[eBook] Distribution Analytics Software - 6 ways wholesale distributors can compete and grow

Wholesale distributors face increased competitive pressures, intensified battles over shrinking margins and many other challenges and opportunities. So, how can they compete and grow?

NB: This is an excerpt from our latest eBook: 'Distribution Analytics Software: 6 ways to compete and grow'. To download the eBook, click here.

What is needed to compete and grow is a better understanding of the business operations, from the backend manufacturing to the front-end customer-facing sales and marketing efforts. There needs to be a better communications tool that connects the back to the front using a common language that can drive the conversations. The tool is business intelligence (BI) and the common language is data.

Volumes of information are created every business day from the various departments and systems across wholesale distributors. This data provides the evidence of activities and proof of performance that helps companies understand what is working and what can improve. The data also provides validation that decision makers need to move forward, to taper manufacturing, increase staff or launch new territories.

The data provides the signs that companies need to follow to navigate their business through today’s fast-paced, competitive, technology-driven world. Companies that don’t use business intelligence, and don’t follow the signs – the distribution analytics – are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past and miss the opportunities of the future.

Here are six reasons why a modern BI system and distribution analytics are important to your company’s ability to compete and grow.

1. Legacy is not a gift

Many wholesale distributors have been around for decades, and as previous generations pass down the business to the next generation, oftentimes they pass down more than products and a customer list.

Frequently, these family-owned or multi-generational companies pass down business traditions and legacy systems that continue to be patched and updated through their challenges. As the legacy business and infrastructure allow teams to do things “the way they have always been done,” the ability to compete among more mobile, agile, flexible and tech-savvy competitors wanes.

To succeed today, it’s important to evaluate your legacy environment to determine if your business is being held back by outdated systems and practices.

Business intelligence allows you to collect and review your distribution analytics to make smarter, timelier decisions. When battling for customers today, a more efficient and accessible infrastructure combined with accurate and relevant data can be a major difference maker.

This has been a preview on our eBook for wholesale distributors. Click the image below to learn other ways distribution analytics software helps your business compete and grow