January 2010 Entries

Apple iPad - Game Changer for Contract Management

If you monitor Twitter, Apple-related news, or technology gadgets in general, you probably know that the Apple tablet is being revealed - about right now, in fact (1:00 EST). For years we’ve all tried to get the sales force to stop using the cocktail napkins as a preferred contract delivery method. Now with the advent of Apple’s revolutionary tablet computer, the game is changing for contract management. The new tablet (and future generations of tablets) will allows our apps to become a "dig

posted @ Wednesday, January 27, 2010 1:06 PM | Feedback (0)

It’s a New Year in the Foodservice Industry

by Greg Hilton Answers Systems has kicked off an incredibly exciting product development roadmap for 2010. We are focused on delivering focused improvements in our core products, ContractPro® and ValuTrak®. In the design of this year’s major product and service releases, our team focused on some key needs for our customers:

posted @ Monday, January 25, 2010 4:34 PM | Feedback (0)

What's Wrong with Deductions?

When Foodservice manufacturers first join our ContractPro® Community, they are typically settling a huge number of claims via distributor deduction. The manufacturer cannot process the distributors’ claims within payment terms, so the distributors just deduct. In other words, the manufacturers are allowing their distributors to deduct claims from invoice payments…in essence, allowing the distributor to make the audit and payment decision. Bet the auditors love that!

posted @ Friday, January 22, 2010 2:33 PM | Feedback (0)

Ruling in Favor of Michael Foods, Sodexo

by Stacy Jackson If you haven't already heard, a federal appeals court reversed the ruling on the Feesers vs. Michael Foods and Sodexo case. You may remember last summer (here's a link to that post) a lower court found Michael Foods and Sodexo guilty of violating the Robinson-Patman Act.  Last week, Friday, January 8, that ruling was reversed. Below are some links to that latest news: Appeals Court Reverses Foodservice Pricing Pricing Ruling, Food Management Third Circuit Rules that Food Service Management Companies and Distributors are Not Competitors for Robinson-Patman Act Analysis, USLaw.com Michael Foods wins pricing case appeal, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal   Technorati tags: Feesers v. Michael...

posted @ Tuesday, January 12, 2010 2:45 PM | Feedback (0)

ContractPro User Tip - Always Use the ContractPro Letter

It's easy to match claims to contracts, right? You would think the answer is yes, and it should be. Yet, that's not always the case. The issue we often find is that the contract that the distributor or operator customer has does not match what a user entered into the ContractPro application. When a contract creator chooses to create his or her own version of the contract (via spreedsheet or word processing software) instead of using the the system-generated contract documentation, things j

posted @ Friday, January 08, 2010 11:53 AM | Feedback (0)