Vera Muzzillo, CAS ProVision is not the icing on the cinnamon rolls for Proforma. It’s not some secret ingredient baked into the batter. It’s the cinnamon itself. The main ingredient. In an industry where large distributors increasingly compete on the strength of their technology, ProVision is not the icing on the cinnamon rolls for Proforma. It’s not some secret ingredient baked into the batter. It’s the cinnamon itself. The main ingredient. As the promotional products business accelerates its modernization, a great technology system is the reason an individual salespersonmight leave one distributor to join another. A great technology systemmight allow them to work withminimal friction, leading to more closed deals, decreased overhead costs, fewer headaches and greater success. Muzzillo says she believes Proforma is the tech leader in the industry. To hear it fromher and Proforma Chief Technology Officer Brian Carothers, Provision is the best ERP anyone in promo has ever made or will ever make. It beingMuzzillo’s living room, that doesn’t lead to any disagreement. But the whole industry wasn’t in that room that day. And there are a lot of different ways to make cinnamon rolls. Solving Problems One of the paradoxes of running a successful business is that growth will typically create problems, albeit the kind of problems that most companies strive to have. Fortunately, technology is constantly improving on its ability to alleviate, solve or even prevent many of the dilemmas that come with success. To balance orders from a large number of clients at once, to communicate with those clients easily, to potentially provide a variety of offerings with unique customizations – all of these things require a sophisticated workflow platform. Not to mention accounting programs. All promotional products companies of a certain size understand that there are countless logistics that go into everyday business, and the industry’s increasingly tech-savvy distributors know that ERPs play a big part in creating organizational flexibility. Perhaps most important when considering the industry’s competitive landscape, the quality of a firm’s ERP can be an enticing factor for a sales team looking to maintain a profitable relationship with clients. Ensuring that quality is no easy task, especially when you are trying to be specific to your company and your clients’ needs. Many companies, both in and outside of our industry, struggle to find and implement an ERP without serious complications along the way. Moving to a new system can be extremely costly and time-consuming. But, as the need for these systems grows, the larger distributors in the promotional products industry are seeing the value of ERPs, with many viewing them as a competitive advantage; the better your system, the more your FEATURE | Digital Transformation 46 | NOVEMBER 2022 |
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