Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/919877
40 FEDA News & Views Encouraging, that's how channel strategist Mark Dancer would describe his research leading up to the release of the new NAW electronic report "CEO Insights on Innovating the Distributor for the Digital Age." It's the fourth in a series of works, written by Dancer, chronicling the digital transformation of the wholesale distribution value chain and most certainly an unapologetic nudge intent on getting distributors to act—as in developing the much-needed foresight to predict and pivot against future change, and asking the tough questions to determine if they have the right mindset to compete. According to Dancer, one can't exist without the other. Foresight being a personal perspective on how change will shape an industry; and the mindset (or lack thereof ) is what fuels the drive to find a competitive advantage. In other words, is a distributor engaged and thinking about adopting new digital tools? Considering future business models? Or, disrupted and defiant? " The top measure of a distributor CEO today is their success in building capabilities for competing in the digital age—those that are needed to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves and respond to threats," says Dancer, adding that capabilities include people skills, business processes and digital tools, and "are the best measure of progress in achieving business, customer and supplier objectives." With insights from more than 100 distributor CEOs, in addition to perspective from manufacturers, customers and a slew of experts, he makes a convincing argument for why distributors need to develop a digital strategy to "carve out their space" in the digital era. What's been most promising about this latest project? The big shift, or the about-face he's seen many distributors take in acknowledging that traditional business models need an overhaul to compete against disruptive threats. "When I first wrote Getting the Most Out of CRM years ago, there was a lot more denial," says Dancer, who in addition to logging a massive number of miles on behalf of the NAW 's Institute for Distribution Excellence, is the founder of the consulting firm Channelvation Inc. "I would talk about the larger threats and opportunities around digital transformation and distributors would say that they couldn't see how it was going to impact their business," he says. " That's changed. Earlier this morning I talked with a distributor for almost two hours. We talked about their digital marketing efforts and how they were using digital tools to enable their sales force. They had a strategy in place to justify their use of e-commerce. They had a plan for how they were going to differentiate their business relevant to Amazon. More and more distributors are thinking it through and actively working toward having an effective vision." `Ala the big shift. NAW's Work on Distributors in the Digital Era Provides Key Insights on Where We Should be Moving as a Channel OPERATIONS Mark Dancer By Stacy Ward, Editor in Chief stacy@feda.com