This Week in IDEA | May 23, 2007

New IDEA Customer: Material Management Software, Inc.

Material Management Software, Inc., a software provider from Scottsdale, AZ, became an IDEA customer on May 17, 2007. Material Management Software Inc. specializes in providing technologies to the electrical, mechanical, and construction industry. They will be taking advantage of the cost saving features and reliability of the Industry Data Exchange (IDX2). Visit the Material Management Software Website for more information. Welcome aboard!

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New IDEA Customer: E-Box, Inc.

E-Box, Inc., an electrical enclosure product manufacturer, from Alabaster, AL, became an IDEA customer on May 22, 2007. E-Box supplies enclosures to customers in the southeast, midwest, northeast and great plain states. They will be providing their product and pricing information directly into the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW2) and they will be using the Data Audit Certification (DAC) program to assess the accuracy and completeness of their IDW2 business information against industry standards and business rules. Visit the E-Box Website for more information. Welcome aboard!

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New IDEA Customer: Northwest Electrical Supply

Northwest Electrical Supply, a commercial and industrial electrical distributor from Mt. Prospect, IL, became an IDEA customer on May 22, 2007. They will be providing their product and pricing information directly into the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW2) They are a proud member of IMARK. Visit the Northwest Electrical Supply Websitefor more information. Welcome aboard!

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New IRD/CERICOMX® 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 the following four suppliers:

- Cascade Ohio, Inc.
- Fimco Manufacturing, Inc.
- Kar Nut Products Company
- InnovAsian Cuisine Enterprises, LLC
- Blue Horizon Organic Seafood

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 learn more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact , IDEA IRD Product Manager, at ; or , IRD Sales Manager, at .

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Leviton Manufacturing Co.: Sponsor of Electro E-Biz Forum 2007

The Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 Committee would like to thank Leviton Manufacturing Co. for their Silver Level Sponsorship.

Leviton Manufacturing, founded in 1906, is a leading North American producer of electrical and electronic products. Leviton’s product offering now comprises more than 20,000 distinct catalog numbers and the company stands as a leader in the electrical industry, serving the industrial, commercial, OEM and residential markets. Visit the Leviton Website for more information about this company.

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Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.: Sponsor of Electro E-Biz Forum 2007

The Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 Committee would like to thank Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. for their Silver Level Sponsorship.

Siemens Energy & Automation provides a complete electrical, engineering and automation solution for the industrial, manufacturing and construction sectors. Their staff is composed of over 9800 dedicated engineers, designers, field service technicians and other diverse professionals. Visit the Siemens Energy & Automation Website for more information about this company.

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Schneider Electric: Sponsor of Electro E-Biz Forum 2007

The Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 Committee would like to thank Schneider Electric for their Bronze Level Sponsorship.

Schneider Electric is a world leader in electricity and automation management solutions. Schneider provides solutions for the Energy & Infrastructure, Industry, Buildings and Residential markets with and around its global brands - Merlin Gerin, Square D and Telemecanique. Visit the Schneider Electric Website for more information about this company.

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North Coast Electric Company: Sponsor of Electro E-Biz Forum 2007

The Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 Committee would like to thank North Coast Electric Company for their Bronze Level Sponsorship.

North Coast Electric Company, owned and operated since 1913, is one of the largest and fastest growing electrical distributors in the nation with 32 locations operating in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Arizona & Nevada. As a full line electrical distributor, they supply a wide range of electrical equipment to the electrical contractor, factory automation, industrial MRO, and commercial & institutional markets. Visit the North Coast Electric Website for more information about this company.

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Target Potential Electro E-Biz Forum Attendees: Advertise in the Forum Pocket Guide

Does your company need to promote new or enhanced products or services? Are you exhibiting at the Tech Center? Do you want to promote your company news or events to top executives, business managers or eCommerce professionals in the industry?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, your company should be included in the Electro E-Biz Forum 2007 Pocket Guide. This guide will be given to key contacts within the industry and will be the “go to” guide during the event. The Pocket Guide will include a complete day-to-day schedule of the event, abstracts for General and Breakout Sessions, Speaker Bios and Tech Center information.

Secure your spot by July 30th!

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Information is Power

We often hear that “information is power,” but many IT managers would argue with that statement. For them, information is a problem. It is growing at an exponential rate, becoming harder to store and access, and dealing with it becomes more and more costly each day.

At the same time, the need for the power of information is also growing. As global business becomes increasingly more competitive, the need for accurate, secure and immediate information on products, operations, customers and partners becomes critical to make the decisions necessary to keep a competitive edge.

Complicating the matter, governments continually add more burden on information systems to ensure—and report on—adherence to regulations, compliance and more.

Technology’s rapid developments in capturing information have helped, but may have also contributed to the problem. Until recently, business software development was functionally centered. Human resources, purchasing, ordering, billing and other systems were developed to address that specific function. These systems captured information and automated the processes necessary to carry out specific functions. However, each system was independent from the others, built in a different language, and had its own business logic.

As soon as the functional, separate systems became operable, businesses realized the need to aggregate information from the various separate systems to enable unified business operations and decision making. Thus, data warehousing, operational data stores and data marts were developed to aggregate information into a single environment and provide unified information search, query and reporting. This helped to enable direct communication between separate systems.
Data Warehouses enable access to business intelligence in a central, standardized environment open 24x7 – one-stop data shopping - accessible through a web browser.

Suppliers of information can aggregate all their data feeds via a data warehouse through a single pipe, eliminating time consuming and costly processes.

The demand side, or, users of information, have 24x7 access through one outlet in a format that fits their operating system. This eliminates the need to manually load and map data from CDs or email files or visit 100’s of websites to get the important business information needed to drive their operation.

What is needed is a “magic bullet” that can aggregate information from heterogeneous business systems in real time, query that information, cut and dice the information “on the fly” in any way the user needs, process any number of queries, be scalable for the growth of captured information, always provide the most current and accurate information and ensure continuous operation.

That’s a tall order but it is happening with the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW2). For every dollar spent on transaction processing applications or capturing data into databases, only $0.27 was spent on getting the data out for business analytics to support decision making and statutory reporting processes. In other words, organizations are collecting information, but not using it as well as they could. Yet it is vital to a company’s success to be able to make quick business decisions based on accurate, up to the minute information. Slow business decisions and inaccurate information leads to competitive disadvantages and in the long run, business failure.

Suppliers should use the IDW2 as their outlet to feed all their trading partners and distributors should demand that their suppliers deliver the information that they need to sell their products to the industry information bank, IDW2.

Information for most businesses is a problem rather than an advantage. But to some businesses, information is, indeed, power, and providing that is the information edge they need to succeed with the IDW2!

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Did You Know? IDW2 Hot Fact

Your ftp username and password is synchronized to your main company IDW2 login, not your personal user login. Should you ever decide to change your main company login, the ftp login will change to match it.

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