April 22, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

It is not very often that a whole organization can take advantage of trade show education. Normally, only the top executives get to go and listen. This time it is different. Every company can attend the education sessions at the Virtual Technology Show for free, right from your own office. Here is the chance to spread the education around your whole organization.

On April 30 and May 1, the Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group will host the third Distribution Virtual Tech Fair. It grows each year and while the booths are worth seeing and the environment worth exploring, it is the education I want to focus on.

My suggestion is to review the programs and schedule a time for you and your staff to listen to the speaker. You might bring in lunch and then have a discussion of what you heard. This is a wonderfu...Read More

February 8, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

Continuing with my focus on innovation, I want to ask a question:

"Are industrial distributors innovative?"

Certainly, we still have many similarities to the original peddlers who wondered across the country in centuries past. But there is a lot of new as well. So, are we an innovative industry?

As with most questions, it depends on your point of view. Obviously, much of what we do has changed considerably in the recent past. Consider the advances people like Jon Schreibfeder have made in inventory control. They have changed the fundamentals of a key element of the business.

Yet when I look at individual distributors, I am always amazed at how few are taking advantage of the proven technology and other opportunities that are available.

The last time I dealt with this question, Dr. Julia Kalish at...Read More
Industries: Executive Management, Software & Technology

January 22, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

As Innovator in Residence at Saint Louis University, I am often asked to define the difference between innovation and entrepreneurship. These two complimentary modes of action are often confused. So, what is the difference? And what can happen if they get together?

Innovations can be large or small and process- or product-oriented. They can affect the way we think or act. They can be minor enhancements or a totally new way of doing something. They can be an incremental product change or something completely new.

The portable tape player kept being enhanced by becoming smaller and delivering better sound quality with longer-lasting battery life. Each of these steps was an innovation that kept the product alive and consumers willing to purchase a newer, better (at least in perception) model.

Then, along came the iPod. That was not just an ...Read More

December 18, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

"Best practices" is one of those buzz-word terms that get lots of press, generate lots of conversations and end up creating a minimal amount of positive change. Why? Because most business people want a silver bullet. They want an easy and guaranteed answer. They want someone to tell them what to do in order to be more successful.

It does not work that way. First, if it were easy and guaranteed, it would already be done. Second, the answers may be hidden. So look carefully.

Learn from what others have done. There are lessons to be found in every success or failure. But success requires work—hard work. Changing can be hard work. So do your homework to make sure the effort you will put into change will pay back in positive benefits.

Start by looking at the things that the most successful around us all seem to be doing. For example, many...Read More

October 26, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

We have seen a great deal of consolidation in the software side of the distribution industry. Prophet 21 was buying everyone up and then they got acquired. Infor started as a West German company named Agilisys three years ago and is now generating over $3 billion in revenue. Eclipse got purchased for a price north of $100 million. Where will it end?

The question is important for a number of reasons. First, every user needs to feel comfortable that their software will be supported for the foreseeable future. Second, if you are looking for software, which players will stick around? Third, what happens to users who get caught in the consolidation?

The answers are many and varied. The most important good news is that the consolidation of distribution-centric software has not resulted in the mass “sunsetting” of products. In the past, some purchased compani...Read More