By now, you’ve probably heard that our latest release, Acumatica 2024 R2, is here, delivering its latest and greatest innovations to our thousands of customers who span industries and geographies. More than 350 exciting enhancements are included in our second-of-the-year update, and today, we’ll explore the features designed specifically to address the evolving needs of distributors. We’ll also explain why we believe you—as a distributor in today’s ultra-competitive and, frankly, challenging marketplace—should consider moving to Acumatica to take advantage of 2024 R2 and our latest enhancements that are designed to address the needs of the distribution industry.

If you missed our report on what Acumatica 2024 R2 means for the construction industry, and for manufacturers, we hope you’ll take a moment to check them out.

How Acumatica 2024 R2 Helps Distributors Overcome Ongoing Distribution Challenges

Like today’s manufacturing businesses, distribution businesses are challenged with continuing supply chain disruptions, labor shortfalls, rising operational costs, and relentless competition.  Distributors thrive in a stable environment, but with political unrest, natural disasters, and inflation numbers that continue to fluctuate, the landscape remains unpredictable. According to James Mallory, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Manufacturing, Distribution, Field Service at Acumatica, these obstacles are why many distribution leaders are turning to technology, like Acumatica, for help.

“[Technology can] help them improve their supply chain visibility so that they can proactively make changes in their business to mitigate risk,” he says.

When distributors like yourself choose to implement Acumatica’s powerful, award-winning cloud ERP solution, you’re investing in a platform that’s designed to work for and with you for years to come. Our move to .NET Core—an open-source framework—and our major investments in Acumatica 2024 R2 means users have the tools and resources they need to succeed in our digital economy.

With Acumatica 2024 R2, provides distributors:

• Consolidated intercompany shipment capabilities
• Two-step receiving
• Prepay terms
• The ability to re-create deleted purchase orders
• Improved purchase price variance approval mapping

These distribution-focused features will help you manage operations more seamlessly, but there’s another customer-requested feature we’re thrilled to highlight: Sales Order Margin Analysis Anomaly Detection.

When we reached out to our distribution customers, they told us that sifting through huge quantities of data to identify potential issues or opportunities was difficult.  We listened and developed margin anomaly detection, a new feature that uses advanced AI algorithms to detect patterns and anomalies that traditional methods miss.

Specifically, anomalies are identified based on historical data and trends, not just absolute values. This no-code tool can be applied to any generic inquiry and can be utilized by customers in other industries to automatically surface important data deviations.

Says James, “[Anomaly detection is] going to be a game changer for our customers to manage their businesses by exception using some of the latest AI technology on the market.”

Acumatica Customers Influence Acumatica and Acumatica 2024 R2   

As with every Acumatica release, the features included in Acumatica 2024 R2 were significantly influenced by our customers’ real-world feedback. Keith Ford, President, Eagle Fence Distributing, recognized Acumatica’s passion for customer involvement early on in his search for a comprehensive ERP solution.

“I liked that Acumatica continues to move forward in releasing new versions twice a year and that they really listen to their customers,” he says.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons Eagle Fence—a wholesale distributor of high-quality fence products—chose Acumatica. Ford and his team were also impressed that they could get everything they needed from Acumatica’s Distribution Edition and even more impressed when Acumatica was able to help them manage their global supply chain issues during the pandemic.

“When global supply chain problems caused prices on every widget that we sell to flux, we had to be nimble and quickly get replacement costs into the system overnight. Acumatica was able to handle that,” Ford explains.

He adds: “To have 100 percent visibility to everything no matter where we are in the world is invaluable. We’ve been able to increase our margins because we have more control and visibility and can stay ahead of pricing changes and replacement costs.”

With Acumatica 2024 R2, every Acumatica distribution company benefits from our powerful new innovations that are designed to help them overcome industry challenges and to achieve next-level success.

Contact us today to learn more about our latest release and about our ‘Always Current’ Program that ensures SaaS customers are automatically upgraded to the current release.