This Week in IDEA | February 4, 2009

New IDEA IRD Customers

IDEA announces nine new IDEA IRD customers. Read more about these companies and how you can begin trading with them electronically to expand your business.

New IDEA IRD Customers

IDEA, a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using IDEA's IRD CERICOMX® application. IDEA was recently assigned nine suppliers:

• Klosterman Baking Company
• ARTIVA
• Armor Accessories
• International Golf Group
• Selecta Corp.
• Birchwood Laboratories
• Wild Bill’s Foods. Inc. 
• Duck House, Inc
• UnderDeck 

These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an IDEA branded product for supporting and uploading supplier product information into the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool.

If you would like to find out more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact , IRD Product & Customer Support Manager, at .

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Josh Given and Sharon Dabbs Join the IDEA Team

IDEA welcomes two valuable additions to the team this month - Josh Given, formally of United Electric Supply (DE) and Sharon Dabbs, formally of The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers & Allied Workers. Given will join the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW)/Industry Data Exchange (IDX) department as the Data Synchronization Program (DSP) Support Administrator and Dabbs will assume the role of Accounting Assistant.

Given joins IDEA with over 12 years of experience in the electrical industry. His previous positions at United Electric Supply of New Castle, DE included EDI Coordinator/Special Applications Administrator and IT Supervisor. While at United, he was responsible for all electronic forms of communication.

Given will support the DSP program and customer support activities and backup the IDW Sourcing Administrator. His primary responsibilities include the development and maintenance of IDW training programs and ongoing improvements and support to IDW integration capabilities. You can reach Josh at or .  

Dabbs will join the Finance and Administration department as the Accounting Assistant. Her primary responsibilities include accounts payable, collections, receptionist and other administrative duties. Dabbs will be the first point of contact for all general IDEA calls and office visitors. She brings over 10 years of experience in accounting and administration. Sharon can be reached at .  

Please join us in welcoming both of these new employees to the team!

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Marilyn Sherman to Speak at the IDEA E-Biz Forum ‘09

IDEA is proud to announce Marilyn Sherman, a seasoned motivational speaker, author, and business owner, as a general session speaker of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2009. Sherman will provide a content – rich program with strategies on how to take immediate action using the concepts and applications learned throughout the Forum. This entertaining and inspiring session will help you move forward in work and life.

About Sherman

Sherman started her corporate experience with Chrysler First Financial Services. As an in-house trainer, she was responsible for writing, producing, and presenting training programs to 2400 employees across the United States. When Chrysler First was acquired by NationsBank, Marilyn was an instrumental member of the transition team. She put her many years of experience as a Team Building trainer to help the individuals of both companies quickly meld into one team.

Sherman left NationsBank to become a full time seminars leader for one of the nation’s top seminar companies. She quickly became one of their most sought after speakers for on-site clients.

Sherman now owns UpFront Presentations, speaking to corporations, associations, and universities around the country. Her clients include executives and salespeople for McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Club Managers Association of America, Sodexho, Sysco, F.D.I.C., First Premier Bank, and many more.

Sherman is the author of three motivational books entitled “Whose Comfort Zone Are You In?”, “Why Settle for the Balcony?”, “How to get a Front Row Seat in Life” and “My Ticket to the Front-Row”. Marilyn is a graduate of Washington State University and an 11 year member of the National Speakers Association. She has served on boards for local chapters and recently served on a national level as the chair of a committee serving all motivational and keynote speakers.

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Activant Solutions: Premiere Sponsor of the IDEA E-Biz Forum ‘09

IDEA would like to thank Activant Solutions for their Premiere level sponsorship of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2009. This company demonstrates their dedicated support of the electrical industry’s only annual event focused on advancing the industry through eBusiness and the latest technologies. Their leadership and support is greatly appreciated by all.

Activant Solutions Inc.™ ("Activant") is a leading technology provider of business management solutions serving small and medium-sized retail and wholesale distribution businesses in three primary vertical markets: hardlines and lumber; wholesale distribution; and the automotive parts aftermarket. Founded in 1972, Activant provides customers with tailored proprietary software, professional services, content, supply chain connectivity, and analytics. More than 30,000 customer locations use an Activant solution to manage their day-to-day operations. Headquartered in Texas, Activant has operations in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Canada, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.activant.com.  

Activant filled one of the two exclusive Premiere level sponsor spots leaving only one left! Interested in joining this industry leader in their support of eBusiness advancements? Take a look at the sponsor benefits to select and confirm your company sponsorship.

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Share Your eBusiness Insights with the Electrical Industry

IDEA is accepting speaker submission forms for the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2009 until Friday, Februrary 20. Represent your company as a leader in eBusiness – submit your presentation ideas today.

As a presenter, you will interact with an audience of professionals with roles specific to eBusiness, operations, IT, sales/marketing and senior management. Additional benefits:

• Complimentary registration (a US $575 value)! This includes access to all conference activities, scheduled meals, social functions, and conference program materials
• Positive PR for your company
• Professional career development
• And most importantly, a chance to educate our audience

This year’s theme is “Guide Change by Leading Change”. We are looking for sessions that will give our attendees the information they need to start working toward their eBusiness goals as soon as they return to the office. This year we will integrate more sessions on how to help IDEA customers utilize IDEA products and services more efficiently. Please be sure to identify your intended topic area with your email submission.

Some examples of potential topics:

• How to apply eBusiness best practices to IDEA products and services
• Trading partner case studies and success stories
• Tips for successful change management
• Tips to improve the B2B eCommerce customer experience
• How to develop data governance in your organization
• Data synchronization lessons learned

Submit your session topic now!

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IDEA President Hits the Road Again - Next Stop NAED South-Central

Bob Gaylord, President and CEO, will provide insights on how you can protect profits by reducing your costs using IDEA at the NAED South Central this month in Orlando, FL.

Date: Wednesday, February 25
Time: 1:15 - 2:45 PM
About the Session: Even the best sales organizations can see their margins dissipated by backend mistakes and errors. This session focuses on how IDEA will reduce errors to ensure that sales increases go to your bottom line, not into a technological blackhole.

In this session, you will gain:

• The opportunity to impact IDEA’s strategic direction;
• Firsthand knowledge of new IDEA offerings; and
• A greater understanding of how data standards can remove your company’s limitations.

IDEA will also conduct one-on-one sessions throughout the event. Come share stories about your business and ideas with the electrical industry’s data synchronization service provider. Bob will select one of your comments to respond to in next month’s post on www.highvoltageideas.com.  

How to save your seat: Call Pat McCartin at or email with your preferred date and time.

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Feedback Request on IDW Expired Price Sheets

The IDEA team is developing a best practice for manufacturer price sheet longevity to eliminate unnecessary memory space. Based on prior research and experience, we propose to purge price sheets with an expiration date of 36 months/three years or greater.

We realize the benefits of expired price sheets for processes such as applicable contract pricing renewals. The purpose of this best practice is to eliminate expired price sheets that are no longer useful to the distribution community. Please inform us if your company utilizes IDW expired price sheets older than three years.

Please send your feedback on this subject directly to your account manager or to . Thank you.

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