News & Events
This Week in IDEA | December 15, 2011
Our eNewsletter, This Week in IDEA, keeps you informed with the latest news and education about IDEA, our solutions and services, and our customers and partners. IDEA’s knowledgeable staff and other contributing writers share insights, resources and special offers to help you Unleash the power of e. Subscribe now to receive This Week in IDEA in your email inbox every other Thursday and add our RSS feed to your reader.
Contents
- 2011 Holiday Wrap-Up
- We’re Moving! IDEA’s New Office
- Part Three of the “Catapulting the Curve” Podcast Series
- SaaS-Based ERP Leading the Way as Manufacturers Take to the Cloud
- The Rise of the Smart Shopper, Enabled by Big Data
- New Synchronization Customers
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2011 Holiday Wrap-Up
Here’s a breakdown of the topics and articles that caught your attention in 2011:
News about our Customers & Partners
Top news stories such as the Epicor-Activant acquisition, Hubbell’s eBusiness website and our new partnership with ElectricSmarts:
- Does the Activant Acquisition Affect You?
- For Hubbell, eBusiness is a Philosophy
- IDEA and ElectricSmarts Network Agree to Enter Strategic Partnership
eBusiness and Social Technology
Education on the latest strategies and tools you can leverage to strengthen your business, including eBusiness, social technology and supply chain management:
- 10 Twitter Tips
- EW Examines How Distributors are "Minding the Storefront" Online
- The Efficiency Effect – IDEA’s Joint BIM Efforts Examined by Electrical Wholesaling
Inside Industry Perspective
Coverage and resources of industry trade shows and events as well as new appointments on the IDEA Board of Directors and the IDEA Industry Standards Committee (ISC):
- IDEA announces new Directors and Officers for 2011-2012
- NAED National Electrical Leadership Summit Panel Now on YouTube
- Ann Jaehn of Thomas & Betts Appointed ISC Vice-Chair
New Product and Service Releases and Enhancements
Announcements and education about IDEA’s industry-inspired solutions, including the Attribute Fulfillment Service (AFS) and the IDW Version 3.0.
The Only Electrical eBusiness Conference
Information on the speakers, agenda and resources of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2011, the electrical industry’s only eBusiness event.
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We’re Moving! IDEA’s New Office
A new year, a fresh start! IDEA will be relocating at the end of the year, but not too far. We’ll be just down the street, and still very close to Reagan National Airport and neighboring hotels.
Please update your records with our new address:
Suite 500
Arlington, VA 22202
IDEA employees will not be available via email on the evening of Monday, December 19th starting around 4pm EST, but will be available via phone during that time. Phone numbers will remain the same. Otherwise, there will be minimal disruption to IDEA operations and services. We’re only moving two blocks away after all!
Tags for this post: employees
Part Three of the “Catapulting the Curve” Podcast Series
In this segment, Larry Stern and Del Nickel discuss the challenge and competitive advantage of manufacturers controlling their own product data, plus ways to prepare for a global marketplace by keeping pace with the ever-changing nature of technology.
“In the past, you would hear part of the skepticism was from the manufacturers saying that no distributor was asking for the product data, but if there’s any manufacturers that would make that statement, I would be happy personally to debate that with them, because they are not listening. The demand is there.”
– Larry Stern, president, Standard Electric Supply
“Manufacturers are the only ones who know their products, revisions changes, product changes, price changes, attribute changes, and the only ones that can react to that with speed. A lot of other industry service providers, i.e. competitors to IDEA, scrape and source the data from a multitude of websites and that data is only as good as the information on the websites, and frankly probably not very accurate.”
– Del Nickel, past president, Pentair Technical Products
Listen to part three of “Catapulting the Curve”>
Tags for this post: del nickel larry stern podcast multimedia
SaaS-Based ERP Leading the Way as Manufacturers Take to the Cloud
Content courtesy of Connected Enterprise, a blog by Epicor
According to this research gathered by Epicor’s Social Media Team, the growing adoption of cloud computing will be the primary source of increasing IT productivity for the next decade. In particular, software-as-a-service (SaaS) will simplify the implementation and usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.
“Highly integrated software applications that process the most sensitive business data, such as ERP, are the lantern-bearers of SaaS adoption today,” says Forrester analyst Holger Kisker.
The blog post also lists an overview of specific advantages SaaS-based solutions will deliver to small and mid-sized manufacturers and distributors.
Read the blog post and add Epicor’s Connected Enterprise blog to your RSS reader>
The Rise of the Smart Shopper, Enabled by Big Data
Content courtesy of the 1SYNC blog post by Ken Sickles
Analyzing consumer trends from the 2011 Holiday Retail season, Ken Sickles, Vice President of Product and Strategy at 1SYNC, notes the growth of online and mobile sales. According to Sickles, the consumer preference for purchasing online or through mobile will necessitate manufacturers and retailers to reevaluate their selling strategies for this channel. Sickles highlights several behaviors of the online and mobile consumer and discusses the influence of data on purchasing decisions.
Read the blog post and add 1SYNC’s blog to your RSS reader>
Tags for this post: 1sync retail industry ecommerce mobile consumer
New Synchronization Customers
New IDW Customer
Hicks Electric & Utility Supply Company (HESCO), a distributor from Doraville, GA, became an Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) customer on December 14, 2011. HESCO has established itself as a leading provider of electrical and utility products in the electrical supply chain.
New IRD CERICOMX® Customers
As a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, IDEA implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using the IRD CERICOMX® Data Synchronization Platform. IDEA was recently assigned 17 suppliers:
- Natrica
- Best Block Company
- Steam Planet Corporation
- Pell Industrial LLC
- Benton Greenhouse
- Duck Commander, Inc.
- Boom! LLC
- Columbia Marketing International
- Nunaat, Inc.
- Spice World, Inc.
- Big Ocean Corporation
- Libertystone Hardscaping Systems
- Heartland Footwear, Inc.
- Elizabeth Beverage Company, LLC
- Tuscany on Main, LLC of Depew, NY
- The Performance Marketing Group, LLC
- Oregon Growers and Shippers
These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an online catalog that suppliers use to register product data with the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool. Suppliers also use this solution to publish product data to demand partners including retailers such as Lowe’s and Walmart.