Supplier Benchmarking The correlation between company size and technology adoption isn’t surprising to Nigel Harris, co-founder and CEO of PowerStick, PPAI 100’s No. 54 supplier. “As a $10M-$25M supplier, these numbers tell a familiar story,” Harris says. “We’re doing okay with integration technologies and secure payments because our customers actually see the benefit – they want to track orders and pay bills easily.” TABLE 1: Is your firm utilizing integration technologies to provide order status or inventory to distributors through PDX, PromoStandards or other options? Suppliers $100M+ 100% Suppliers $25M-$100M 86% Suppliers $10M-$25M 81% Suppliers $3M-$10M 54% Suppliers Under $3M 25% TABLE 2: Do you offer a secure online payment portal for customers to pay bills securely? Suppliers $100M+ 92% Suppliers $25M-$100M 80% Suppliers $10M-$25M 77% Suppliers $3M-$10M 65% Suppliers Under $3M 88% Offering a secure online payment portal is vital for suppliers to protect customer data and build trust. As clients increasingly expect convenient digital payment options, companies must ensure transactions are encrypted and compliant with industry security standards. A secure portal reduces the risk of data breaches, chargebacks and fraud, while also speeding up payment collection and improving cash flow. TABLE 3: Do you have multi-factor authentication implemented across your systems? Everywhere Most About Half Some None I Don't Know/ Other Suppliers $100M+ 50% 33% 0% 17% 0% 0% Suppliers $25M-$100M 67% 23% 3% 3% 3% 0% Suppliers $10M-$25M 50% 23% 9% 9% 5% 5% Suppliers $3M-$10M 25% 42% 4% 25% 0% 4% Suppliers Under $3M 13% 50% 0% 13% 25% 0% Harris says the data matches where PowerStick is with multi-factor authentication: 50% fully implemented. “We’re not dragging our feet; we’re just being methodical about it,” he says. “Companies in our segment feel that you have to be strategic about technology spending. We prioritize what directly helps customers, then gradually strengthen everything else behind the scenes. It’s not about being behind – it’s about being smart with limited resources.” 30 • SEPTEMBER 2025 • PPAI Must Read | The State Of Innovation 2025
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