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