Fast forward to 2019 — skipping past the Pony Express, the telegraph, the land-line telephone and the teletype — and most of us have the fortune or misfortune of being able to receive messages from anywhere on earth in a matter of seconds. 

This month we are revisiting a different type of legacy we hear about in our industry: the legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Those of you who had a good 2018 may believe you can simply rest on your laurels. Don’t sit counting your past accomplishments, start earning your next award.

Another year is just about in the record books. We hope you have participated in the strong economy and have been able to bank some profits to be used in future times. Profits from 2018 are your war chest for 2019, assuming you retained some of the earnings. 

The primary supplier is the customer’s go-to supply house, much like the coffee house visited at the start of every day. In our industry, the primary supplier gets the first stop, the first call, the first web visit and the last look when the job is being quoted.

There is a company, not in our industry,  that has moved to a new organizational form with no supervisors. We will not name the company, as the information is mostly gathered from the Internet and as with most online information, some may be accurate while some may not.

Online competitors continue to move aggressively into the wholesale distribution industry. Traditional wholesalers must look at their pricing strategies, business choices and hiring practices to ensure they give customers the value, service and expertise they need.

We recently returned from the Southern Wholesalers Association’s annual meeting in Hammock Beach, Florida.  As part of our company’s evolution, we take the kids and grandkids to immerse them in our great industry.

At the end of May, Rich attended Epicor Software Corp’s Insights user conference as Epicor’s guest at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville. Epicor delivers business software solutions into the manufacturing, distribution, retail and services industries. 

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