Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/704526
6 FEDA News & Views Industry Insights Focusing on the Exceptional with the FDI Eric Ellingson, Vice President of Contract Operations Bargreen-Ellingson A s reps and dealers, we make our name in the industry by exceeding expectations. If my customer gives me six months to build a studs-up res- taurant, they will not be that impressed if I just do my job. But if that timeline shrinks to two months in the middle of the summer, we'll earn a reputation for delivering the goods in the face of mar- ket forces. More and more, exceptional is becoming the standard so we are pushed to multitask on steroids, do more with less, and perform more functions on autopi- lot. The AutoQuotes- driven FEDA Data Interchange (FDI) is a very basic step in that direction. Gathering real-time updates on orders allows manufacturer's reps and DSRs to focus on their exceptions, which then allows manufacturers to focus on their exceptions—while FDI provides us with the opportunity to focus on the excep- tional. Kudos to FEDA Chair Brad Pierce for his leadership in launching a game changer. In spite of the potential fears sur- rounding privacy concerns or capital budget constraints for IT investments, early-adopting manufacturers are start- ing to see their peers catch up with them. As of the end of May, 56 percent of all-quoted volume in AutoQuotes has an order status attributed to it. There are 112 manufacturers currently pub- lishing with 87 more committed to fol- low in their footsteps. Even better: The response by channel partners has been tremendous. Having established themselves as the trusted resource for dealer and rep activ- ity, AutoQuotes naturally has acceptance within our organizations and has been a driving force in the pervasiveness of the FDI. In the last week of May, 133 rep groups and 532 dealer companies used the Orders Status function, and more than 3,000 users within those two channels used the Order Status function in April. So is this mission accomplished? On the contrary. We still have a long way to go to leverage the potential of this com- mon language, and that work starts with the rep and dealer com- munities. We need to drive the change with- in our organizations and push to broaden the size of this initia- tive and strengthen, in real-time, the accuracy amongst our manufac- turing partners. Of course, we are all in this togeth- er, so manufacturers, I implore you to drive this initiative through your orga- nizations. Think of what FDI can be tomorrow with 95 percent of manu- facturers reporting: stock levels, promo- tions, scratch-and-dent items, consigned items, chain stock, real-time lead-time updates for orders not yet entered. All of these tasks that are currently so manual for our organizations and provide zero incremental value for the unexceptional order could be mitigated. Forget the 99 percent or the 1 percent. Let's expend our efforts focusing on the 20 percent of orders that our customers truly remember and reward. Let's let the 80 percent take care of itself. Gathering real-time updates on orders allows manufacturer's reps and DSRs to focus on their exceptions.