ValuTrak
Posts about the ValuTrak solution
by Bud Hilton
I wish I had coined this phrase but I can’t take credit. My son, who has spent 16 years or so with our company and is now our President, made this statement one day when I said to him, “I wish we could get through the maze and find out who, at this particular company, can approve our project.” He simply directed me to not look for the one who can say “yes” . . . find the one that is saying “NO” and impeding the search. The more I thought of this the more...
by Greg Hilton
“A computer, is like a bicycle for the mind,” Steve Jobs, Founder/CEO Apple.
I always liked that quote. Humans have a difficult time keeping up with the other creatures that inhabit this earth. Thanks to opposable thumbs, our early ancestors could grasp a wooden club and “evolve” to create more advanced technology through the ages. What sets us apart from every other known species is our ability to build tools. These mechanical extensions make difficult jobs easier and make
Is spending in our foodservice industry on its way back? What could postpone the return of restaurant spending, once the economic conditions begin to loosen up? Can the really smart marketers help to promote the return of spending in foodservice locations? The answers lie in understanding what we did to initially promote spending in a more prosperous economy.
In much better times, when marketers pushed to redirect consumer dollars from retail grocery stores to eating out, we were successful
by Greg Hilton
In the short time that I have had an opportunity to serve as President of Answers Systems, I have been reminded (from this new perspective) of the exciting destination that Answers Systems--and the customers we serve--are heading toward. In an industry with so many complications and challenges, it is important to reflect on the vision on which our our team is focused.
The Answers System’s Vision . . . To provide critical information to the Foodservice Industry with easy-to-
Getting Started with submitting Electronic Billback Reporting for deviated billbacks . . .
Many distributors are unsure of where to begin. When I talk to them about sending a data file for their deviated billbacks rather than emailing a static report format, distributors are sometimes hesitant because they want to make sure one solution and the same file layout will satisfy every manufacturer trading partner’s requirements.
The good news is there are easy-to-adopt industry standards for
We are always looking for ways to do things better, more accurately, and more timely within the Settlement department. We are working on testing an enhancement for claim verification that will do all of these things. Our current process for e-claims works pretty well to resolve contracts/trade spending agreements. We are going to use this same process on paper claims.
Among many pieces of information that manufacturers absolutely covet are:
Unit level data
P&L information (by contract, category, SKU, etc.)
Price Optimization capability
Market Share realization
by Greg Hilton
Each May, professionals from all around the food industry make the annual pilgrimage to the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago. I have attended on and off for around 15 years or so and each year, I meet an incredibly fascinating group of individuals and learn a tremendous amount. I am also in awe of the shear magnitude of the planning process and what must go into putting on a show of that size. Kudos to all of the individuals involved.
by Greg Hilton
At Answers Systems, we take quality, audit compliance and process controls very seriously. To that end, each year, our team goes through a rigorous independent audit by an certified public accounting operating under the guidance of the American Institute of CPAs. The outcome of this audit is our annual SAS 70...
by Brian Maloney
Hi, I’m Brian Maloney and my Social Security number is…….well I won’t go that far but I can tell you this: Hi, we’re Answers Systems and our GLN number is 1100001011810. So there you have it. Take this number and use it wherever you like. After years of preaching standardization in the Foodservice Industry and Contract Management more specifically, we figured we better eat our own words and sign us up for a GLN. If you don’t know what a GLN is, it’s a unique number for our place of business.
Just like a GTIN is a unique...
Answers Systems has been in production with our proprietary application, EclaimSM since 2006 – it’s allowed us to become an industry leader with billback data acquisition and implement foodservice trading partner inter-connectivity at every opportunity. Most of the Top 50 Broadline Distributors have already been set up and 70 of the largest chain operators are sending their claims electronically to their designated client mailbox at Answers.
Eclaim is a perfected blend of technology and dedi
Oldsmar, Florida--March 22, 2010: Answers Systems was recently named one of Tampa Bay’s Top Work Places 2010 by the St. Petersburg Times. The 60 leading employers in the Tampa Bay region were nominated by their employees, who were then surveyed about a variety of topics, including practices and policies that make these companies the top places to work.
I was reading a post on-line a few days ago about both the President and Congress agreeing that things are improving in our nation’s economy. Jobless numbers finally took a small decline and consumer confidence is up (even just a tiny bit) for the first time in many months. Funny though, ‘Things looking up’ when our national economy is facing what seems to be an insurmountable year-over-year budget deficit just does not seem to make sense. It is like saying, “Gee, my car is really driving much b
Throughout recent history the Foodservice and Trade Spend Management industry, as well as much of corporate America, has used really cool big words to describe trends and philosophies.
From the early eighties, we had Total Quality Management (TQM), a management theory for defect reduction and heightened quality standards. Sun Tzu (that is him on the right), an ancient Chinese military general penned, “The Art of war” and a whole industry of management theorist began translating the logic of
by Greg Hilton
Answers Systems has kicked off an incredibly exciting product development roadmap for 2010. We are focused on delivering focused improvements in our core products, ContractPro® and ValuTrak®. In the design of this year’s major product and service releases, our team focused on some key needs for our customers:
by Stacy Jackson
If you haven't already heard, a federal appeals court reversed the ruling on the Feesers vs. Michael Foods and Sodexo case. You may remember last summer (here's a link to that post) a lower court found Michael Foods and Sodexo guilty of violating the Robinson-Patman Act. Last week, Friday, January 8, that ruling was reversed.
Below are some links to that latest news:
Appeals Court Reverses Foodservice Pricing Pricing Ruling, Food Management
Third Circuit Rules that Food Service Management Companies and Distributors are Not Competitors for Robinson-Patman Act Analysis, USLaw.com
Michael Foods wins pricing case appeal, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal
Technorati tags: Feesers v. Michael...
First off, I wanted to say thank you to each and everyone of our our incredible customers. Your continued support of Answers Systems' vision allows our team to serve you each and every day. Serving you, our customers, is the single most important endeavor that we seek to succeed at.
Posted by Janet Zlokovich
As we wrap up the 2009 year, I want to leave you one thought as you have discussions with your supply chain partners on trade promotion . . . .
Collaboration on data exchange should be a key factor when you establish the core objectives for your trade program model. A requirement of the model must include the submission of electronic billback reporting to the manufacturer for claim settlement. It is simply the only way vendor partners will have the proper insigh
Posted by Tom Tipps
There’s been a lot of dialogue around the topic of trade-spend management in the Foodservice industry; but, in all honesty I’m not sure the industry has ever really agreed on the definition of “Trade” Spending.
From my perspective Foodservice trade spending involves incentives paid by manufacturers directly to their operator and distributor trading partners…to motivate those trading partners to purchase, sell or promote the manufacturers products/brands to the restaur
Posted By Greg Hilton
Here is a simile for you . . . Buying a reporting solution and not considering the cleanliness, accuracy and timeliness of the data being analyzed, is like installing a beautiful water faucet in your kitchen and hooking the plumbing directly to your sewer line.
Good data is like a filet mignon!
I was on a phone call with a potential customer the other day. I love being involved in the sales process because you really get energized by offering answers to the problems th
Posted by Tracy McQuilkin
E-claims are claims that come in an electronic format to Answers Systems and can be loaded into our processing system behind the scenes. This is a completely paperless process that eliminates the need for printed claims and manual claim entry.
The benefits of the Eclaimsm process are two-fold. Naturally, as members of the global business community, we have a certain responsibility to contribute to the preservation of our environment. By introducing and encouraging clients to use this greener, more accurate process, we reduce the amount of paper needed for the claims process. And when you’re processing more than 400,000 claims...
Posted by Bud Hilton
I recently complimented one of our managers at Answers Systems for stepping out on the edge and challenging a client on changing some of the practices they were doing in favor of a proven “best practice” way of accomplishing a task within their contract management system. After covering relentless arguing points and hovering in the “no change-safe zone”, the client agreed to make certain concessions and change their position and practice. I can’t express strongly enough h
Posted by Jennifer Grumbling
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, You Tube, blogging, it really can turn into an endless list of social networking outlets for anyone and everyone to connect to, well, anyone and everyone. Whether you’re a business looking to spread the word about a new product or a retiree seeking out your best friend from high school, it’s amazing the reach these tools can have.
Posted by Jennifer Grumbling
When it comes to trade promotion, foodservice manufacturers have some pretty distinct challenges when it comes to contract management. Here at Answers Systems, we have an entire team of Account Managers that handle specific client accounts and try to alleviate those challenges. Our clients are some of the world’s top brands (scrolling sidebar): Answers Systems Clients (I will finish my horn tooting in a moment.) Over the past 23 years that we have been transforming
Posted by Jennifer Grumbling
I recently read an interesting article about chicken, yes chicken. It was about the change over the past year in wholesale chicken prices for restaurant chains. Over the course of the past year, the majority of the time, the price per pound of chicken wings has been higher than the price per pound of chicken breast. This dramatic shift in what is considered the most lucrative part of the chicken has wing chain operators scratching their wings, I mean heads.
Since 1986, Answers Systems has been meeting the unique trade promotion and compliance performance management needs of the foodservice industry. We know the industry-specific requirements and challenges faced by each trading partner, and we understand the perspectives of key stakeholders such as sales, marketing, finance,IT, and purchasing.
As a best-in-class provider of trade promotion and compliance performance management solutions to some of the leading foodservice and hospitality brands in the world, Answers Systems helps clients analyze and understand their contracts, increase efficiencies, identify claim inaccuracies, gain compliance, and improve ROI. In the course of serving our clients . . .
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post by Stacy Jackson
It’s Monday. Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and relax. We are going to keep today’s blog simple enough, but it will change your life if you are a foodservice operator! I am running down the top three reasons why a multi-unit foodservice operator should use the ValuTrak® rebate and compliance management solution from Answers Systems.
Ready? It’s gonna be simple yet mind-blowing:
Posted by Stacy Jackson
Do you ever get songs stuck in your head? I do. Today’s song is “Surf City” by Jan & Dean. “Two girls for every boy” and “I’m going to Surf City where it’s two to one. Yeah, I’m going to Surf City. Gonna have some fun.” It’s kind of annoying, yet it got me to thinking about ratios. Surf City apparently had a 2:1 ratio of girls to boys. I started wondering what kind of ratios I might find in the quarterly report I received regarding our data mapping for our clients' tra
Posted by Greg Hilton
Wikipedia says the term Value Add speaks to difference between the cost to produce a good or service and the sale price. My economics professor in college, “Professor Humdrum,” probably defined it in the same calculating boring and repetitious way (he was good about that). Nothing against monotony, it just seems to go on and on.
Years later in the real world, the term Value Add became less synonymous with economic theory and definition and more about a handy catch p
Last weekend I went to a casual sandwich café for lunch with my family. They had these wonderful breads to choose from, delicious salads, gourmet sandwiches & pastries, it was hard to choose! After we settled into our seats, I went to get our drinks and condiments. I grabbed the mustard, mayonnaise then I went to grab the ketchup. I was surprised to see that the ketchup didn’t follow the brand of the rest of the condiments. This got me to thinking, why do operators make the choices that they mak
Posted by Jennifer Grumbling
In an economy where every single dollar counts, it is more important than ever to track your spending. Not only is it important to track spending as an everyday consumer, but also for your business. In the foodservice industry when it comes to rebate and compliance performance management for chain operators, aligning the purchasing habits with purchasing agreements for a multi-chain unit can become a difficult mountain to climb.
So what exactly is involved in
Have you ever wondered how a company like Answers Systems prioritizes software enhancements or major client/corporate initiatives are? Like many other businesses, we employ the Project Management Office (PMO) concept.
At the top of the PMO Governance document, you will find the following quote: “The PMO’s function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.” This applies in a couple of ways:
Posted by John Nicholas
Over the past eight years I have interviewed scores of foodservice manufacturers. At some point in the conversation, I ask them whether their sales and marketing efforts and trade spend dollars are primarily geared toward operators or distributors? Every manufacturer recognizes the value of their distributor partners, and the need to support the distributor’s efforts in getting their products to market. Having said that, most manufacturers feel more than a little quea
Posted by Stacy Jackson
Celebrity chefs and shows like Hell’s Kitchen and Top Chef highlight the creative, exciting side of the restaurant business. The contestant developing the exquisite menu item that will keep himself or herself safe from the wrath of Gordon Ramsay makes for great television.
Although they can be a big a part of a restaurant’s success, I don’t think the folks dealing with supplier contract negotiations will ever get their own shows. “America’s Next Top Purchasing Agen
If you Google “change management,” you get about 240 million results. As you can imagine, this is a hot topic and has become quite the buzzword. What is it, and when did this become one of the most integral parts of managing the success of a business?
According to Wikipedia, Change Management is “the structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state.” Also, common sense (and Einstein) says that doing the same thing over
Post by Stacy Jackson
Earlier this week I was reading the website of one of our ValuTrak® clients. This client, part of the hotel segment, prominently features information about one of their brand’s award-winning menus featured throughout the units of that property. They pride themselves on providing hot, cooked-to-order morning meals to their guests.
It is a source of pride to Answers Systems that this client is part of the ValuTrak Community. They have negotiated special rebates and pr
Have you ever built a puzzle only to get to the end and find that you are missing a piece? Sure, you can tell what the final picture is supposed to be, but it just isn’t complete.
The same holds true as a foodservice operator or hospitality group. Your organization has worked to build a strong, profitable company but if you do not have an accurate rebate, compliance and performance tracking system in place you are missing a piece to your organization’s puzzle. Not to mention, a very profita
Posted by Stacy Jackson
While reviewing the various tweets from the Tweeps we are following on Twitter (that's a tongue twister!), I saw a link to an interesting story about foodservice on Facebook. No - I'm not talking about online menus or even online ordering. I'm referring to the game called Restaurant City on Facebook.
According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, "Virtual cooking is a hit on Facebook," it sounds like foodservice has become an addictive new game. People can hav
Since 1986, Answers Systems has provided best–in-class trade promotion and compliance management solutions for leaders in the foodservice and hospitality industry. The ValuTrak(R) solution is one of the most efficient and effective tools available in the industry. This product is a service for multi-unit accounts that support management of supplier agreements via data acquisition, rebate management, price verification and compliance reporting.
FAST FACTS
On a yearly basis, Answers Systems’