We know Distribution
Today’s distributor faces a rapidly shifting market and the need to embrace new requirements to thrive.
Your goal is relatively simple: get your customers the products they want, when they want them. Yet, in a business with global operations, demanding customers, extensive inventory, fluctuating delivery times, and an abundance of information to manage, that goal can get buried beneath all kinds of time-consuming tasks.
Meanwhile, you've probably also found that your current IT systems aren't keeping up. They may be based on outdated code, or they may have become too heavily customised – or both. Perhaps you're struggling with in-house systems (such as Excel spreadsheets) that don't give you the efficiency, consistency or support you need.
You should be able to run your business the way you want to – according to the standards, processes and methods you're comfortable with. And while you probably do need an efficient system that's capable of today's complex business challenges, you don't need technology just for technology's sake.
As such, you are probably searching for better ways to manage these problems:
Globalisation
- How to plan for longer lead times
- How to manage complex transport networks
- How to track stock across multiple countries
- How to account for local regulations and taxes
- How to manage volatile labour and transport costs
Risk
- How to plan for volatile customer demand
- How to control costs and increase margins
- How to manage economic and commodity cost volatility
Supply Chain Visibility
- How to track order status in real time
- How to track stock
- How to integrate disparate systems
- How to improve communication with suppliers and shippers
Compliance
- How to comply with changing regulations
- How to trace finished products back to source
Columbus knows distribution. We’ve developed deep expertise in meeting the unique needs of this market, with distribution clients across diverse industries including mail order, industrial distribution and door stop delivery. Each has its own unique requirements and challenges that we can address with our end-to-end solution.
