Information Technology
Articles specific to Answers Systems applications and systems
The Foodservice Industry is changing. Foodservice has evolved to a $600 billion industry. Along with growth comes “growing pains”. Manufacturer’s trade promotion spending now totals more than $70 billion annually. Where foodservice trade spend was just a black hole that companies tried not to think too hard about; the elephant in the room has grown to extent that it can no longer be ignored. There is a new awareness of the need for more accountabilities, and greater transparency in not only wher
Release offers enhanced security options, time-saving features, and powerful analytical tools for foodservice manufacturers
Answers Systems, the leading provider of foodservice trade promotion management solutions, deployed the ContractPro® version 4.2 release this month. The version 4.2 release provides features aimed at enhancing security of client instances of the ContractPro portal, increasing user productivity, and providing access to robust new analytical reports in the new ContractPro
Throughout recent history the Foodservice and Trade Spend Management industry, as well as much of corporate America, has used really cool big words to describe trends and philosophies.
From the early eighties, we had Total Quality Management (TQM), a management theory for defect reduction and heightened quality standards. Sun Tzu (that is him on the right), an ancient Chinese military general penned, “The Art of war” and a whole industry of management theorist began translating the logic of
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 by Janet Zlokovich
As we wrap up the 2009 year, I want to leave you one thought as you have discussions with your supply chain partners on trade promotion . . . .
Collaboration on data exchange should be a key factor when you establish the core objectives for your trade program model. A requirement of the model must include the submission of electronic billback reporting to the manufacturer for claim settlement. It is simply the only way vendor partners will have the proper insigh
Posted by Janet Zlokovich
Trade Spend Management collaboration means calibrating terms for contract negotiations.
One of my “Best Practice” recommendations for foodservice is to Promote trading partner collaboration for maximizing efficiencies by improving the claim processing timeframe and driving waste from the supply chain by eliminating paper. The way to achieve this objective is with technology such as Answers Systems EclaimSM; calibration occurs when the claimant submits all bill
Posted by Jennifer Grumbling
You are probably thinking what do the Yankees and trade promotion management have to do with each other? Well, you would be surprised.
Baseball can be a tricky business. In a nutshell, the success of the team depends strictly on the players and coaches and their talent and ability for the game. So, one would think that throwing huge contracts and salaries at big name talents to draw them to the team would increase the chances, or maybe even guarantee a chance,
Posted by Stacy Jackson
Do you ever get songs stuck in your head? I do. Today’s song is “Surf City” by Jan & Dean. “Two girls for every boy” and “I’m going to Surf City where it’s two to one. Yeah, I’m going to Surf City. Gonna have some fun.” It’s kind of annoying, yet it got me to thinking about ratios. Surf City apparently had a 2:1 ratio of girls to boys. I started wondering what kind of ratios I might find in the quarterly report I received regarding our data mapping for our clients' tra
Posted by Greg Hilton
Wikipedia says the term Value Add speaks to difference between the cost to produce a good or service and the sale price. My economics professor in college, “Professor Humdrum,” probably defined it in the same calculating boring and repetitious way (he was good about that). Nothing against monotony, it just seems to go on and on.
Years later in the real world, the term Value Add became less synonymous with economic theory and definition and more about a handy catch p
Posted by Tom Tipps
Price “waterfalling” seems a fairly simple process that deals with the tracking of various revenue reductions/deductions as a product travels through distribution to its ultimate destination… the end-user.
The waterfalling process supports the identification of cost-cutting/margin enhancement opportunities…typically in a company’s go-to-market model.
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