Last time I talked mainly about how many distributors and vendors are doing the wrong things and don't really understand e-business and how it was all rather pointless, etc. This time, I'll try to talk more positively, I promise. This article is mainly about what has to happen to provide a truly integrated on-line experience for you and your customers. The last article will be mainly about how you can be a part of making it happen.

Me No Speaka De Language!
Let's talk about supply chains. Now supply chain is not something you hear spoken of much in the DMIA world. I won't get into the psychology of that, but supply chain management is one of the things the internet can help with most: Your customer places a request for a stock item on line and it's automatically routed to your warehouse (or perhaps, your vendor who has a just in time off-line storage system). You receive immediate notification if the item is out of stock, or is nearing depletion and a replenishing order is initiated in a matter of minutes. All of this happens in a paperless mode. And your customer is completely unaware that the item is 'out of stock'. In fact, for them, the term 'out of stock' no longer exists: they simply order things.

Now we have been doing this kind of thing with our auto industry for over ten years, using a much mis-understood technology called EDI. EDI is a standard for transmitting various transactions electronically. It is quite expensive, because it is done with proprietary software and requires private networks, plus all parties have to have an agreed upon format for data transmission which only works in industries (like automotive) with large economies of scale. But it is extremely reliable.

The internet is moving quickly towards something you may have heard about called XML. XML began as an off-shoot of a language used by technical documentation companies to organize very large manuals: like the kind found in DC-10s. It is also related to HTML which is the language web pages are designed in. XML allows someone to create web pages and data transmissions which look the same way every time, and which can contain data that computers everywhere can easily read. You can do the same things in XML that you can in EDI, but because it can be done over the internet, it is much less expensive to set up. The catch is that, just as with EDI, all parties have to have an agreed upon format for data transmission. Which means that when you send and XML document (which we can easily do from SAFE, for example), the recipient has to know what to do with it. (By the way, most large companies are sticking with EDI for now, because it is extremely reliable for mega volumes of transactions, something that cannot yet be said about the internet.)

So in the above example, all participants (customer, you, the vendor) would need to agree upon a standard format for the XML documents transmitted between the various parties. 'No problem, you say', we'll talk to the vendor and agree upon a standard format. Great! Now what about the other two hundred vendors you do business with? Will they all agree on this format? We've been trying to get vendors on board for ten years and it is only now starting to happen. Without an agreement on a standard data format, neither EDI or XML work. It's like standing in the United Nations without a set of headphones!

Your Homework!
Of course, there are many other aspects to the internet in relation to distributors, but I have focused on supply chains because we believe that, in the long run,  this will be greatest significance to distributors; in other words, easy fulfillment is what it will be about. The other things one can do on the internet (on-line customer ordering, etc) are 'front-end' kinds of things. These simply are not as beneficial without an integrated 'back end' which is where we are currently focused.

So this month's assignment is to consider if such an integrated supply chain would benefit you and your customers. If the answer is 'yes', the good news is that we already have the tools to do it. What you can do is to begin a dialog with us and your preferred vendors on making this happen. We can provide your vendors with all the information necessary to accept and receive documents directly to and from SAFE. Your job is to get their IT departments to work with us on this. Since we support XML and text-based e-mail transmissions, you can assure them that they're investment in effort will be minimal.

What We Can Do:
Currently, we can transmit and receive the following documents via XML or text-based e-mail, both from your office copies of SAFE and on-line ordering by your customers over the internet.

• Purchase orders of all the Product Templates we currently provide (including art work):
  Labels
  Envelopes
  Checks
  Continuous
  Snap Out
  Books and Binders
  Stock Items
  Ad Specs
  
• Releases from inventory
  
• Acknowledgements

Conclusion
An integrated supply chain cuts down on paperwork, speeds fulfillment, reduces errors and may reduce global warming. OK, maybe not global warming, but if you look at the companies who have won big on the internet, these appear to be some of the main benefits they have reaped from integration. SAFE can provide these benefits today. Just give us a call.

If you use Clarion ReportWriter, you should make certain you retrieve the latest version of CM.TXD (our data dictionary) from www.suntowersystems.com/downloads/safeee/cm.txd. If your dictionary is out of date, your reports won't work!

2.    Watch The Movies!
We are constantly adding new tutorial movies to our  tech support pages. Outside of on site training, these are the best ways to learn SAFE in depth. And they're free! (By the way, if you have suggestions on topics for movies, please send them off to Dawn@suntowersystems.com and she'll add them to her list!)

3. Clean Your Machines!
Did you know that fifty percent of all computer failures come from bad power supplies? Care to know what causes these failures? Overheating. What causes the overheating? Poor air flow. What blocks the air flow? Dust! So every few months you really need to dust the inside of your computer (or at the very least, the intake fan to the power supply). I recommend compressed air to blow dust out of nooks and crannies and also something called Swiffers: anti-static cleaning clothes available at every supermarket. These are terrific for getting dust off of all things electronic, plus they seem to prevent the dust from climbing back on quite so fast.

4. Get A Surge Suppressor For Everything!
You Yanks have loads of hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, earthquakes, typhoons, insect invasions, etc. And many of them seem to happen now! So get a decent surge suppressor from someone like APC, or Tripp-Lite (we have specials on these this month at www.suntowersystems.com/monthlys.htm!) Important tip: Protect EVERYTHING. That means having a surge suppressor on every modem line and network hub. I can't tell you how many calls we've taken on companies where all PCs were protected, but not the hub! Please understand: if a surge gets through anywhere on your network, it can get to any device connected on your network. For example, a power surge through your hub can easily travel the network cabling and damage PCs on the other side of your building. Get it? Good! So get protected today!

5. Consider Upgrading Your Networking!
Since I just mentioned hubs, many of you are still using the much slower 10-Base T Ethernet. You should upgrade to 100-Base T which is, as the name implies, ten times faster at sending information around your office. 100-Base T has been the standard now for several years, and the price of cards and hubs have recently dropped. For example, decent quality cards are available for less than $50.00 each in quantity.

So let's say you have ten PCs. To upgrade these to 100 Base T would be:
10 cards @ $50 per card   $500                       
Inexpensive hub                $250
                                      ---------
Total Cost                        $750

To put this into perspective, upgrading from 10 Base T to 100 Base T will provide a far greater performance benefit than upgrading your server, something that would cost a great deal more! Also, upgrading network cards is usually quite painless, so long as your computer is already running Windows 98 or NT Workstation. Even easier, all the new hubs are dual-speed: which means that you can install the new hub (which should take all of about five minutes in most offices!) and then install the new cards as you have the time with very little down time.

The only caveat in all this is that your office wiring must be capable of supporting the higher speed cards. To find out, examine the wires in your closet. If they say   'Category 5' or 'Cat 5' you're probably OK. In any case, check with your cable installer if you're uncertain.