by Janet Zlokovich
Web-based portal applications hosted by Distributor and Operator trading partners are emerging in today’s foodservice environment as the new “it thing” for handling many aspects of Trade Promotion administration - contract and rebate management.
A frequently used term for these Web-based infrastructures, “Cloud computing” refers to web-based tools and applications that deliver services through common centers and are built on servers accessed via a web browser. We all know maximizing efficiencies is critical to doing business in this competitive market, these applications can result in many benefits for the host company through the framework that will enforce compliance for their contract entry requirements. It allows users online access and visibility 24/7 working as if a program was installed locally on the user’s own computer.
On the other hand, the challenge for manufacturers accessing web-based applications is they must now have dedicated resources to support the redundant work required for any Distributor/Operator portal since most already have a Trade Promotion solution such as Answers Systems' ContractPro®. As a result, with each new portal, user resource time for manufacturers to train and administer these portals along with the risk of contract information not being in sync for both applications continues to increase with each new portal. This factor needs to be considered a performance metric for determining the success of any portal solution. In addition, a trading partner interface that allows connectivity for the initial phase of the application release needs to be a requirement for any portal.
As Answers Systems hears about new portal projects in progress for any Distributor, Operator, Redistributors, or 3rd Party provider that impacts trade promotion management, Answers Systems is prepared and ready to become engaged with the initiative. We want to participate in any pilot and/or be part of the solution to gain connectivity for our manufacturer client’s contracts to remove the redundancy.
For example, Answers Systems went live on September 13th, 2010 with the FSEnet+ Contract Management Portal for publication of contracts to Distributors and Operators from our ContractPro® application and has proven success with establishing connectivity for contract communication. As a result, we currently have 4 ContractPro® clients that are now fully integrated with this contract interface and others are being staged for onboarding.
Answers Systems has almost 25 years of and understands the impact portals can have on Contract Management for our manufacturer clients - they look to us to represent their collective voice for the industry on topics that support standards initiatives. ContractPro® is our trade promotion management solution for foodservice manufacturers and it is our goal to provide our clients a single point of entry for their Distributor and Operator contracts.
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foodservice,
web-based portal applications,
cloud computing,
trade promotion management