This Week in IDEA | March 12, 2008

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 eight suppliers:

• East Coast Olive Oil
• Daisy Outdoor Products
• P & L Industries
• Big Bark Enterprises
• Merrick Engineering Inc.
• Vintage Sports Cards
• All-Sport Bruch, LLC
• Brainstormproducts, LLC

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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New IDEA E-Biz Forum Sponsors: Panduit Corporation, ILSCO, Electro Federation Canada and Datalliance!

IDEA would like to thank Panduit Corporation, ILSCO, Electro Federation Canada and Datalliance for their support of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008.

Panduit Corporation: Platinum Sponsor of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008!

Panduit is a leading, world-class developer and provider of innovative networking and electrical solutions. For more than 50 years, Panduit has engineered and manufactured end-to-end solutions that assist our customers in the deployment of the latest technologies. Find out more at www.panduit.com.

 

ILSCO: Silver Sponsor of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008!

ILSCO is the largest direct supplier of mechanical connectors to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) in the United States and Canada. Through Electrical Distributors, ILSCO supplies connectors, tools and accessories to the commercial and industrial construction market as well as for maintenance and repair. Find out more at www.ilsco.com.

Electro Federation Canada: Bronze Sponsor of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008!

Electro-Federation Canada (EFC) is a national, not-for-profit industry association. Together, its seven councils represent over 300 member companies that manufacture, distribute and service electrical, electronics and telecommunications products; contributing over $50B to the Canadian economy. Find out more at www.electrofed.com.

 

Datalliance: Bronze Sponsor of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008!

Datalliance is a leading provider of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) services. They specialize in making it easy for suppliers and their customers to establish and operate inventory management relationships that fully align business objectives, improve collaboration, and streamline supply chain operations. Find out more at www.datalliance.com.

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IDEA Standards Committee Opens Online Registration

The IDEA Standards Committee (ISC) recently launched an online registration tool that is available through the customer portal under My Training and Support/Standards. The online registration tool allows you to pledge your commitment to ISC and its subcommittees by becoming involved in the creation of electrical industry eBusiness standards and guidelines. Once you complete and submit the form, your information will be approved to receive committee communications.

This new tool gives you the option to join a committee in various participation levels, ranging from an informed member to an active or voting member. Find out more about ISC in the Standards Committee Presentation or become an industry leader today. 

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Don’t Shortchange the Value of Data

In a survey of more than 100 top corporate executives, 71 percent called the data in their company's information systems "potentially very valuable" -- and most of them said it would become even more valuable as a source of competitive advantage in the next year. Unfortunately, only 43 percent said their company had been very effective in converting this data into usable knowledge.

When was the last time you remember being pleasantly surprised by how effectively a company used its data to improve sales or customer service?

We all remember back in the '90s the wow factor behind going to an ATM and seeing our actual name on the screen for the first time. We all remember the first time we experienced collaborative filtering from an eCommerce site -- "if you liked this, you may also like..."

But lately it seems the corporate world's flattened out or fallen off the learning curve in leveraging the data it has -- as evidenced by the mostly off-target way the product information is published and provided to its trading partners.

But there may be a reason for that, according to the latest Management Barometer survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The study basically found that corporate data isn't being converted into usable knowledge nearly as often or as effectively as it could be -- not for lack of available technology, but for lack of corporate willpower.

In the survey of more than 100 top corporate execs, 71 percent called the data in their company's information systems "potentially very valuable" -- and most of them said it would become even more valuable as a source of competitive advantage in the next year.

Unfortunately, only 43 percent said their company had been very effective in converting this data into usable knowledge, citing numerous issues, including data consistency, timeliness, accuracy, and so on.

Interestingly, when asked about the keys to unlocking their data's value, the No. 1 response was "the ability to mine or interpret data" (75 percent), followed closely by "the ability of IT systems to deliver data assets" (70 percent) and "ability to get real-time information" and "integration of data with business processes" (66 percent each). Bringing up the rear were "an enterprise wide data strategy" (54 percent) and "a data governance structure" (52 percent).

Strategy and governance - not so important, huh? But wait -- it gets better. A full 74 percent of the executives said the main barrier to realizing the value of corporate data was "competing corporate priorities," far ahead of the 35 percent who cited "technology issues."

As often quoted, "Where there's a will, there's a way." What this survey is telling us -- albeit behind a smokescreen of operational issues -- is that leveraging data isn't yet a top corporate priority.

Data is a bit like global warming. Many people see it as an issue, but nobody really owns the issue, so it often suffers from a lack of focused effort. Will manufacturers heed the wake-up call on the importance of leveraging data in time to outpace their competition? Or will they stand by and lose out to rivals that know how to put data to work?

Time will tell. In the meantime, give yourself a break, IT. Most likely, the problem isn't with the technology and data capabilities you've put in place. The problem -- if your company has one -- is that the top team just hasn't yet "gotten the memo."

*Excerpts taken from The McKinsley Quarterly

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Silvio Rodriguez Leaves the IDEA Team

Silvio Rodriguez, Customer Service Director, has left IDEA after over two years of dedicated service. During his career at IDEA, Silvio took on the primary responsibilities of customer support, IT support and customer relationship management (CRM). He also served as a member of the IDEA E-Biz Forum Committee. IDEA would like to thank Silvio for his significant contributions to the industry and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

is the new contact for IT and customer support. Nick can be reached at .

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Did You Know? IDW Hot Facts

IDW has a self service test database that allows manufacturers to simulate different scenarios before publishing data in IDW. There is no set-up required to use the test database and it is available to manufacturers uploading data in any format (i.e. EDI, Flat File) using any delivery system.

The information sent to the test database is scrubbed against the IDW data validation engine (DVE) rule set and error messages are provided via IDW Load Summary notifications. Using the test database helps you avoid loading your data file into production and then dealing with multiple errors while customers are calling to find out why you didn't update all of the items. Now production loads will either be 100% complete or nearly complete saving you and your trading partners time and aggravation.
The IDW test database makes it easy to:

• Identify and correct data errors for updates
• Test new hardware or software to push data files to IDW
• Prepare and test the readiness of data from a new product line or a buy-out
• And much more…

Contact the Data Content Support Team at for more information.

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