-profit industries.

 

B2BGateway has developed a cloud-based EDI software solution that fully integrates with most ERP or accounting software solutions including SAP, JD Edwards, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, MYOB, Brightpearl, QuickBooks, Sage and Xero to name but a few. As an international company with offices throughout North America, Europe, Australia and now China, B2BGateway can support all recognized international EDI standards and communication protocols that may be required: ANSI X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, Eancom, Odette, XML, VAN, FTPs, AS2, etc.. By fully integrating the solution through cloud based technology, B2BGateway is able to remove the need for the client to re-key data. This, in turn, leads to greater accuracy, increased labor efficiencies and it expedites the order-to-payment cycle for the end user.

 

The new B2BGateway Chinese office will be based in Jinan, the capital of the Shandong Province and will be led by Jordan Johnson, who has previously worked with B2BGateway in their Rhode Island, USA offices.

 

For further information on how B2BGateway can help automate and improve your supply chain please visit www.B2BGateway.Net

Webinar for NetSuite users in Australia/Pacific Region

Webinar: ‪‎EDI‬ for NetSuite users in The AU/Pacific region by B2BGateway. July 15 at 12pm AEST. Details and registration here http://bit.ly/1exu0P9

Webinar: EDI for QuickBooks

Webinar July 8th, 2015 at 1pm ET: 'EDI for QuickBooks'. Details and registration here http://bit.ly/1JsWzux

What is the difference between Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central?

At B2BGateway we often get asked by clients and partners ‘What is the difference between trading with Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central?’ I came across a great blog recently by Trinity Hartman on Content 26 which lays out in simplified detail, the differences between both Amazon structures for merchants. A brief overview of the blog can be seen here:

 

If your products are selling very well on Amazon, chances are you may be contacted by an Amazon Buyer to sign up to sell your products through Amazon Vendor Central. But what is Amazon Vendor Central and how does it differ from what you are doing already on Amazon Seller Central? To answer these questions lets’ take a look at a brief description of both:

 

What is Amazon Seller Central?

 

If you are already selling on Amazon, chances are you are using Amazon Seller Central. Amazon Seller Central is the web interface used by sellers to manage and view their orders. If you sell via Seller Central, you’re considered by Amazon as a marketplace or third-party seller. As a marketplace seller, you have different options for managing your virtual storefront. Amazon has a pay-as-you-go system for individual sellers as well as a pro merchant option for high-volume sellers. Pro merchant sellers can also choose Fulfillment by Amazon where Amazon takes care of shipping, customer service, and returns.

 

What is Amazon Vendor Central?

 

Amazon Vendor Central is the web interface used by manufacturers and distributors. If you sell via Vendor Central, you’re called a first-party seller. You’re acting as a supplier, selling in bulk to Amazon. Registration on Vendor Central is by invitation only. A tell-tale sign that a company is selling through Vendor Central is the phrase “ships from and sold by Amazon.com.” Only Vendor Central allows enhanced content, which Amazon refers to as A+ content. What is enhanced content? It’s an extended version of the basic product description including scan able text that explains the features and benefits of the product as well as product images and often a comparison chart.

 

Whether you operate on Amazon Seller Central or Amazon Vendor Central, you can learn more about how B2BGateway EDI solutions can help you further improve and automate your supply chain with Amazon by calling + 1 401 491 9595 (NA) / +353 61 708533 (EU) or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net



B2BGateway to Exhibit and Speak at NetSuite SuiteWorld 2015.

B2BGateway, the leading cloud based EDI solution provider and NetSuite partner since 2001, will yet again be exhibiting and meeting clients, partners and colleagues at this year’s SuiteWorld which takes place May 4-7 in San Jose, CA, USA.

SuiteWorld is NetSuite’s annual conference and this year NetSuite hopes to attract 7,500 attendees consisting of clients, partners, prospects and industry analysts. During the 4 day event attendees will hear key notes from CEO, Zach Nelson and CTO and founder, Evan Goldberg as well as learning about all things NetSuite.

As in every other year, B2BGateway will yet again have a booth at SuiteWorld 2015 where attendees can learn how B2BGateway’s fully integrated NetSuite EDI solutions remove the need to re-key data and help organizations improve and automate their supply chain and omni-channel operations. Removing the need to re-key data greatly reduces potential human errors while at the same time increasing overall supply chain efficiencies.

This year B2BGateway will also host two speaking sessions, “Improve your Supply Chain: B2BGateway EDI for NetSuite” , on Tuesday May 5^th at 8am in the Expo Hall Program Stage and on Thursday May 7^th at 8.30am also in the Expo Hall Program Stage.

If you or your colleagues are attending SuiteWorld 2015, make sure to drop by booth #538 to say hello to the B2BGateway team or drop by the Expo Hall Program Stage to hear one of the B2BGateway talks.

For further information on B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions please call +1 401 491 9595 (USA) / +353 61 708533 (EU) or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net