Revolutionizing Industrial Manufacturing Through E-Commerce: Maximizing Account Management and Cutting-Edge Technology

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Eco Ask why a podcast that dives into industrial manufacturing topics and spotlights the heroes that keep America running. I'm your host, chris Granger, and on this podcast we do not cover the latest features and benefits on products that come to market. Instead, we focus on advice and insight from the top minds of industry, because people and ideas will be how America remains number one in manufacturing in the world. Welcome to Ecosy. I'm your host, chris Granger, and looking forward to hanging out with everyone. Today we're going to be unpacking the idea of how account management inside of an e-commerce solution can really unlock some really incredible things for you. So we've been talking a lot on EcosY for the last few months around e-commerce and how you could be utilizing that to make better buying decisions, how you can enable the people inside your facilities to ultimately get the resources they need when they need it, and we're going to look today about account management what that can do for us, down to the very minute details of moving forward. Now we just need to first realize that e-commerce solutions have really evolved far beyond just simple online purchasing platforms. That's really a fundamental item we need to take into consideration because in today's distributor world advanced account management features. They give you a huge array of functionalities that go to a lot of diverse needs out there. We're going to be talking today specifically about purchasing, engineering, logistics and installation, and we're going to have a lot of tools, particularly tools within an electrical equipment company, that you can utilize to optimize your operations and start streamlining some workflows and ultimately, it's going to enhance your efficiency. So, if we want to think about this from a high-level standpoint, account management in an e-commerce solution or platform, if you will gives you insight to tools that you need to understand your interactions, your transactions and the data that you have available to you. You're an end user, you're a customer, so you have the data. You're an end user, you're the customer, so you have the data. Do you have access to it to utilize it in a way that you ultimately could leverage and learn from. And there's lots of things with platforms out there particularly the platforms that we use in an electric equipment company that can integrate different functionalities that help you to not only get purchasing information so far as purchasing products, but allows you to tie much deeper into your history things that you've done in the past, as well as some things you should consider for the future. So this is a comprehensive approach. So when you think about account management, think big picture, and it's going to help you stay organized, it's going to help you stay informed and competitive, and we know all those areas are super important in the heavy industrial world that we live in.

Speaker 1: 3:09

So we're going to get into some topics today. We're going to really kind of unpack this area by area as we think about inside the plant, inside the functions of an operating industrial manufacturing facility, and how you can utilize this moving forward. So the first area we're going to look at is purchasing. So now we know streamlining purchasing procurement processes is such a big deal. You know, we've talked to so many experts on the show, from Kurt Anderson to Amanda Pachaska, to really just understand how procurement is changing inside industrial manufacturing, how procurement is changing inside industrial manufacturing, and to achieve the ultimate efficiencies that the procurement departments are looking for, they need to have tools, they need to have these resources available at their fingertips, and an e-commerce account management platform provides that. So let's think about a couple of things that would be very advantageous for you that are in procurement.

Speaker 1: 4:06

How about finding and sourcing products If you have a solution that you can log into or that integrates with your system. We're really big on punch-out at ECO, so if you have questions on punch-out solutions, let's have a conversation there. You can easily search for products, you can compare prices, you can check availability without having to pick up the phone and call anyone. You can do this and really pick out some efficiencies. It's going to save you a lot of time and it's going to help you make sure that the purchasing decisions that you're making in the moment are informed and they're efficient. There's nothing worse than trying to source a project and that you're going to buy these products, only to find out that you know what the pricing you have for a project is completely wrong. Not only that, they're not available for two months. You need to know this. You need to have that advanced knowledge, and these account management solutions give you that.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Now also pricing in quotes. This allows you to view real-time pricing real-time in the moment. It also allows you to request real-time pricing real-time in the moment. It also allows you to request quotes and access negotiated rates, because if you, as a purchasing agent working in industrial manufacturing, have negotiated some special rates for your purchases, for your products that you're purchasing for your projects, you need access to that data, not list price. You need that data because this transparency, this ability for you to see, within account management platform, what you have available to you, that's going to help you tremendously when it comes time to budgeting and, ultimately, cost control and also for purchasing.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Think about your order history and tracking. That order history is huge in tracking as well, because you can detail. If you have an account management platform and solution, you can get access to detailed order histories. You can track those shipments. You can monitor your order statuses. So if you have people who are constantly coming to your office, what's my stuff coming in? What's my stuff coming in? You can go straight to your account management solution, see directly, okay, what the current status is and update them without having to pick up a phone or call on anyone. Because this is really, if you're thinking about managing your inventory levels and trying to maintain those timely deliveries, this is a huge functionality.

Speaker 1: 6:17

These are just a couple tools. Just a couple tools that help you in the purchasing department, enhance your sourcing strategy. That help you in the purchasing department, enhance your sourcing strategy, and we know you have so many stresses against you and that's working against you in purchasing as well. Right now, what is the optimal stock level I got to ultimately reduce my procurement costs? Well, all these things are pretty big, hairy, audacious goals. We get it. So finding tools like account management solutions to help you get the data that you need to get to move your needle. And again, your electrical purchasing for you as a procurement manager may be somewhat small, but it's part of your overall number that you're managing and if you can get a better handle on that, it's going to give you so much more sense of control and freedom.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Okay, so now we've talked about purchasing and how they can utilize account management solutions. Now let's talk about engineering, because engineering also needs support designing and getting the correct specifications when they need it. Okay, so engineering teams they're relying on very precise data and documentation that really is going to support their design. So if you have an e-commerce account management system available to you as an engineer, this is a big deal, because let's think about a few things that you have available to you right now. You have technical specifications and documentation. Right here, you have access to detailed product specs. You need a data sheet Guess what Account management system is going to give that to you. You need a manual. Guess what it's right there as well. Do you need to have the information to make the most informed decision? I guarantee you, if it's a robust account management system, that information is going to be there.

Speaker 1: 8:08

How about design? For you engineers who get down to the design level of a project, you need some CAD drawings, you need some 3D models, you need other planning tools. All this, if available from a manufacturer, are typically available within account management solutions. And then we all know how engineers I'm one myself at heart and I know how I like to do things I like to compare. I want to understand what am I buying? Is this going to give me what I want? I also want to compare it to different products out there to see is there a better solution available?

Speaker 1: 8:40

Within a proper account management solution, you can compare products directly. You could compare those very products and components, see, do they meet the specs that you need for your project or am I getting stuff that would be nice to have but is not necessary? You need to know that. So these options for your projects, this is all available within Account Management Solutions, because we know a lot of engineers. You guys are out there and girls are out there and you're trying to figure out. What do you need to put into your process to give you that advantage, right, to give you that next level up so that you can be able to beat your competitors and bring the most robust product to the market.

Speaker 1: 9:19

Well, having access to the data that you need, from an electrical standpoint, is huge. Okay, inside account management solutions such a big deal, all right. Now we've talked about procurement and purchasing. We've talked about engineering. Now let's talk about logistics for a. Because logistics is such a big deal inside manufacturing? Because if you want to enhance your order fulfillment and shipping management, you got to get your hands around this logistics deal.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Okay, because it's such a critical role. You may be looking for a project and trying to move forward, but if you don't have the parts, you don't know how to get the parts and you're understanding where the parts are. You're just going to be frustrated. So logistic support within your industrial manufacturing facility is huge, and e-commerce account management systems do this for you. So you can check out with this. Within the platforms, you have order expectations so you can check out detailed order status, updates, delivery times. You can help logistic teams plan their operations and manage the customer expectations. You go straight to your logistics manager and they can log into an account management system looking specifically not for designing systems or checking pricing. They want to know how they should plan stuff out to make sure that the equipment has arrived and it's on site. It's where it needs to be for when the project begins, right. So this is such a big area for account management that often gets overlooked. It gets lumped in with purchasing often. That's fine, but sometimes it's good to peel that capability out and give access to people in logistics so that they can understand that they can get a better feel for when the product is going to arrive, because it takes resources, particularly for large projects.

Speaker 1: 11:01

Maybe you have a big line of motor control centers or switch gear or tons of breakers coming in. It's going to take some resources just to simply unload that. You need to have that understanding of when you can expect it If you have it at your fingertips as a logistics manager. Big deal Now also for logistics, shipping costs and options, because if you're a user inside account management, you have an idea of what the shipping costs were, so in shipping methods and freight expectations and expenses and things like that. So if you're expecting something on FedEx, you'll be able to go check out your FedEx shipping. If you want UPS or different types of you maybe it's a special LTD type trucking arrival you'll have to have all of that right there available. And ultimately, with logistics, it will help you with inventory management because it's going to give you that real-time inventory data. So if you want to go see your order history where your stuff was, hey, as a logistics team, you want to be able to track that. You want to understand what your stock levels were. You need to anticipate some shortages. If you're in logistics and you see there's a potential shortage coming up, you probably want to make some people aware of that, and this is available within account management system, okay, all the way down to order and replenishment. So you have a lot of tools available for you that your logistics teams could ultimately take advantage of.

Speaker 1: 12:17

The first step is getting them access. Getting them access to this so that they can understand how they potentially could help with that order fulfillment process, how they can reduce some shipping costs, how they can improve your customer satisfaction, because, at the end of the day, all these teams work together in one cohesive unit. Now, when it comes down to the end of the road, you have the orders that you've placed, designed by the engineers who are making sure that the equipment is correct. Logistically, we've got to get the stuff there. But then, once the stuff gets there, once the product arrives on site, we want to take care of our installation teams as well.

Speaker 1: 12:54

This is an area that often gets overlooked, so having access to accurate and detailed information is crucial for successful equipment setup and configuration. Let's just be real, and these e-commerce account management systems they offer you this. They help you with wiring and installation guides. So if I'm a technician, an ENI technician, and this brand new PLC has come in and maybe this is my first or second time wearing one, it's been somewhat new for me and I'm not real sure on the best way to do it I want to have some access to some comprehensive guides. I want to know for a fact how to wire this up to make sure that I do it correctly. Hey, we have all this available within account management systems. How about troubleshooting resources? Because there are troubleshooting resources that are available and within different manufacturers you have these resources, but if you have the installers actually having access to account management, they set their fingertip and, at the end of the day, it's all about product support, because installers need to know who they can reach out to for technical support. So, if you have an account management system, you often have who your account managers are, so far as numbers and emails for contact resources, as well as the more advanced product management level. So if you want to get specific on hey, I got a technical question I need to dive a little bit deeper than a traditional sales salesperson knowledge on a product. You need to get to account manager, to a product manager, rather inside account management systems. You'll see all that. You have all the information on who you need to talk to. Ok, so again, great ways right here with account management that really enhance your, your overall experience as an end user.

Speaker 1: 14:42

And I want you to think about a couple of other potential case studies for e-commerce solutions that that we haven't covered. Now we've. We've gone through purchasing, we've gone through engineering, logistics and installation. They're all very big areas. But how about customer service? How about? Just if you have a traditional customer service team, because they need? You have a traditional customer service team Because they need to have information on tracking, they need to have information on service requests. They need to have ability to impact your overall customer satisfaction. Customer service teams need to have access to this. Sales and marketing teams they need to understand what marketing types of campaigns and information is out there for those products so they can potentially utilize them for upcoming projects that they're trying to sell, and they need to track sales performance. How about your finance teams? If they need to have invoicing and payment processing, financial reporting all that stuff available to them? You want to make sure, with these e-commerce account management solutions, this is available. So, yeah, as we think about things in the future, we're very future-oriented at a large equipment company, lots of investments going in to make sure we have robust systems and the best of the best people in place.

Speaker 1: 15:47

To answer your questions, there's lots of future trends which are pretty interesting when you start thinking about how the whole industrial procurement world is changing, and we're going to talk about a few of those. I just want to unpack just a couple of them for you, because this rapid technological advancements is really changing a lot of expectations out there and we see a couple of trends that are somewhat rising, and we want to be on the front end of this to share it with you, because we know business has changed, operations changed and there's all about being competitive, interacting with your customers, having that right competitive advantage. So a couple of things that we see potentially coming that could be impacting things in the very near future are artificial intelligence and machine learning. So just think about for a second, like predictive analytics, ai. This is giving you lots of data to predict future needs and trends that you have. So it can help you anticipate potential customer needs as well as your personal needs, and help you optimize those inventory levels and really start getting specific so they can forecast demand based off of maybe seasonal history or historical data, off of current market trends. All this stuff is available. When you start introducing the concept of AI into your analytics Such a big deal.

Speaker 1: 17:07

You can also potentially, with some of this stuff, you can start automating some of your customer service items. If you're an industrial manufacturer and you're trying to cut your cost, you're trying to reduce costs as best you can. There are certain things like chatbots and virtual assistants. They're very sophisticated and when you tie that into direct support of product and resources, that can really enhance some things for you. How about for you guys out there who are thinking about smart contracts Because contract technology is changing, are thinking about smart contracts because contract technology is changing. So you have these smart contracts now that are self-executing, with terms and conditions directly written into them, and they can automate a lot of these processes in e-commerce, such as payment release and delivery confirmation. It kind of can eliminate some of those middle areas where it just holds us up and speed up the transactions.

Speaker 1: 18:00

Well, we know that's such a big deal. Or we know the IoT, the industrial, the IIoT, rather the Industrial Internet of Things. It's all about real-time inventory management. So you have items out there right now, such as smart shells and RFID tags that can give you real-time data on your current inventory levels. It's really cool how so much of this technology is just absolutely coming down. It's impacting. It's hitting directly inside the plant storerooms, the plant floor, wherever the product is stored, directly, and it makes such a big deal.

Speaker 1: 18:36

It's all about reducing that stock out, because I don't bet you, but there's nothing worse than getting that phone call when they need a product. They're supposed to have a product on the shelf. They go to get the product and guess what? There's none there Because there was a step missed somewhere in the process where something was most likely grabbed, and usually it's not malicious. Most of the time the stuff is taken because the machine is down and we got to get it back up. We'll take care of the paperwork later. And guess what? We get it back up and then something else happens. And then something else happens After those two or three, something else's. You forgot about reordering that product. It just happens. So if you have real-time inventory management that's part of your process using IOT devices, you can eliminate some of that. This stuff is out there, okay. Then you have enhanced logistics and tracking and when you have that stuff these IOT sensors they can monitor the condition and location of products during transit. I mean it's really cool how some of this stuff is revolutionizing the way stuff is being bought and so far is serving you.

Speaker 1: 19:39

Another area to think about is augmented reality and virtual reality. I've played with some of this technology already out here in industrial manufacturing and it's such a cool. But this is such a cool technology because this is going to allow you to visualize products in your environment before you start making a purchase. So for you engineers out there who are thinking through products and how products are going to work inside your facility. This can help you see how a piece of equipment would fit on your plant floor, just like a piece of furniture would fit in your living room. Right, this is going to help you enhance that. Also, there's lots of things out there from virtual showrooms that can give you a 3D experience of what product is, of how the product is changing, how the product would work. It really takes that traditional e-commerce experience to a whole new level.

Speaker 1: 20:27

And then, when it gets down to it, there's so much about advanced data analytics. If you can get customer insights and get performance metrics on the data that matters out of your system without having to pick up the phone call anyone, just at your fingertips, that's going to give you such a competitive advantage over all your competitors. And when we start thinking about this, if you want to understand what your purchasing patterns are, what the preferences are, what the customer behaviors are, all this stuff you can get that insight directly based off your system. And then you can start getting some KPIs that you want to matter and make data-driven decisions. Okay, so maybe you want to look at some sales trends or customer engagements or website traffic and you can understand, okay, based off of this. Maybe we need to be stocking up on inventory here Now.

Speaker 1: 21:12

Some of this stuff may sound like science fiction and it's way far out there. I'm telling you so much of this stuff is going to be hit in manufacturing. It's already has hit it in many places, but it's coming, and our team at our electrical women company we're committed to walking with you on this journey, because we know that you want a more connected, more robust sourcing experience, and that's why we're taking the time to really unpack this idea. And that's why we're taking the time to really unpack this idea because we recognize there's so many advantages out there of account management. When you're thinking about your e-commerce solution because it's not just about online purchasing that is somewhat of a given. You got to have online purchasing right. You need to have that. Take it to the next level. What can you do outside of just having an account? That's going to give you value, and this is what we were trying to unpack here today for you.

Speaker 1: 22:06

Hopefully, some aha moments were happening, because if you have comprehensive tools and resources tailored to your purchasing the engineering, the logistics, the installation teams and all more that we talked about then you'll be able to make better and more informed decisions and streamline those processes, ultimately knock some costs out and improve that efficiency and hopefully beat your competitors. But you have to embrace these technologies. You have to lean in and start asking questions. Ask for demonstrations, ask for okay, I want to see ECO. I want to see how your account management system, how that could help our engineering team and I guarantee you we're going to be on the spot, ready to show you, to give you that experience.

Speaker 1: 22:47

For you customers out there who would like to have a more robust experience with a punch-out solution where you have your entire system that you utilize inside your plant, yet you'd like to have it connected directly to us, but you don't want to change that interface for the way the people inside your organization work. You want them to stay on their system. That's what punch-out's all about, and we have experts in place ready to help you in this area. So I'm telling you lots and lots of things here. We'll actually put a link out here on this podcast to go check out a blog that's associated with this, as well as what we call our Eco Knowledge Base. This is an area we have lots of videos where we put together the advantages of an account management solution, what they can do for you, particularly our account management solution to give can do for you, particularly our account management solution, to give you a little bit of insight to what this would look like for you directly. So if you have questions or if you're a little bit inquisitive about this, like to see more for yourself, highly, highly, highly encourage you to go check that out and see if this could be something that could serve you well. So, anyway, give us a rating and review.

Speaker 1: 23:56

Hopefully you're enjoying Eco-Ask-Why. We know the format's changed. We're still plugging away and trying to just bring you value in everything that we do each and every week, each. If you're out there in industrial manufacturing or one of our customers that are not utilizing some of our e-commerce solutions, we'd love to have a conversation. We'd love to chat with you. We'd love just to see, potentially, how some of the things that we have built and are building could help. You could give you that leg up.

Speaker 1: 24:38

So if you have questions, if you have or would like to see directly what this would look like for you, let's have a conversation. So head over to Eco Online. Connect with us. Connect with your account management Account with a product manager. Call the branch directly. Whatever works for you, we'll set up a time we can come out. We can even do virtual type of opportunities or engagements to show you what this would look like from a system standpoint. So there's lots of resources in place.

Speaker 1: 25:03

So if you're in the Southeast United States and you're listening to the ECO Asks why and you're and you are not utilizing some of our e-commerce platforms and solutions, we would love to have a conversation, okay.

Speaker 1: 25:16

So anyway, keep having a great day. Thank you so much. Please share this out with others, particularly for others in industrial manufacturing who think may would benefit from solutions like this, and we'd love to connect with you. So again, there's all sorts of links in the show notes for the resources we have available for you from Electric Equipment Company. So we'd love to hear from you and just looking forward to seeing you next time. So thank you again for hanging out with us today and remember just to keep asking why. Thank you for listening to EECO Asks why. This show is supported ad-free by Electrical Equipment Company. Eeco is redefining the expectations of an electrical distributor by placing people and ideas before products. Please subscribe and share with your colleagues and friends. Also leave comments, feedback and any new topics that you would like to hear. To learn more or to share your insights, visit EECOASYcom. That's E-E-C-O-A-S-K-S-W-H-Y dot com KSKSWHYcom.