B2BGateway to sponsor launch of Acumatica 6

B2BGateway, the leading global EDI solution provider and Acumatica partner, will be sponsoring the launch of Acumatica 6 in Boston on September 8^th, 2016.

Acumatica 6 is the latest version of the award winning cloud based Acumatica ERP software suite. During the launch, John Roskill, CEO and Ali Jani, VP Partner Strategy, Product Management & Services at Acumatica will demonstrate to attendees how Acumatica 6 will help increase productivity and accelerate growth with new enhancements like the Universal Outlook Add-In, Dashboard and KPI widgets, greater drill down across generic inquiries, and so much more! There will also be a special guest attendance by Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher, Bill Lee and a partner expo.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has become best business practice in the transfer of electronic business documents such as Purchase Orders, Invoices, Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs), Inventory updates etc., between trading partners and is highly popular in market verticals such as Wholesale Distribution, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Automotive and Finance.

By integrating with B2BGateway’s cloud based EDI solution the Acumatica user can be compliant in all internationally recognized EDI standards and communication protocols such as ANSI X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, oioUBL, PEPPOL, VAN, AS2, etc. Full integration also removes the need for the Acumatica user 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.

According to Eugene Chang, Acumatica user and Head of Logistics at the gamers provider company NZXT, “B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solution for Acumatica provides the communications, data translation and mapping functionality required by NZXT to comply with all our trading partners’ EDI requirements. Taking into consideration that Acumatica is a relatively new product and the short time frame required for our EDI implementation, B2BGateway did a great job! Within a month we experienced the many benefits of a seamless, fully integrated EDI solution.”

“B2BGateway is excited to be sponsoring the launch of Acumatica 6 in Boston, states Louisa Gooding, Director of Sales & Strategic Relationships at B2BGateway, “At the launch we will demonstrate to Acumatica end users and partners how B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI for Acumatica can tighten and improve the Acumatica users supply chain by reducing errors, cutting costs and improving overall efficiencies. I’m also personally excited to meet with Bill Lee, being originally from the Boston area and huge Red Sox fan, Bill is one of my all-time favorites.”

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

Oracle and NetSuite: A match made in heaven - but what does the future hold?

Oracle announced on July 28^th its intention to purchase NetSuite for $9.3 billion subject to regulatory approval. NetSuite is a leading cloud based ERP/CRM/eCommerce software business suite that was founded in 1998 by Evan Goldberg and has been to the forefront of financial cloud technology since its inception. But what does the future hold for both organizations and why did Oracle feel the need to purchase NetSuite?

The Cloud
Oracle has been shifting aggressively to the cloud over the past two years as its more traditional client/server based enterprise solutions have become less popular with customers. Indeed, its revenue mix has shown just how important cloud is becoming to Oracle’s future. NetSuite as a pure bred cloud company will help Oracle get a great share of the cloud driven marketplace.

SMB Marketplace
NetSuite will help Oracle strengthen its position in the ever growing small to medium marketplace, a sector that Oracle has largely ignored up to now. It hopes the NetSuite acquisition will help Oracle to reach smaller companies that can't afford Oracle's traditional high-cost, high-maintenance product.

International Reach
In NetSuite, Oracle saw a cloud company whose sales of e-commerce and manufacturing software to smaller businesses were stalling as it tried to move into international markets. Oracle will use its branding and international knowledge to help NetSuite overcome international obstacles.

Competition.
If Oracle had not purchased NetSuite, chances are that a rival such as Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce or Sage may have done so.

NetSuite Two-Tier Strategy
Oracle’s powerful databases will help NetSuite’s Two Tier Strategy of going to market, i.e. where multi-national corporations use cloud solutions such as NetSuite for their subsidiaries and international markets, but feed all the data back to the head office main ERP system such as SAP.

Will NetSuite remain as a separate entity?
Oracle’s Mark Hurd has stated that they will continue to run NetSuite as a separate company, but if the previous PeopleSoft acquisition is anything to go by, it may not be long before Oracle turns NetSuite into a complete Oracle offering which may mean price increases for existing NetSuite clients.

B2BGateway, a ‘Built for NetSuite’ solution, has been NetSuite’s EDI partner since 2001, back when they were known as NetLedger, and we wish them the very best for the future. If you would like to know more about B2BGateway’s cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions for NetSuite users please email Sales@B2BGateway.Net or visit https://www.b2bgateway.net/edi-for-netsuite/

EDI Matters Newsletter

B2BGateway Newsletter out now! Taking the heat out of your EDI needs http://bit.ly/2ahQlTC

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 heading to the Windy City for Sage Summit

Leading global EDI provider B2BGateway will be attending this year’s Sage Summit from July 25-28, 2016 at the McCormick Place Convention Centre in Chicago.

Sage Summit is the largest gathering of Sage users, business partners and add-on specialists in the world. Throughout the week attendees will be greeted by celebrated speakers such as Richard Branson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Herjavec, business experts, tech innovations and mentors. The annual Sage Summit is also an ideal place for peer networking, in-depth education, interactive training and achieving Sage certification. And of course not forgetting the after show party where attendees can let their hair down by dancing and singing along to The Killers.

B2BGateway which is a Sage Universal Developer, provides cloud based, fully integrated EDI solutions to Sage 50 (US, EU), Sage 100 (US), Sage 200 (EU) and Sage 500 ERP (US) users. B2BGateway’s fully integrated EDI solutions remove the need for the Sage user to re-key data when exchanging electronic business documents such as orders, invoices, acknowledgements and advance ship notices (ASN) with trading partners.

If you are attending Sage Summit this year in the Windy City and would like to learn more about how B2BGateway’s EDI solutions for Sage can help your organization eliminate manual data entry, reduce labor costs and expedite payments from customers, email Sales@B2BGateway.Net to arrange an appointment. We look forward to seeing you there!

Modern EDI – It’s no longer just X12, EDIFACT or Tradacoms!

In today’s modern world of integrated data communication, the term EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) no longer represents just X12, EDIFACT or Tradacoms file exchanges, but rather has become a much more generic term for the exchange of all business data supported by an ‘Any to Any’ integration. In fact, in today’s terms modern EDI represents a completely integrated communication hub for all parties in the supply chain.

While the traditional EDI data formats of X12 et al are still supported, and indeed still widely used in retail, wholesale distribution, manufacturing and logistics industries, modern EDI will also support the majority of additional file formats such as XML, CSV and flat files. Modern EDI will also be built on SaaS/cloud based platforms allowing much more flexibility, scalability and value for money to the end user.

The modern EDI provider will also be able to support API integration in tandem with traditional EDI ports. Therefore, the modern EDI provider becomes a complete, integrated communication hub to support all the needs of the end user, be it the ordering of goods from a factory, selling those goods to traditional box-stores and the modern online marketplace, selling their own goods and services on their own shopping cart and integrating with a 3PL for the storage and shipping of the aforementioned goods. 

	Traditional EDI	Modern EDI
File Formats Supported	·         X12 ·         EDIFACT ·         Tradacoms	·         X12 ·         EDIFACT ·         Tradacom ·         PEPPOL ·         oioUBL ·         XML ·         CSV ·         Flat Files ·         And much more
Integration	·         Desktop ·         Limited Connectivity ·         SDK ·         ERP ·         WMS	·         Cloud Based ·         ‘Any to Any’ ·         SDK and API’s supported. ·         ERP ·         Accounting Software ·         WMS ·         OMS ·         Inventory Software
Pricing	·         High, used predominantly by very large organizations who could afford it.	·         Affordable and available all.
Industries Predominantly Serviced	·         Retail ·         Manufacturing ·         Automotive ·         Large Scale Wholesale Distribution	·         Retail ·         Online Market Places ·         Drop Shipping ·         eCommerce Shopping Carts ·         Manufacturing ·         Automotive ·         Wholesale Distribution ·         Healthcare ·         Insurance ·         Third Parfty Logistics (3PL) ·         Finance/Government

If you would like to know more about modern EDI and how it can support your business’ communication needs, please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net