The Distribution Solutions Council—an industry roundtable that promotes distribution-centric software and discussion of industry-related topics—will hold a Standards Summit Jan. 9–10 in Dallas.

Many industry experts focused on standards development are expected at this year's summit, including Infor, Intuit Eclipse and Activant/Prophet 21, Microsoft, and International Business Systems.

"We need to encourage the development of standards that can be easily implemented into software packages now. If the end user can avoid the expense of software customization, then adoption of the standards will be faster and the savings greater," said Jeff Gusdorf, principal of Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group, a member of the DSC. "The council understands the enormous impact the implementation of standards will have on the wholesale distribution industry."

"If the standards-setting groups and committees would conform to some simple, basic designs, then the software vendors will be in a better position to make the standards part of their base package," added Steve Epner, founder of Brown Smith Wallace. "This would make the cost of having access to the standards affordable, and it would also encourage adoption of the standards, since they would be integrated into the software packages in use by many channel participants."

The DSC was formed in 2001. Membership is open to any software company that has been in business for at least three years, sells distribution-related software, and has domain expertise in distribution while demonstrating an ongoing development capability.

To learn more about the DSC, contact Steve Epner, sepner@bswllc.com or call (314) 983-1214.