Logistics Pooling

At the recent ECR Ireland Supply Chain Summit in Dublin, two themes for the supply chain future prevailed: Sustainability and Logistics Pooling. In this short blog I am going to concentrate on Logistics Pooling – what is it and what are its advantages?

 
Logistics Pooling has been defined by Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu as the common usage of logistics resources: material (vehicles, platforms), human (drivers, land operators) and immaterial (software tools, information) between organizations. It consists of a semi-closed group of collaborators who share vehicles and platforms to reduce their logistics costs and the environmental nuisances related to last mile distribution in urban dense zones. 
 
Quite simply it is the sharing of transportation resources to get goods to the same distribution centre by making best use of space available (i.e. sending one full truck with multiple organizations goods on board, rather than sending many half empty trucks for each organization).
 
Logistics Pooling offers the following advantages to suppliers and manufacturers:

·         Ability to meet demands of retailers who want smaller volumes to be delivered more often(greater freshness of product, reduced inventory levels, etc.).
·         Ability to reduce transportation costs.
·         Environmental awareness and sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions.
 
For further information on automating your supply chain processes and making the best use of supply chain logistics please contact our sales team today on 401-491-9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Will EDI work with 'Cloud Based' ERP systems?

As the popularity of cloud based ERP systems such as NetSuite and Intacct continues to surge, we often get the following question from customers who are considering switching to a cloud-based ERP system: Will this affect our capabilities to continue doing EDI with our trading partners?
 
The short answer is no, it should not. At B2BGateway we have been providing fully-integrated EDI solutions for the leading cloud-based ERP providers such as NetSuite, Intacct and Sage ERP X3 for over a decade. However, like everything else, you will need to do your homework to see if the new cloud-based ERP system you are considering is EDI capable. I would advise finding out the following:
 
·         Is the new ERP system fully cloud-based, or is it a hosted online version of a current on-premises
      ERP product?
 
·         Does the cloud based ERP system have both import and export functionality?
 
·         Will you need to purchase additional EDI modules/connectors from the cloud ERP vendor?
 
·         Is your current EDI provider capable of working with and integrating the new cloud based ERP
      solution? If not, are there other third party EDI providers on the market who can work with the
      new product?
 
·         Does the cloud-based ERP vendor currently have clients and partners using EDI with their system
     and can you get references?
 
I would also go to online sites such as LinkedIn to see are there any user groups for the new ERP system. You could post a question amongst users to see if any are currently using EDI and to get their recommendations. For further information on B2BGateway’s EDI solutions, including solutions for cloud-based ERP systems, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

 

Are you prepared for Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving and one of the busiest shopping days in the United States. This year Cyber Monday falls on December 2, 2013. The term "Cyber Monday" was created by marketing companies and made its debut on November 28, 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 on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)".

 
Last year the Adobe Digital Index called for Cyber Monday to pass the $2 billion sales mark. The actual tally was $1.98 billion, just short. But the 2013 Online Shopping Forecast that Adobe recently released promises that the threshold will be crossed and then some this year, calling for an e-commerce tally of approximately $2.27 billion.
 
Adobe forecasts that only 2% of holiday purchases will be made via social media sites, but says that sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest don't get credit for the role they play in purchase decisions.
 
Online retailers promote Cyber Monday using a variety of Internet marketing strategies, including smart phone advertisements. Comparison shoppers with smart phones connected to the Internet can easily find the hottest deals with the press of a button. Many online retailers have apps that allow smart phone users to look up products in their store. As a result, the buyer has an opportunity to explore other online stores for steeper bargains. In addition, this breeds fierce competition that grants online shoppers discounts not found in brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday.
 
Many eCommerce stores use EDI technology to gain efficiencies in their overall supply chain operations, such as using the EDI 940/945 transaction sets to communicate electronically and efficiently with their 3^rd party warehouses or the EDI 846 transaction set to get regular updates on inventory levels from their suppliers.
 
If you would like to learn more about how B2BGateway’s EDI solutions can help improve your eCommerce supply chain efficiencies please call (401) 491 9595 or email Sales @B2BGateway.Net

 

EDI Web Portals Vs. Full Integration

 

Many organizations use vendor specific EDI web portals (e.g. Amazon Vendor Central) to communicate with their trading parties, often these organizations may have multiple vendor specific EDI portals to deal with on a daily basis. This requires a lot of labor and manual data entry on the organizations behalf, from downloading purchase orders and re-keying the data into the organizations backend ERP/accounting software solution, to manually creating invoices and uploading same to the vendor specific EDI web portal.

 
As one client previously said “I know these portals are tedious and error prone, but I guess this is the price we have to pay to trade with the large vendors?” Wrong. Organizations do not have to solely communicate with their trading partners through their vendor specific EDI portals. Yes the option is there to use these EDI portals and often they are a good starting point for a young or seasonal operation. But as the organization grows, more trading partners are added and orders increase, the organization should seriously consider switching from a portal based EDI system to one that is fully integrated with their ERP or accounting software solution (e.g. NetSuite, Intacct, Sage, SAP, QuickBooks, etc.).
 
By fully integrating the organizations EDI needs with their business software application the organization can create greater efficiencies by having a seamless flow of all business documentation required. Fully integrated EDI solutions remove the need to re-key data, reduce labor costs, reduce human error and speed up the ‘order to payment’ cash cycle for the organization.
 
If you would like to know more on how B2BGateway can help your organization gain greater efficiencies and cost savings by bypassing vendor specific EDI web portals and introducing a fully integrated EDI solution, please call (401) 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net  

EDI 832 Product/Sales Catalog

 

The EDI 832 transaction set is an electronic Price/Sales Catalog that is used to request or provide the prices of goods or services in the form of a catalog. Just like in non-EDI transactions, suppliers and customers must exchange product catalogs to understand the products and goods being exchanged. The EDI 832 transaction set replaces the traditional paper catalog. It is used primarily by manufacturers to send vital product information to their trading partners such as retailers, distributors and agents.

The EDI 832 transaction set generally contains the following information:

·         Seller name and contact information

·         Terms of sale information

·         Physical description of items including packaging and item identification

·         Item pricing information including quantity, units of measure and discounts available

The aforementioned retailers, distributors and agents who receive the EDI 832 transaction set from their trading partner(s) can integrate the data directly with their ERP or Accounting Software solution, thus helping to automate the exchange of information. Key information contained in the EDI 832 transaction set like minimum order quantities and number of items per container provides the client with key information to be used in the ordering process.

For further information on how B2BGateway can help your organization to integrate the EDI 832 Prices/Sales Catalog into your ERP/Accounting software solution please call our sales team today on (401) 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net  

We probably all have heard of 3PL’s and 4PL’s in the logistics industry, but what on earth is a 10PL?

In the world of modern logistics we probably all have heard of 3PL’s and 4PL’s. A 3PL (abbreviation for Third Party Logistics Provider) is a firm that provides service to its customers of outsourced logistics services for part, or all of their supply chain management functions. 3PL’s typically specialize in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customers' needs based on market conditions. Whereas a 3PL service provider targets a single function, a 4PL targets management of the entire process. Some have described a 4PL as a general contractor that manages other 3PLs, truckers, forwarders, custom house agents, and others, essentially taking responsibility of a complete process for the customer.
 

Now some logistics providers have further increased their services and are calling themselves 10PL’s. Here is pyramid chart of the services and functions offered by a 10PL:

 

At B2BGateway we provide cloud-based, fully integrated EDI and automated supply chain solutions that will directly link you to your logistics provider, be they a 1PL, 2PL, 3PL, 4PL……..10PL. For further information on how your organization can communicate seamlessly with your logistics provider please call +1 401-491-9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net



 

5 ways to increase Cloud Security

Cloud computing is growing at a rapid pace, offering many benefits to end users such as cost savings, scalability, ease of access, speed of implementation and so on. At B2BGateway our EDI systems have been operating in ‘The Cloud’ since 1999, long before the term ‘Cloud Computing’ was invented; heck, back then we just simply called it doing business over the internet.

 
As with all technology, security should be to the forefront if you are considering moving your systems to the cloud. Here are my top five tips that you should consider when looking at cloud based applications and/or cloud providers:

1. Make sure your cloud provider has put security into your SLA.

Many cloud providers do not mention security in their SLA’s. In your negotiations with a cloud provider you should bring up security and insist that the provider puts the agreed security terms into the SLA.  The rules of Caveat Emptor apply here – ‘Let the buyer beware’.

2. Passwords

The importance of strong passwords cannot be stressed enough. Yet, even today, many people still set weak passwords and are reckless with passing them on to other members of staff who do not need to know them. New passwords should be set frequently, particularly if key members of staff leave the organization.

3. Encryption

Encryption will help to limit the damage if your systems are hacked or wrongly accessed. It will also give users confidence that their data is more secure.

4. Test, test, test……and test again
The only sure-fire way to make something secure is to test it. Test, test and test again, always trying to break it, you may even consider hiring an outside contractor for an independent point of view. Chances are that if you and/or your contractor can find a way to get unauthorized access, someone else can as well.

5. Firewall

A good firewall is still one of the best solutions to preventing unauthorized access to your data. Because of the very nature of cloud computing, remote access will no doubt be required by authorized users in your organization. A firewall will add an extra layer of security and help fend off unwanted approaches.

If you would like to know more about B2BGateway’s cloud-based EDI solutions and our security measures within, please contact our team at Sales@B2BGateway.Net or call +1 401-491-9595.