Applications Built for Distribution

A transition is underway in wholesale distribution as more and more distributors are focused on using big data to advance their goals. Unfortunately, many distributors face big challenges with big data. ERP systems typically only provide stock reports and KPIs and lack the ability to report the unique performance metrics necessary for your business, strategy and experience.

The Tridex Data Warehouse can solve many of these issues by allowing your company to move Progress data into a SQL Server database and thereby expand your reporting capabilities. You can report still take advantage of your Progress data structure with existing or new and more powerful reports, but you can also manipulate data into a SQL Server reporting database. You can secure your data with Active Directory security to maintain data integrity. Our methodology was designed with the intent of giving your company the power to control the data elements needed for your reporting requirements.

We focus on the development and deployment of business intelligence reports that capture and present your specific KPIs, allowing you to manage our business with greater detail. We help you succeed with installation, implementation, training, consulting and support services. By removing many of the expert-level and time-consuming tasks from your own team, you will increase accuracy and eliminate data manipulation errors, allowing you to spend more time on top line growth.

• “We are concerned about mergers and acquisitions in wholesale distribution. I don’t want to tie-up a lot of resources by buying servers and hiring more IT talent when I’m trying to show consistent EBITDA growth.”
• “Our system is becoming richer and more robust, but that is also increasing the complexity and challenges in managing my IT solutions.”
• “We’ve been using our software for years, and our hardware shows it. It’s old and I’m not looking forward to replacing it.”
• “I’m opening new locations and I’d rather have access to my systems from anywhere in the cloud.”
• “We’re spinning off a division and that makes both organizations leaner and meaner. I don’t want to add more to my support and maintenance costs.”
• “I need to know that my infrastructure is going to grow with my company.”

Cut your work in half while you improve accuracy and employee satisfaction

Most distributors use some form of cycle counting in their warehouses to stay current with accurate inventory levels without counting their entire stock. Unless you are operating a robust warehouse management solution, you may be limited to some inefficient and paper-based processes when you cycle count. Often this means printing physical tickets to paper, writing down your counts and then entering that information by hand into your ERP system.

Unfortunately, inefficiencies in your cycle counting process can lead to miscounts and fewer counts. Fewer counts lead to more inaccuracy as cycle counting depends on a sampling process to discover inventory errors. Adding a mobile cycle counting process to your ERP system may be the answer.

Tridex System’s Mobile Cycle Count product can be run on any Android powered device. Simple, quick and fast, Mobile Cycle Count communicates your counts in real-time as your warehouse personnel make them.

Our app lets you dynamically control what is displayed on the mobile device screen. Do you want to hide the “Quantity Expected” value? With Mobile Cycle Count, you can. Do you want to use both tablets and smaller cell phone size devices? You can change what is displayed so any device can be comfortably used in any environment.

Performing cycle counts on the sales floor or in a counter sales environment is particularly challenging with a paper-based method. Your employees are busy preparing the store for its opening hour and are too busy serving customers during operating hours. But in a sales environment, inventory is moving even more than in your warehouse. It includes sales made that day, items that customers might pick up and carry around without buying and products used by sales reps for demonstration purposes. Users of Tridex Systems’ cycle counting application are now able to count even their retail and counter sales locations for consistent accuracy, just like the big box retailers do.

BENEFITS OF MOBILE CYCLE COUNT

• Real-time communication with SX.e
• Reduce or eliminate the need to use paper count sheets
• No more double entry of information
• Improved accuracy
• Save your work in progress
• Group security to display the right information to the right employees with dynamic column displays

Managing customer deliveries can be tough. How many times do customers call to say that they didn’t receive your delivery, or the product was wrong, that the delivery was late or there were unacceptable damages to the shipment? Many distributors spend a lot of time creating deliveries for the day, following up on those deliveries, responding to customer requests and complaints and matching paper-based delivery documents with billing invoices.

It is all too easy to misplace stacks of paperwork and create errors from manual data entry when you record deliveries into your SX.e system.

Tridex Systems gives you the power of mobile delivery automation with Mobile Proof of Delivery. Mobile Proof of Delivery transacts deliveries in real time to your SX.e system.

Your drivers will find the interface fast, easy and intuitive, and they will appreciate not having to carry around stacks of delivery paperwork. While in the field, the app gives your drivers mapping capabilities to show the proper locations of delivery addresses. Taking advantage of the camera feature of your mobile device allows you to record the state and condition of your dropped off packages should any questions arise later.

Mobile Proof of Delivery even works when your drivers are out of cell coverage range. It continues to operate, process deliveries and record signatures in the field. Then when your drivers return to cellular coverage range any and all pending deliveries will synchronize to SX.e and process as normal.

Admin Portal users can even check on delivery status, make changes or corrections to deliveries and manage deliveries and drives from their Liferay environment.

BENEFITS OF MOBILE PROOF OF DELIVERY

• Capture client signatures on handheld devices
• Real-time synchronization of signatures to SX.e
• Off-line capability to accommodate for remote locations
• Map feature to show delivery addresses
• Auto-ship processing for delivered orders
• Camera and image capture to record dropped off packages

“THIS LOW COST, EASY TO IMPLEMENT SOLUTION TO CAPTURE SIGNATURES ON A VARIETY OF MOBILE DEVICES HAS ALLOWED US TO GAIN REAL TIME SIGNATURES AND CUT DOWN ON THE AMOUNT OF PAPERWORK LOST OR MISPLACED. “

SHANE SULLIVAN, DIRECTOR OF IT, CRUM ELECTRIC

Tridex System’s Mobile Bin application offers consignment inventory, bin replenishment and storeroom issues in one simple tool. Available for any Android-powered device, Mobile Bin is simple, quick and fast, communicating real-time inventory counts to your SX.e system.

Set up your consignment warehouse in SX.e and tie that warehouse to your Customer and Their Ship-to location. From there, Mobile Bin will download all applicable products and bins in that warehouse. You can also create your replenishment count list in SX.e and assign your customer to the count list in SX.e using our admin portal. Mobile Bin will download that count list as needed. If you are using Storeroom, Mobile Bin gives you the ability to make “issues” and provides access to those special fields as well (Department, Machine, Project and Work Order).

• Real-time communication with SX.e using Infor’s APIs
• Reduce or eliminate paper count sheets
• Works on any Android device – no need to purchase proprietary handheld hardware
• Save your work in progress
• Scan product barcodes for improved accuracy

Would your sales and support teams benefit by having access to key SX.e screen in the field or anywhere they service your customers? How much more powerful would it be to offer mobile access directly to your customers with a unique and secure logon?

A recent study from Gartner Research points out how ineffective mobile customer service is hurting interactions with customers. The study shows that 75% of buyers want the companies they work with to provide support via their smartphones and 72% have a more positive view of companies that provide a mobile customer service app.

It’s time for you to turn the distribution industry’s lack of mobile support from a weakness into a strength.

Tridex System’s Mobile Customer system can be run on any Android powered device. It is simple, quick, intuitive and fast. Mobile Customer communicates in real-time to your SX.e back office system providing real-time, accurate information.

Let your sales staff or even your customers look up real-time pricing and availability. Mobile Customer can even look up items based on a variety of cross-reference data like UPC#, Vendor Part, Customer Part, all using ICSEC setups inside of SX.e.

In addition to satisfying evolving customer demands, you can reduce the incoming calls to your AR department by letting Mobile Customer put the necessary AR information literally in your customers’ hands.

With the Admin Portal running in a Liferay environment, you can setup and maintain proper cross-Customer and ShipTo security. Additionally, you can completely customize which SX.e fields will show in each screen.

Join other SX.e users of Tridex System’s Mobile Customer app and improve your customer service and increase the profitability of your sales reps in the field with increased response times and real-time data.

BENEFITS OF MOBILE CUSTOMER

• Secure logon to specific Customer and/or ShipTo accounts
• Switch between accounts with the simple click of a button
• Utilizes Infor’s SXAPI calls for fast accurate information
• View real-time pricing and availability
• Show product availability across all warehouses
• View real-time order balance information
• View real-time AR balances