tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-215616422024-02-21T10:52:00.477-05:00Direct Commerce Systems and ServicesNews and information about systems and services for managing direct commerce and eCommerce order entry, inventory management, fulfillment, customer database, customer service, and response analysis.Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.comBlogger992125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-35070151446741449772018-07-03T11:58:00.000-04:002018-07-03T11:58:18.987-04:00If you thought GDPR was bad – Just wait for ePrivacy Regulation<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">GDPR (in force since May 25, 2018) has brought many non-EU companies into a pro-active position regarding data protections, there is an even more challenging regulation waiting in the wings -- ePrivacy Regulation or ePR for short.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">According to Information Management, "</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">It is intended to provide a single digital data privacy framework under which all companies doing [any] business with EU residents [including a single customer online] must conform, and the penalties are similar to those enforced under the GDPR."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">This covers communications data, metadata, telecommunications, online advertising, and the InternetOfThings. As Lisa Loftis notes in the Information Management article, "</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Another question concerns how to manage the specific consent requirements in today’s high-volume, real-time analytic environments needed for customer experience initiatives. And the big elephant in the room - a significant change to the many on-line businesses that rely on advertisers to provide free services (social media, paid search, etc.)....</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">It is unclear where ePR will land in terms what types of IoT data will eventually be covered, what consent will be needed and what processing can occur. This is an area of significant concern, and many industries are weighing in and watching closely."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">For the entire article see </span><span style="color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;"><a href="http://bit.ly/2KvQswX">http://bit.ly/2KvQswX</a></span></span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-16909246283821960792018-02-27T10:53:00.001-05:002018-02-27T10:53:50.503-05:00Systems Selection and Implementation TimeframeIf you have outgrown your current order management and fulfillment system and/or you are planning to implement a new eCommerce platform, you typically need at least 17 months to undertake this process.<br />
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<b>Preparation</b><br />
<b>Month 1</b> — Most companies, no matter how small, don’t wake up one day and suddenly decide to start looking for a major new enterprise system. There are as many scenarios as there are multi-channel merchants. But essentially, one or more managers will share their frustration with the current systems they are using, and jointly come to the conclusion that the company should at least explore what’s available, what the costs of a new system are likely to be, and what the likely ROI is, based on some assumptions about improved efficiencies, better marketing tools, more flexible fulfillment, more dynamic customer database management, and so on. Included in this pre-project month is some initial consideration of who should be involved on a “Project Team” to shepherd the systems project through to completion. (Don’t forget, the team members already have “full-time” jobs!)<br />
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<b>Needs Analysis</b><br />
<b>Month 2</b> — You should allow one month for a thorough Needs Analysis. The actual work will take less than a full person-month, but the Project Team will need to schedule half-day meetings with representatives from each major department: the call center, customer service, inventory management, fulfillment, purchasing, accounting, marketing, merchandising, and other relevant entities (like the Board of Directors). The notes from these meetings will need to be shared, revised, shared again, and finalized. While this can be done much more quickly than a month, if you are undertaking this project entirely on your own in-house, a month is a realistic period of time.<br />
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This is partly because you don’t know starting out what ground you will have to cover. You many want to consider a battery of optimized solutions for:<br />
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<ul>
<li>order entry/customer service</li>
<li>eCommerce/mCommerce/fCommerce</li>
<li>affiliate management</li>
<li>shopping site feeds/integration</li>
<li>payment processing</li>
<li>demand forecasting</li>
<li>purchasing/procurement</li>
<li>inventory management</li>
<li>item personalization</li>
<li>fulfillment</li>
<li>back-order management</li>
<li>drop-shipping</li>
<li>customer database analysis</li>
<li>Producing a Request for Proposal (RFP)</li>
</ul>
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<b>Request for Proposal</b><br />
<b>Month 3</b> — Once you have sign-offs on all the requirements you have determined from all of the managers or departments involved, you will need to produce a formal, written Request for Proposal (RFP) that defines in detail what you would like the new system(s) to be able to do (see the Services page in this Website). Again, this is something that can be done in a couple of weeks, but most companies don’t do RFPs very often, so allowing a month for this is realistic. This includes getting input from everyone who participated in the Needs Analysis, making revisions, and finalizing the document.<br />
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<b>Vendor Identification</b><br />
<b>Month 4</b> — Once you know what type of system or systems you are looking for, you can undertake a thorough search for vendors who are likely to have solutions that will address or meet your needs and requirements. Please contact us at ernie@schell.com if you need help finding the types of software vendors you are looking for. (This assumes you are not going to program the system yourself in-house, which is a two- to three-year project — minimum!) Five to ten candidates for each type of system is a good number (more than that and you are just “fishing”).<br />
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<b>RFP to Vendors</b><br />
<b>Month 5 </b>— You should give the vendors/solution providers a month to submit a formal proposal based on your RFP.<br />
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<b>Evaluate Proposals</b><br />
<b>Months 6-7</b> — You will need a month to evaluate vendor proposals, check on references, eliminate the clearly unqualified candidates, and get Web demos from the vendors on your “short list.” That will take a full month, at least. After the Web demos, you should develop a final list of just two or three of the best qualified candidate vendors, and have them come on site for day-long demos and discussions. Allow a month for this, as well.<br />
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<b>Contract Negotiations</b><br />
<b>Month 8</b> — Once you have selected the vendor(s) you will be working with, allow at least a month (and December is a “short” month, with the last week basically written off…) for contract negotiations. This is something that your CFO and your legal team will be working on along with your CEO and maybe your COO. Give the lawyers at least two weeks to finalize everything (and the vendors’ lawyers may need at least that much time, if not more).<br />
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<b>System Implementation</b><br />
<b>Months 9 – 14</b> — You need to allow AT LEAST six months for this phase. I’ve seen it take 9 – 12 months or even 18 months, so this is definitely the minimum time required to do data conversion, make any necessary modifications in the systems you will be implementing, and set up the configuration you need to support your business.<br />
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<b>Testing</b><br />
<b>Month 15</b> — Once everything is set to “go,” you need to spend at least a month in very rigorous testing to find any bugs or problems with the new system(s) you will be moving to in the near future. The testing should be done using detailed business case scenario scripts which you can be producing during the implementation phase.<br />
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<b>Debugging/Training</b><br />
<b>Month 16</b> — Allow a month to have the vendor(s) debug and correct problems that you discover during the testing phase. There can be dozens, if not hundreds, of such issues, and your Project Manager needs to monitor the correction of each one of them.<br />
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This is also the time when you will do your training of everyone who will be using the new system. Some of this training will take place at your site, and typically some of it will take place at the vendor’s site, depending on the type of user and the type of training (even if you use a “train the trainers” approach).<br />
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<b>Go Live!</b><br />
<b>Month 17 </b>— One word of advice: Schedule it for mid-week, so users have a chance for last-minute training to become better adept at using the new system(s).<br />
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And there you have it! Marketing Systems Analysis would be happy to work with you on any or all of these phases (probably saving you a lot of time and trail-and-error in the process). Specifically, turn to us for:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>a systems audit and evaluation of resources currently in place</li>
<li>strategic planning for improving your presence in each sales channel</li>
<li>assisting in the Needs Analysis and producing the RFP (we’ve done over 240 of them!)</li>
<li>streamlining order management</li>
<li>warehouse facilities and fulfillment assessme</li>
<li>optimizing of inventory management practices</li>
<li>user training evaluation and refresher training</li>
<li>on-site and consultative optimization of all operations and systems for order management, inventory management, eCommerce, and mCommerce</li>
</ul>
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<b>Short-Term… or Long-Term</b><br />
We are available for a short-term or long-term commitment to help you specify, select, and implement new multi-channel solutions. We also believe “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” We will help you identify what you are doing right as well as what needs fine-tuning and what could benefit from a more comprehensive overhaul. But don’t delay– the biggest mistake you can make is complacency, followed by procrastination (or denial).Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-27727724957197696132018-01-23T15:36:00.002-05:002018-01-24T18:05:36.323-05:00Are you compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Requirements?<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">European businesses have been aware for some time that beginning in May 2018 they must be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation, which protects customer data when it is handled by those who collect it ("Controllers") and those who "Processors" who manipulate that data on behalf of Controllers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">Surveys reveal, however, that only 25 percent of U.S. companies believe the regulation applies to them. That misconception could cost them up to four percent of global revenues or €20 million (approximately $24.5 million), whichever is greater.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To drive home the point: if you have ANY customers who reside in or have their businesses located in the European Union, you are obligated to be complaint with the GDPR. There is no threshold for this, such as more than one percent or five percent or ten percent of your customers reside in the EU. Technically, if even one customer resides there, or you process credit card data there, the GDPR applies to you.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If businesses collect or process any personal data of EU residents, they have to follow strict rules such as reporting any data breaches within 72 hours of occurrence, getting consent from customers before collecting personal data, and offering customers the ability to request all of their records be deleted.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And here's an important wrinkle -- the GDPR applies to EU citizens <u>even if they are not residing in the EU</u>. That means eCommerce platforms will have to ask each new customer if they are EU citizens, and will have to include those who have become EU citizens after they already already part of your customer base.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the key components of GDPR is the way it governs data breaches, giving companies just 72 hours to notify users if their personal data has been compromised.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;"><a href="http://ubm.io/2F8dW3M" target="_blank">An article in Information Week</a> summarizes what action to take to establish compliance. </span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In brief, these are:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">1. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Determine if you’re a controller or a processor.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">2, Audit your data to make sure you get a "single view" of each customer (because you may have customer data stored in more than one place).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">3. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">You will need to appoint a representative for your company who is established in your EU supervisory country. This person is the point of contact for all communications with the GDPR supervisory body. </span><br />
4. "<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">If required, appoint a Data Protection Officer. Not all organizations need one, but given the vastness of the compliance requirements, it may be wise to have one. Make sure this person has the expertise you need."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">5. "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Data subjects will need to check a box (or its equivalent) for every single use-case you have for their data. This includes profiling and big data purposes. They need to be able to select those they agree with and decline those they don’t, and you need to be able to comply and track their preferences in your systems."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">6. Audit third-party providers to make sure they are compliant in their service-level agreements. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">7. "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Consider where your data centers should be. Some companies are moving data centers to the EU to comply; some cloud-based database providers are able to easily discern and segregate EU data for you."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">And if you won’t be 100-percent ready by May? Be sure to documentin all actions taken to build and implement your GDPR compliance framework. This will help provide evidence of your strategy and good faith for the regulators. GDPR is not demanding perfect privacy and security. According to</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;"> </span><a class="bsp-tag" data-cms-ai="0" href="https://www.information-management.com/author/daniele-catteddu" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: averta, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black;">Daniele Catteddu</span></a> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in <a href="http://bit.ly/2F5J04i" target="_blank">another Information Week article</a>, </span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">it’s asking for a risk-based approach to privacy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">Here's <a href="http://bit.ly/2F8l7JB" target="_blank">another Information Week article</a> that provides a slightly different perspective.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">Finally, says Ed Addario in <a href="http://bit.ly/2F5ArGO" target="_blank">yet another Information Week article</a>, "</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">Because of the complex system upgrades and internal process changes required for GDPR compliance, it’s safe to say that the shift will feel like a burden for IT, legal and HR teams at first. However, I see GDPR as a dose of tough love for organizations both inside and outside the EU. It serves as a forcing function for companies to modernize their data management systems, while improving how they communicate with, and relate to, their customers."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">P.S. As Julie Hunt of </span><span class="js-display-url" style="background: rgb(230 , 236 , 240); color: #0084b4; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.juliehuntconsulting.com" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/emQ6hq3xRu" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background: rgb(230, 236, 240); color: #0084b4; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.juliehuntconsulting.com">juliehuntconsulting.com</a> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">observes, "</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">Third parties are extensive: payroll, marketing/digital agencies, anything SaaS, website/eCommerce management services, and so on. One phrase sticks with me: even though organizations may be controllers or processors, it's best that every org approach compliance as a data controller."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: "averta" , sans-serif;">And - </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); white-space: pre-line;">US orgs are better served if they simply adopt GDPR as the 'gold standard' instead of fooling themselves into trying to manage data piecemeal, based on different regional regs. Way less mess & wasted time."</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-27566324071125605112017-08-29T12:07:00.000-04:002017-09-12T08:58:31.667-04:00Why NOW is the best time to start searching for a new OMS/WMS/CRM platformMultichannel merchants have more than a dozen fully integrated OMS/WMS/CRM third-party solutions to choose from (actually, down from three dozen in the 1990s). These are, by definition, complex systems that require careful specification and painstaking implementation to be fully functional and provide maximum ROI to the companies using them.<br />
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Implementation can take anywhere from six to eighteen months, with twelve months a practical goal if managed properly. Before running through a high-level pro forma schedule, let's focus on the "managed properly" aspect of the process.<br />
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There are <b><u>three basic elements</u></b> to such management:<br />
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1) The merchant must have a designated <b>Selection and Implementation Team</b> whose top priority is choosing and implementing the new system. The team should include a representative from purchasing, sales & marketing, operations/fulfillment, IT, eCommerce, and order entry/customer service. And it needs a Team Leader, who can be from any department or C-Level position, so long as they have a demonstrated track record for project management. This will be one of the most important and critical projects the company will be undertaking for quite some time, and cannot be sidetracked, neglected, or mismanaged. Everything is riding on its success.<br />
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Note, however, that none of the team members, including the Leader, will be working on the implementation project as a full-time commitment. Some days and weeks it will be full time and more, but in general it will require about eight to twelve hours <i>per week</i>, some in contact with the system vendor, others in meetings of the entire team or designated members, and some in administrative or follow-up tasks.<br />
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2) The Selection and Implementation Team must have an <b>Implementation Plan</b>. This must be done in close collaboration with the third-party vendors, which include at minimum the OMS/WMS/CRM provider, the eCommerce provider (if separate from the OMS vendor), the company handling sales tax calculation, and the company doing payment processing. There are some OMS solution providers who offer all of these services in one integrated package, but even then, there will be integration with other systems in the merchant's IT stack, including accounting, product management, merchandise forecasting, supply chain management, and so on.<br />
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And last but far from least, there will be data conversion, which can be a snake pit of problems and challenges. In general, since systems manage order data so differently from one another, merchants should keep the old system up and running for at least six months, and use it for looking up orders that were created on it. Customer and product look-ups and management, on the other hand, will be done on the new platform from Day One (see "Go Live" in the Pro Forma Schedule below).<br />
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3)<b> No scope creep!</b> Once the system has been selected, based on careful evaluation of how well it meets the defined criteria and functional specification, the functionality of the system should be "closed," with no "by the way" or "if you're doing that, can you do this?" Scope creep is death by a thousand cuts, and should be avoided completely!<br />
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<b>PRO FORMA SCHEDULE</b><br />
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The following is a generic schedule for the entire systems specification, selection, and implementation process that can be adapted to suit any company's specific situation:<br />
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<b>Month 1: Preparation</b><br />
The company needs to determine first of all if a new system is really required. I have seen all too many instances where an initial planning group gets together to discuss general system needs, and discovers to its shock and delight that the current system can actually handle everyone's top priorities (and often more) but users were unaware because those functions had never been implemented or "turned on."<br />
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During the prep month team members should compile a list of system vendors to be included for consideration for the new system. In general, there are three "buckets" for candidate solutions. A) Systems that focus on one or two aspects of the OMS/WMS/CRM process, B) Systems that will meet most requirements, but from vendors who have a high-cost business model based on large sales teams and expensive database platforms, and C) "The Goldilocks" systems that manage all OMS/WMS/CRM functions and cost in the $50,000 to $500,000 range (for, let's say, 30 users; will be in seven figures for 50 user or more). The latter are specifically designed for multi-channel merchants.<br />
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Finally, in the Prep month the company needs to form the System Selection and Implementation Team and make sure everyone understands the process. The Team needs to determine the Team Leader, and contact any potential consultants that can assist with this process.<br />
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<b>Month 2: Request for Proposal</b><br />
A Request for Proposal, or RFP, can be an extremely detailed document covering a broad range of features and functions, or it can be a much more focused summary of system needs and requirements. If the latter, the top ten requirements should be described in sufficient detail to assure that system providers/vendors can ascertain the degree to which they can support them.<br />
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<b>Month 3: Vendor Responses</b><br />
The system vendors who have received the RFP will submit their responses. Some may request an extra few weeks to complete their replies, but in general, we can assign one month for this.<br />
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<b>Month 4: Proposal Reviews</b><br />
Some vendors will be eliminated based on system cost (way out of line with the trend) or lack of critical functionality. Those who remain based on review of their proposals should be contacted to do remote Web demos of about two hours or so. From this group (perhaps three or four vendors), two "finalist" candidates should be invited to do full-day, on-site demos at your facility.<br />
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<b>Month 5: Vendor Selection</b><br />
Based on the on-site demos (and review of any available system documentation), the Selection Team will make a final vendor selection, which should be based not only on "functionality" but also on how well you feel your organization will fit with the vendor's existing user "family." The companies using the system should be somewhat similar to yours in size, product range, and company culture. If the vendor personnel and/or the system users aren't compatible with your corporate style, the likelihood of long-term system success is greatly diminished.<br />
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<b>Month 6: System Configuration Planning</b><br />
Once selected, the vendor should meet with your Team and determine exactly which features and functions are the highest priority and focus on any configuration or customization that might be required to provide them. Even if you have a chosen a cloud solution with few if any options for modification, there will always be configuration to take care of, and this is the time for nailing it down in detail.<br />
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<b>Month 7: Configuration Review/Data Conversion</b><br />
The Team should review in minute detail all system configurations, and specify in detail how existing customer and product data should be converted for management on the new platform.<br />
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<b>Months 8 and 9: Execute Configuration and Data Conversion; User Training</b><br />
Training Users should be done in two phases. A week-long overview of the entire system for all users, followed by a week of training specifically for each user group on the features and functions they will be most focused on going forward.<br />
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<b>Month 10: Go Live!</b><br />
With the new system fully configured and populated with legacy customer and SKU data, and users ready to use the system, you are ready to cut over to the new system. I recommend doing this on a Wednesday, so that on the previous two days users can do a final "recap" or "review" of the new functionality (and often new terminology, as well), and can use Thursday and Friday to "clean up" any glaring or show-stopper issues or problems. Don't assume you won't have any such issues. You'd be the very first companies in history to be so lucky!<br />
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<b>Months 11 and 12: Debugging, Documentation </b><br />
So certain is it that there will be problems of some kind that two months should be allocated for resolving all of them. Sometimes, fixing one problem will cause two others. That's just the way it is.<br />
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And finally, I have not included a full discussion of documentation in this overview for the sake of simplicity, but you need to pay attention to it. Review whatever documentation the vendor has provided to be sure it is current (it is often anything but!). If there is no adequate documentation, you should devote these two months to working with the vendor to create it specifically for your use. It can be on-line or a PDF or other format (including Evernote), and if possible, it should have keywords or an index for easy reference.<br />
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Finally, your business is constantly evolving. Work closely with your system vendor to make sure that your new system evolves with you to the extent that is possible. Remember, you're part of each other's "families" now, and you need to keep those connections refreshed and friendly!<br />
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<b>P.S. </b>If you are reading this in September, your new system should be truly and fully ready to Go Live this time next year, which is the perfect time for merchants who have a heavy fourth quarter order volume. Your company will be very busy in the fall, but you can be assured that when the orders start ramping up you will be able to handle them on your new stable and functional solution!<br />
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Questions? Please contact me at ernie@schell.com<br />
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<br />Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-60369326392999658502017-08-07T08:26:00.001-04:002017-08-07T08:26:31.241-04:004 Steps to Getting Started with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation<span style="color: #272727; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">"Most data managers have now heard enough about the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation that they’ve moved beyond denial, anger, bargaining, and depression to grudging acceptance that it will indeed require major changes in their operations," writes David Raab in an August 7 posting on <a href="https://www.information-management.com/opinion/4-steps-to-getting-started-with-gdpr-compliance" target="_blank">the Information Management website</a>. But this leaves many wondering exactly how to move ahead in adapting to the new regime.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be sure to check out David's post - <a href="http://bit.ly/2uhHprc" target="_blank">4 steps to getting started with GDPR compliance</a> - </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">for all the details. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #272727; font-family: averta, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-71774114765836451062017-05-18T20:16:00.000-04:002017-05-18T20:16:15.550-04:00Seattle startup offers online merchants overnight ground delivery to virtually the entire countryAccording to <a href="http://bit.ly/2rxePgH" target="_blank">Supply Chain Brain</a>, "In less than five years, Flexe has created a marketplace of spare storage space in 550 warehouses, quickly establishing better geographic coverage than the vast delivery network that Amazon.com Inc. spent decades and billions building. Flexe did it without spending a nickel on facilities and already has 25 million square feet of storage, about 25 percent of Amazon's capacity, and expects to add 10 million square feet this year. Merchants book storage space via a simple-to-navigate website; Flexe is essentially the Airbnb of warehousing.<br />
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"The new overnight delivery service, launching this week, is well-timed because online merchants are looking for new ways to reach customers but have few options that match Amazon’s speed. And because the inventory is stashed all over the country, overnight deliveries can be made by truck rather than plane, which is cheaper. Online brands such as mattress seller Casper also like Flexe because orders flow through their own websites, letting them maintain a direct relationship with customers."Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-17282255845859236702017-05-18T17:45:00.000-04:002017-05-18T17:45:37.073-04:00The Progress Group becomes Crimson & Co North America<div style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">After two years in partnership, The Progress Group is renamed Crimson & Co and continues to extend its global footprint with offices worldwide beginning May 15, 2017</span></div>
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Leading U.S. supply chain consultancy The Progress Group LLC (TPG) is becoming Crimson & Co, whose global market includes Europe, Australia, South America and Asia.</div>
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For the past two years as part of the Crimson & Co network, TPG and Crimson & Co have brought expanded capabilities and expertise to the global market. This step in TPG’s strategy for growth is to offer a greater scope of supply chain consulting services in North America and globally, with one vision, and one name.</div>
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Bruce Strahan, President of The Progress Group, stated, “After more than a quarter century as The Progress Group, we’re proud to announce we will now be known as Crimson & Co. While we take the official name of Crimson & Co, our experienced local team and commitment to high quality and service will not change.”</div>
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Richard Powell, CEO of Crimson & Co, based in London, said “In 2014 we started our global partnership and it has proven valuable for our clients by enhancing our capabilities worldwide, as we continue to work towards our strategic vision. We are pleased to be taking this next natural step in solidifying our global brand, especially with The Progress Group team.”</div>
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Strahan continued, “By working as close partners with Crimson & Co over the past two years, we have learned that our global reach and combined industry experience offers our clients a significantly enhanced depth of value. We look forward to continued growth for Crimson & Co.”</div>
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Crimson & Co NA, formerly The Progress Group, provides a range of services including strategic planning, facility and operations design, cost reduction, process improvement and program management and its expertise includes design through implementation of supply chain initiatives and supporting IT solutions.</div>
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<span style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">About TPG, now Crimson & Co NA:</span></div>
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Crimson & Co North America (formerly The Progress Group) is a management consultancy specializing in supply chain management and logistics. Established in 1991 and based in Atlanta, Georgia, they provide services to Fortune 100 as well as mid-market clients. Crimson & Co NA offers services ranging from strategic planning, facility and operations design, cost reduction, process improvement to program management. Expertise includes design through implementation of supply chain initiatives and supporting IT solutions. Crimson & Co NA is part of the global brand, Crimson & Co<u style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">.</u> For more information, please see their global website at <a href="http://www.crimsonandco.com/" style="background: 0px 0px; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c01a5c; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.crimsonandco.com/</a>and the NA website at <a href="http://www.crimsonandco.us/" style="background: 0px 0px; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c01a5c; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.crimsonandco.us/</a>.</div>
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<span style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">About Crimson & Co:</span></div>
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Crimson & Co is a global supply chain consultancy that thinks differently. It stands shoulder to shoulder with clients as it develops outstanding supply chains, using deep operational experience and broad-based business skills to challenge, guide and implement. Its strength is its consulting team, which it nurtures with care, and it has an approach and culture that its clients believe is unique.</div>
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The company was founded in 2003 as a breakaway from one of the major consultancies and its scope spans supply chain strategy, planning, procurement, manufacturing, logistics and customer channels. It operates on all continents, with offices in London, Atlanta, Mumbai, Melbourne, São Paulo and Singapore, and typical clients are blue-chip organisations such as Sony, Diageo, Carlsberg, BAT, GSK, Tesco and Merck.</div>
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For more information, please see: <a href="http://www.crimsonandco.com/" style="background: 0px 0px; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c01a5c; text-decoration-line: none;">www.crimsonandco.com</a></div>
Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-27584647938745829672017-05-11T17:33:00.001-04:002017-05-11T17:33:42.461-04:00DeviceBits Brings AI To Customer Support<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24.8px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
DeviceBits is a relative newcomer on the software solution scene. Founded in 2015, the Columbus, Ohio–based software company looks to change the way businesses provide customer support to their end users and increase customer retention by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and predictive analytics.</div>
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“It’s really an extension of the omnichannel investments that organizations are making around sales and marketing into customer support,” said DeviceBits CEO JC Ramey. “Companies have focused a lot of the effort in that transformation on acquiring customers, but not as much has been spent on retention.”</div>
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DeviceBits provides a software suite of products that target the channels where customers want to be served and have their support needs met. This can present a challenge to companies, especially as the number of online channels continues to grow.</div>
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“Customers are looking for support where they’re spending time,” Ramey noted. “Oftentimes, that is on their mobile device or on social networks, on company websites and email.”</div>
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The challenge for companies becomes how to consistently serve consumer needs in an increasing number of channels while maintaining a consistent experience and still building consumer knowledge and data. DeviceBits achieves both with its software solutions, which Ramey noted is two distinct products.</div>
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The first, called Academy, is a consumer- and internal-facing, self-learning knowledge base of customer support content. Academy provides contact information if users need to call, message or chat about their issues. It also features integratable interactive tutorial guides, videos and adaptive FAQs for products.</div>
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The self-learning aspect is key, said Ramey, for a number of reasons. The AI scores the effectiveness and relevance of content, minimizing the amount of time that an agent needs to spend with customers or the customer needs to spend in messengers or chats to resolve issues.</div>
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For call-ins, this can work to increase first-call resolution as well as reduce the amount of time representatives need to spend with each customer, which Ramey said can translate to some serious return on investment (ROI).</div>
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“For some organizations, every minute on the phone can cost them anywhere from $4 to $12,” he said. “When you have an organization with 10,000 agents handling 70 million calls a year, it builds a very quick ROI.”</div>
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The second product, called Support Predict, builds off of DeviceBits’ curated knowledge base in Academy, from public sources and prior consumer interactions, said Ramey, to predict, evaluate, score and surface support content based on user demographics and data.</div>
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The more calls and messages that come in and get resolved, the more the system learns and optimizes, further speeding up the process the next time around.</div>
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“With Support Predict, we channel the data to provide a more personalized experience for that customer and getting them to that resolution faster,” Ramey said.</div>
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Today, DeviceBits’ three largest markets are in telecommunications, financial services and retail. The company’s largest client is TracFone, which Ramey referenced in an example of how DeviceBits can benefit an enterprise client.</div>
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“Not only are there 18,000 agents enabled to use us, but we’ve also built automation into Alexa, we built automation into messaging bots and chat bots to serve their clients, and we are learning all the time from all of those different channels,” he said.</div>
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DeviceBits works on the product end as well. For TracFone, this comes in the form of shortcode on the item packaging that allowing potential customers to access how-to guides before buying.</div>
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“It becomes an important metric when you’re talking about consumer goods,” Ramey said, “especially for companies like GoPro or FitBit — companies with high-cost return rates. Anything they can do to educate the buyer before they make the purchase and unpackaging that device leaves them a significant amount of value.”</div>
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The same principle applies for DeviceBits’ client Careem, the taxi-hailing app and competitor to Uber in the Middle East. Careem uses DeviceBits’ Academy solution as one way to onboard and retain customers, Ramey said.</div>
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“It gets the customer familiar and comfortable with the application, and they collect those metrics to see where the user might be struggling or looking for help,” said Ramey. “That way they can make improvements in the next release.”</div>
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For the future of customer service, Ramey doesn’t see channel proliferation dying down anytime soon. What may soon change, he said, is how organizations view their customer base.</div>
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“A lot of these markets are very saturated today,” he said. “They’re swapping customers. The focus on acquisition will shift to retention — there’s a significant benefit to the organization of keeping their customers.”</div>
Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-18993083127866411912017-05-11T17:03:00.001-04:002017-05-11T17:03:46.329-04:00SageNet Deploys Cryptzone Security App to Reduce Cost of PCI Compliance<h3>
<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">TULSA, OK - May 11, 2017</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> -</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.6667px;"> Tulsa-based SageNet has leveraged an authentication gateway security application to help large, multi-site retailers better meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance standards and improve their data security.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">SageNet's cybersecurity services were recently brought on to help <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">a large retailer with 700+ store locations in North America improve its PCI audit process. These audits </span>measure retailers' operations for protecting cardholder data, building and maintaining a secure network, implementing strong access control measures, and regularly monitoring and testing networks, among other measurements. Retailers can pay penalties and even lose the ability to accept credit cards if their PCI program is not in compliance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">SageNet leveraged Cryptzone's AppGate application to reduce the customer's PCI scope and meet all industry compliance standards while also reducing the time and cost involved in fulfilling audit requirements. Not only was this beneficial in fulfilling the retailer's compliance mandates, but efficiencies also were achieved in day-to-day operations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Said Paul Truitt, SageNet Chief Technology and Security Officer, "...we're creating a 'next generation' software-defined access control solution for customers that offers a much greater level of security control on how you provision and give users access to your systems."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">AppGate enables organizations to adopt a Software-Defined Perimeter approach for stricter security control through creation of a secure authentication gateway. Users log into AppGate, which then provides users with secure access to only the authorized system or application, verifying user context and attributes before granting access to an application. Everything else on the network is invisible to the user. Once the user logs out, the secure tunnel disappears. The session can also be logged and monitored for complete visibility of all access activity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our work with this multi-site retailer was the first time this technology was utilized this way, but we have since gone on to use it in several other deployments," Truitt added. "It's wonderful when technology can be leveraged to solve a problem not only for an immediate client but also for clients across an entire industry."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b>Business Value Award</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In recognition of the innovative use of this technology, on April 11 SageNet <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">was announced as a Business Value Award winner in the 2017 Channel Partners 360° Awards program, which honors channel partners that take a holistic approach to technology solutions and creating business value for their customers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"We are honored to be a recipient of this award," said </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">SageNet President Brad Wise<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">. "It's recognition of the significant dedication and time that went into helping one of our clients meet a unique need by using an existing security app in a new way. AppGate is a great product, and we already see how this same process could be adopted by many of our clients to solve similar needs."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />"As a strategic partner of Cryptzone's, SageNet leveraged our AppGate solution to address a PCI compliance challenge," added Tina Gravel, Cryptzone Senior Vice President of Global Channels and Alliances. "SageNet recognized an existing business problem and creatively used the AppGate technology to fill an important need for the customer."<i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;">For more information about SageNet, visit </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><a alt="http://www.sagenet.com" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001em1Eq6MJpK0mnvq5-CZXdiilQ07qPJKK9bQ5P7UBVX69StEzsDG5gy6HJRC9e7lKJCRAY1NYuHw28YUQ_AiJFTABTY2WuOodDRQq73ZbyeHjJ0-VO4XOFC2hV4m5WNpViU3uhcDs1e12Una71QdN3nef_BmNotuDtdQA4FWUf88=&c=41sxidkmC9DnHv0_EjcBP4VttLySElsI5DFjIkF1SNWF9goKKSEAdg==&ch=Xx5riDyjdL96aVbVSPH0AbXGWXwohRwEH3eQ6lmNb4D6jtoRrsv9pQ==" shape="rect" style="color: #0066cc; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="This external link will open in a new window"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">www.sagenet.com</span></a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"> or call 866-480-2263</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;"><b>About SageNet</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">SageNet designs, implements, manages and protects fast, secure and reliable networks that empower organizations to achieve their core business objectives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SageNet manages communications at more than 160,000 locations. The company's customer base represents many of the nation's leading retail, healthcare, financial and energy companies, as well as public utilities, state lotteries and government agencies.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SagNet's cybersecurity solutions are all backed by a nationwide field service organization and three 24/7 U.S.-based Network and Security Operations Centers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Headquartered in Tulsa, Sage<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Net also has regional offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia.</span></span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-8184568578937413802016-07-07T16:16:00.000-04:002016-07-07T16:16:02.792-04:00Details on PCI DSS 3.2 for Implemtation by Feb. 2018The PCI Security Standards Council has announced February 1, 2018, as the deadline for implementation of the 3.2 Standards. See details from Chief Technology Officer Troy Leach <a href="http://blog.pcisecuritystandards.org/pci-dss-32-is-here" target="_blank">HERE</a>.Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-51440103970705256502016-06-30T16:13:00.000-04:002016-06-30T16:13:38.007-04:00Retailers Applaud Circuit Court Decision Rejecting VISA/MasterCard Settlement <h1 class="pageTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 10px 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;">June 30, 2016 --<a href="http://www.rila.org/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank"> The Retail Industry Leaders Association</a> (RILA), issued the following statement in response to a </span><a data-mce-href="https://rilasetup-my.sharepoint.com/personal/caroline_stec_rila_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=isxGP37MuJnVT45BCYBQSnInK0p2Z06uuoQNzdMlx%2b0%3d&docid=07d6d7b5abc904d93985cc97eb6b0a16e&rev=1" href="https://rilasetup-my.sharepoint.com/personal/caroline_stec_rila_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=isxGP37MuJnVT45BCYBQSnInK0p2Z06uuoQNzdMlx%2b0%3d&docid=07d6d7b5abc904d93985cc97eb6b0a16e&rev=1" style="color: #003273; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-decoration: none;">ruling</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;">from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out a grossly flawed settlement of antitrust litigation that had been filed to shine light on the illegally anti-competitive practices that Visa, MasterCard and the major banks use to set the fees that merchants -- and ultimately consumers -- pay on all credit and debit card transactions. As a member of the class, RILA formally</span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.rila.org/news/topnews/Pages/RILAtoOptOutandObjecttoProposedSwipeFeeSettlement.aspx" href="http://www.rila.org/news/topnews/Pages/RILAtoOptOutandObjecttoProposedSwipeFeeSettlement.aspx" style="color: #003273; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-decoration: none;">opted out and objected</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;">to the settlement in 2014.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;"><strong>“RILA enthusiastically welcomes the circuit court’s decision to throw out this harmful settlement,” </strong>said Deborah White, executive vice president and general counsel.<strong> “Quite simply, the settlement </strong><strong>orchestrated by the card networks and banks </strong><strong>would have undermined merchants’ legal rights forever and would have allowed Visa and MasterCard to impose higher and higher swipe fees with impunity. Today’s decision is a victory for all merchants and consumers.”</strong></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">Specifically, the court <a data-mce-href="https://rilasetup-my.sharepoint.com/personal/caroline_stec_rila_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=isxGP37MuJnVT45BCYBQSnInK0p2Z06uuoQNzdMlx%2b0%3d&docid=07d6d7b5abc904d93985cc97eb6b0a16e&rev=1" href="https://rilasetup-my.sharepoint.com/personal/caroline_stec_rila_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=isxGP37MuJnVT45BCYBQSnInK0p2Z06uuoQNzdMlx%2b0%3d&docid=07d6d7b5abc904d93985cc97eb6b0a16e&rev=1" style="color: #003273; text-decoration: none;">concluded</a> that <strong>“</strong><strong>the class plaintiffs were inadequately represented in violation of Rule 23(a)(4) and the Due Process Clause. Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s certification of this class action and reverse the approval of the settlement.”</strong></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">In a <a data-mce-href="https://rilasetup-my.sharepoint.com/personal/caroline_stec_rila_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=KoQCtI5TjhGR4j%2fqKmZR7C7cn8w%2fhXTSo99lhcM2Vno%3d&docid=0f7941a4c177446cbad92332b4facf3ea&rev=1" href="https://rilasetup-my.sharepoint.com/personal/caroline_stec_rila_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=KoQCtI5TjhGR4j/qKmZR7C7cn8w/hXTSo99lhcM2Vno%3d&docid=0f7941a4c177446cbad92332b4facf3ea&rev=1" style="color: #003273; text-decoration: none;">concurrence</a> to the court’s decision, Judge Pierre Leval said, <strong>“This is not a settlement; it is a confiscation.”</strong> </span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">RILA, along with a majority of the named class plaintiffs and many more within the merchant community, has argued that the settlement fails to address the anti-competitive practices that were the genesis for the lawsuits and denies merchants their right to challenge these practices ever again in court. Specifically, RILA argued that the terms of the settlement:</span></div>
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<li><span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">Lock in the Visa/MasterCard duopoly,</span></li>
<li><span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">Provide no relief from interchange rate setting or other rules,</span></li>
<li><span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">Denies all current and future retailers their right to bring future legal action related to interchange rules and rate setting, among other things, against Visa, MasterCard and the banks, and</span></li>
<li><span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">Could limit emerging innovations that can bring meaningful competition to the marketplace, such as mobile payments.</span></li>
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Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-29193995044723915082016-06-14T16:05:00.003-04:002016-06-14T16:05:45.729-04:00A Scary Peek Into Square’s New Privacy Policy<a href="http://paymentfacilitator.com/vertical-markets/a-scary-peek-into-squares-new-privacy-policy/" target="_blank">Payment Facilitator</a> has an eye-opening run-down of the changes Square has recently made in its privacy policy for both merchants and their customers. “'These updates provide additional clarity and transparency, making our terms easier to read and understand. We encourage you to review the sections that apply to you, depending on how you engage with Square,' Square said in a Tuesday e-mail blast to customers.<br />
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"One document, for example, deals only with those who have applied for a Square account (overwhelmingly merchants) as opposed to consumers. Sometimes, though, a consumer is a direct Square customer but is not acting as a merchant (such as person-to-person transactions transferring money from consumers to consumers, and sometimes a consumer temporarily acts as a merchant (for perhaps a garage sale).<br />
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"That raises the prospect that this could prove more complicated because it will require people to read more documents."<br />
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Click HERE for the full Payment Facilitator article, and its likely consequences.Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-35585179957812344822016-06-13T16:40:00.000-04:002016-06-13T16:40:12.610-04:00Retailers to FTC: PCI DSS part of an 'anticompetitive scheme'In the ongoing saga that is the National Retail Federation vs. the major credit card networks, NRF has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council for possible antitrust violations.<br />
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PCI SSC is the standards-setting body established in 2006 by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB and governed by representatives of those networks. Banks and merchants must implement security standards developed by the council or face banishment from network participation.<br />
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NRF's request comes as the FTC is conducting an inquiry into how third-party companies perform assessments of PCI compliance by retailers and other businesses that accept credit cards.<br />
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In a letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan wrote:<br />
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The following is from <a href="http://www.atmmarketplace.com/news/retailers-to-ftc-pci-dss-part-of-an-anticompetitive-scheme/" target="_blank">ATM Marketplace</a>:<br />
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It is … our understanding that the FTC may be considering PCI DSS as indicia of industry best practices and/or reasonable data security standards.<br />
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We urge the FTC not to rely on PCI DSS for any purpose, particularly not as an example of industry best practices nor as a benchmark in determining what may constitute reasonable data security standards in the payment system or any other sector.<br />
An accompanying white paper warned that the motivations behind PCI "conflict with the interests of businesses and consumers who use the payment card system":<br />
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PCI effectively stifles competition and innovation by consuming funds otherwise available for data security, and for adoption and implementation of new — possibly more secure — payment technologies.<br />
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The card networks, in other words, unfairly leverage their brands and proprietary technology through webs of closely-controlled interdependent bodies and compliance regimes. PCI is very much a part of this overall anticompetitive scheme. The FTC should be very wary of the nature of PCI and the effects of its standards and processes. Ultimately, PCI is a mechanism through which the payment card networks that control it unfairly leverage their market power.<br />
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NRF asked that the FTC investigate the council's practices in general and particularly their impact on competition. The FTC should also reject government use of PCI standards as any benchmark for data security, and instead work with "legitimate U.S. standard setting bodies" such as the American National Standards Institute, NRF said.<br />
<br />Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-89738257184764177812016-06-01T21:51:00.000-04:002016-06-01T21:53:05.693-04:00Cloud Vs. On-Premise Sales Tax SolutionsDownload the White Paper from Avalara <a href="https://www.avalara.com/learn/whitepapers/cloud-vs-premise-sales-tax-solutions/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-33846330900480539942016-06-01T21:49:00.005-04:002016-06-01T21:49:45.279-04:0050 States. 50 Sales Tax Rules. 100% Frustrating.You can download a White Paper from Website magazine <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/resources/archive/2016/04/19/50-states-50-sales-tax-rules-100-frustrating.aspx" target="_blank">HERE</a>.Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-12351746433135004432016-02-24T19:25:00.001-05:002016-02-24T19:25:49.529-05:00Congress gives final OK to banning local Internet taxesAccording to The Journal, "<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "century" , "times" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">State and local governments would be permanently barred from taxing access to the Internet under a bipartisan compromise that Congress is a step away from sending to President Barack Obama.</span><br />
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"The Senate was expected to vote Thursday to approve the language, part of a wide-ranging measure that would also revamp trade laws.</div>
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"The Internet tax provision had broad support, with few senators eager to oppose the bill and open the door to taxing online access during an election year. Nonetheless, some were resisting the legislation because of trade provisions and a long-running dispute over a separate proposal on taxing online sales to consumers.</div>
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"Since 1998, in the Internet's early days, Congress has passed a series of bills temporarily prohibiting state and local governments from imposing the types of monthly levies for online access that are common for telephone service. Such legislation has been inspired by a popular sentiment that the Internet should be free — along with Republican opposition to most tax proposals.</div>
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"Until now, states that had already imposed Internet access taxes have been allowed to continue. Under the bill the Senate was considering, those states would have to phase out their taxes by the summer of 2020.</div>
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"Seven states — Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin — have been collecting a combined $563 million yearly from Internet access, according to information gathered by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.</div>
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"The House approved the compromise Internet and trade bill in December, with the backing of nearly all Republicans but just 24 Democrats. Despite two requests, White House press aides did not provide an administration position on the measure.</div>
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"The legislation — especially its trade provisions — has pitted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups supporting the bill against opponents including the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations.</div>
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"Supporters say the measure would strengthen U.S. trading by improving protections for American intellectual property like copyrights and trademarks and upgrading trade law enforcement at the country's borders.</div>
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"They also cite provisions reinforcing the government's ability to head off China and other countries from manipulating their currency to make their exports more affordable, cracking down on imported products made with child labor and accelerating investigations into companies accused of evading the payment of duties."</div>
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For more details, see <a href="http://tiny.cc/4p7g9x">http://tiny.cc/4p7g9x</a></div>
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Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-75995572783718543652015-12-22T15:35:00.002-05:002015-12-22T15:37:00.371-05:00PCI 3.0 Starts Jan. 1, 2016<h4>
Here's <a href="http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/regulatory-compliance/pci-dss-3-0-whats-new-infographic/" target="_blank">a good infographic</a> that summarizes the text from the PCI Security Standards Council.</h4>
Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-23510496661766301502015-12-17T16:11:00.001-05:002015-12-17T16:11:33.978-05:00MNP Retail partners with NetDespatchUK- and US-based multichannel systems vendor <a href="http://mnpretail.com/" target="_blank">MNP Retail</a> has formed a partnership with <a href="http://www.netdespatch.com/" target="_blank">NetDespatch</a> to enable MNP customers to streamline workflow by integrating with Royal Mail and other carriers; print the correct shipping labels, customs documentation and manifests, as well as automatically send electronic pre-advice data to the carrier.<br />
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Headquartered in Salisbury, UK and with offices in Delaware US, MNP’s expertise in Order Management Systems (OMS), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and product procurement platforms helps online and bricks and mortar organisations deliver their brand experience, grow top line sales and improve bottom line margin through system automation.<br />
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A particular challenge for MNP was the time, complication and cost associated with integrating with various carriers individually. Through its partnership with NetDespatch, MNP has been able to boost the delivery options available to its customers, by offering integration with Royal Mail alongside other leading UK parcel carriers and Click and Collect networks.<br />
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MNP Retail customer Crew Clothing is a primary beneficiary of the MNP and NetDespatch partnership. Crew Clothing began trading in the UK in 1992 in coastal towns and developed a strong following of mail-order customers on the back of its in-store success. The company has grown significantly since then and now operates 78 stores with a thriving online presence, as well as successful mCommerce and call centre sales channels in the UK and EU.<br />
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Cora McDonnell, Projects Manager at Crew Clothing said, “Using NetDespatch has significantly benefited our business. Before the integration our warehouse staff were really frustrated with the amount of effort that was needed to ship parcels. Labels were constantly out of alignment and we had a number of issues scanning the barcodes. As soon as we went to NetDespatch all of these problems were ironed out and now we don’t have any issues when utilizing the Royal Mail service.”<br />
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Crew Clothing has an omni-channel driven growth strategy for 2016. Central to these omni-channel operations is the MNP OMS which manages the direct inventory, CRM, customer services, direct fulfilment and together with NetDespatch will help to deliver the ultimate customer experience. The end-to-end solution is designed to seamlessly enable top line growth, improve margins and deliver a great customer experience.<br />
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Cora McDonnell, Crew Clothing continued, “It was actually Royal Mail who recommended NetDespatch to us. It was their preference that we used NetDespatch and we would definitely recommend it to others.”Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-85906571988795890872015-09-21T13:05:00.002-04:002015-09-21T13:05:51.065-04:00Northern Pets Improves Control of Inventory, Enhances Productivity<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Northern Pets, the provider of the widest range of parrot supplies and accessories available in the UK, has grown to a point where enhanced logistics functions were required to keep up with the order flow from its Order Management System from MNP Corp. in Salisbury. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The company selected MNP's Warehouse Management System, which integrates fully with its OMS. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“We needed to have improved control," says Mike Taylor, Managing Director at Northern Pets. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“In addition we wanted to pick multiple orders in parallel to gain productivity but at the same time to improve accuracy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"MNP's WMS has the capability to deliver all of our requirements through the use of their advanced system, including mobile devices.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">MNP’s Managing </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Director adds: “We are delighted that Northern Pets has chosen to extend its use of MNP solutions. Our WMS is being continually developed, and we have recently added voice direction capabilities."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For further information please contact: Pierre D’Arbost, Managing Director, MNP.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Telephone 01722 341342 (UK) Email: Pierre@mnpretail.com</span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-77110954487425926402015-08-05T08:58:00.001-04:002015-08-05T08:58:58.556-04:00SuperGroup PLC selects the Island Pacific SmartPlanning Solution <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.7871990203857px;"><a href="http://www.islandpacific.com/" target="_blank">Island Pacific</a>, a division of 3Q Holdings Limited and a leading provider of global software solutions and services to the retail industry, announced it has signed a major deal with <a href="http://www.supergroup.co.uk/" target="_blank">SuperGroup PLC</a> for the deployment of its Island Pacific SmartPlanning solution.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.7871990203857px;">Ms. Nicole Smith, Merchandise Director at SuperGroup PLC, said: “We feel the Island Pacific SmartPlanning solution has rich functional applications, which will enable us to strategically manage all aspects of planning within our business. It will provide the Merchandising team with an effective set of tools that will significantly reduce manual input and support the growth of the retail business through more efficient and timely planning, monitoring, forecasting and reporting. The solution will address the needs of our growing international fashion business and will provide industry best practice that includes modern, flexible, and timely planning techniques. This will be important to ensure the continued international success and growth of our brand. We were impressed with Island Pacific’s customer references, the company’s ‘can do’ approach and the quality of its team. We look forward to further developing our relationship and building on Island Pacific’s reputation for developing innovative and leading-edge retail solutions.”</span></span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-62758139530913277342015-07-16T13:39:00.000-04:002015-07-16T13:39:19.218-04:00Crew Clothing Uses ACI Fraud Shield to Screen Online Orders<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Niche casual retailer Crew Clothing has adopted defensive measures to help reduce retail fraud across their growing
omni-channel operation. Using third-party service provider ACI Fraud Shield, Crew Clothing can now
screen Web orders with both generic apparel fraud prevention and custom fraud rules. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As part of the OMS solution from MNP, the ATC Fraud Shield service applies a unique score to each order, which the MNP order management platform reviews and applies logic to in order to determine if the order remains held or is sent through to fulfillment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After only three months, the deny rate on transactions from rigid fraud rules was reduced down to 12%. With further analysis and rules adaptation, this level has been further reduced to just 3% with no associated increase in fraud levels. Revenue has been maximized as a result.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Client
Crew Clothing began trading in the UK in 1992 in coastal towns and developed a strong following of mail-order
customers on the back of their success in stores. The company has grown significantly and now operates 78 stores with
a thriving online presence, as well as successful mCommerce and call center sales channels in the U.K. and EU. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crew Clothing is planning significant growth on this foundation platform, which also delivers a flexible customer experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MNP, headquartered in Salisbury, UK, and with offices in Delaware in the US, is an omni-channel retail solution provider. Their enterprise retail platform is modular and comprises OMS, WMS, Buying &
Product Management, Storefront and in-store tablet solutions. Users of the platform include Lakeland Limited, Kurt
Geiger, LK Bennett and Isabella Oliver. For more information, please visit www.mnpretail.com.</span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-48184279837210787912015-07-06T23:37:00.002-04:002015-07-06T23:38:48.238-04:00PCI Security Standards Council has made it easier for large merchants to implement point-to-point encryption <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; line-height: 19.4999446868897px;">The PCI Security Standards Council, which administers the payment card industry data security standard, has made it easier for large merchants to implement point-to-point encryption (P2PE) for protecting cardholder data, reports</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; line-height: 19.4999446868897px;"> </span><a class="color-link" href="http://www.darkreading.com/author-bio.asp?author_id=1912" style="background-color: white; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: #043464; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Jai Vijayan, Freelance writer">Jai Vijayan</a> on the <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/risk/pci-update-paves-way-for-expanding-point-to-point-encryption-/d/d-id/1321162?_mc=NL_DR_EDT_DR_weekly_20150702&cid=NL_DR_EDT_DR_weekly_20150702&elq=f4a1e80321e44c418fc536c2ee0f32f8&elqCampaignId=15333&elqaid=61764&elqat=1&elqTrackId=3148014ffbfa4b8384d4f0a1dd0caa8d" target="_blank">Dark Reading Blog</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He goes to explain "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #413f41; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.08333em; line-height: 1.38462em;">The Council this week updated its requirements to give merchants more choice and flexibility in the components they use for point-to point encryption. One of the key features in the Council’s new P2PE Version 2.0 is a provision that allows covered entities to implement and manage their own encryption tools at their point of sale systems so long as the tools are compliant with PCI requirements.</span><br />
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"Another update gives encryption vendors and service providers more leeway in the components that they use to deploy P2PE at customer locations. Going forward, the Council will also list approved encryption components and services that organizations can use to encrypt their data."</div>
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The full article is <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/risk/pci-update-paves-way-for-expanding-point-to-point-encryption-/d/d-id/1321162?_mc=NL_DR_EDT_DR_weekly_20150702&cid=NL_DR_EDT_DR_weekly_20150702&elq=f4a1e80321e44c418fc536c2ee0f32f8&elqCampaignId=15333&elqaid=61764&elqat=1&elqTrackId=3148014ffbfa4b8384d4f0a1dd0caa8d" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</div>
Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-57825887787671008462015-05-14T09:34:00.002-04:002015-05-14T09:34:53.438-04:00Last-mile logistics for on-demand delivery apps<span style="color: #333333; font-family: SourceSansProRegular, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://news360.com/article/292503620" target="_blank">Inc. magazine details</a> how venture-backed software startup Onfleet supplies the last-mile logistics for hundreds of on-demand delivery apps.</span>Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-50169266912727789412015-05-08T14:16:00.001-04:002015-05-08T14:16:33.635-04:00Marketplace Fairness Act Stalled in Congress<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">According to <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/07/265920/bid-to-collect-online-sales-taxes.html" target="_blank">McClatchy DC</a>, "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">the issue is stuck in the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over state taxation affecting interstate commerce.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The main point of contention has been whether the sales tax charged should be based on the rate where the buyer lives, as advocates of the Marketplace Fairness Act prefer, or on the rate where the seller is, an alternative offered by House Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va.</span><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; max-width: 620px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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"A Judiciary aide said ideas had gone through several iterations and that the committee continued to work with all interested parties to find common ground. But lobbyists familiar with fruitless negotiations to find a compromise say retailers consider Goodlatte’s latest proposal so unworkable that they worry it’s actually intended to derail the entire process.</div>
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"Retailers are hinging their hopes on a bill being drafted by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would place limitations on states auditing businesses outside their borders. The language comes in response to complaints from online vendors such as eBay and Overstock.com. They say the Marketplace Fairness Act as proposed by the Senate would create a compliance nightmare for small businesses, which would have to keep track of more than 9,000 state, local and municipal tax codes."</div>
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See <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/07/265920/bid-to-collect-online-sales-taxes.html" target="_blank">the entire story HERE</a>.</div>
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<br />Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/07/265920/bid-to-collect-online-sales-taxes.html#storylink=cpy</div>
Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21561642.post-24668411164197469122015-04-13T12:06:00.001-04:002015-04-13T12:06:12.409-04:00Desktop Marketing Solutions Changes Company Name to WiseGuys Marketing Desktop Marketing Solutions Inc. (DMSI), a software and consulting services firm that specializes in data-driven solutions for multi-channel retailers, is changing its name to <a href="http://www.wiseguysmarketing.com/" target="_blank">WiseGuys Marketing</a>.<br />
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"When our company was founded in 1998, 'Desktop Marketing' was new and innovative, reflecting the increasing computing power of desktop workstations," explained Bruce Gregoire, founder and CEO of WiseGuys Marketing. "Since then, the services our company offers have expanded considerably, and our original branding no longer represents the full scope of what we do."<br />
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"We decided to take the name of our award-winning WiseGuys flagship software, as that brand is well known in our market. WiseGuys also extends across all services: namely, digital and multi-channel marketing, consulting, analytics, and, of course, software," continued Bruce Gregoire. "We believe our clients will benefit measurably with this change, from a more consistent understanding of the breadth of our services."<br />
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<b>About WiseGuys Marketing</b><br />
WiseGuys Marketing is a full-service resource for small to mid-sized multi-channel marketers that sell across websites, email, mobile, catalogs and retail stores. The company offers a combination of experience in direct marketing, database marketing, and catalog retailing. Services include marketing analytics, data hygiene, predictive modeling, segment targeting (RFM analysis), matchback analysis, attribution, lifetime value (LTV), and multi-channel strategy consulting.<br />
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The company's flagship software is WiseGuys CRM, an application that uses RFM and LTV analysis to identify highly targeted audiences for marketing campaigns, delivers personalized messages, and tracks results.<br />
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Bruce Gregoire, founder and CEO of WiseGuys Marketing, is an Adjunct Professor at the Carey School of Business at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), where he founded and currently teaches the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) course at the graduate level. WiseGuys Marketing is headquartered in Falls Church, VA.Ernie Schellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138728684214385010noreply@blogger.com0