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Registration for this year’s Summit (January 28 – 31, 2024, at the Wynn Las Vegas) is currently underway. Our annual gathering of cloud ERP enthusiasts has been extended into a three-day experience, giving attendees more time and opportunities to network, connect, learn, and grow.
Summit is the place to go to hear about the visionary big picture as well as the evolving economic and technological trends that impact everyone. Engaging and insightful keynotes bring us together as a community and set the tone for the days ahead. With almost 100 breakouts this year, attendees will have the opportunity for in-depth exploration of their own industry with focused discussions into topics and issues that matter the most to them. Focused learning sessions will help attendees build and hone skills that they apply to their business.
In our five-part series, we’re highlighting Acumatica Summit 2024 sessions geared towards each industry. We started with Construction and Manufacturing, and we’re now turning our attention to the great line-up of sessions and experiences for Distribution.
Distribution at Acumatica Summit 2024
Distribution fills a critical role by timing and organizing the movement of goods to ensure that goods are available when needed, to fulfill orders as they arrive. This means procuring inventory from vendors or performing warehouse transfers to sustain desired inventory levels to achieve a desired level of customer service.
Customer service is always a key consideration for the distributor, as many B2B customers have compliance programs that necessitate requirements and standards be met and maintained in order to remain in good standing as well as to avoid non-compliance chargeback penalties. Many distributors supply Amazon fulfillment centers and big box retailers; this comes with responsibilities and expectations. Predictability and reliability of inbound supply to Amazon and big box retailers is paramount. Compliance programs serve to optimize and streamline activities in the trading partner network.
Many distributors sell directly to consumers (B2C) or fulfill orders on behalf of their B2B customers, acting as their drop shipper. Consumers are accustomed to Amazon-like experiences and these expectations bring unique opportunities and challenges for those distributors equipped to tackle them as they seek other avenues for growth. Becoming a successful e-Commerce retailer means thinking about tailored experiences, stellar customer service, customer loyalty and engagement.
Distributors aim to turn inventory into cash as quickly as possible to avoid tying up capital investment in inventory that is sitting in the warehouse. Managing supply and demand variability, mitigating supply chain risk and uncertainty builds resilience in your business. Digitization of business data and then harnessing that data to provide meaningful insights supports better decision making.
Ongoing investment in technological and operational innovations is the key to remaining competitive and agile in a fast-moving world and our mainstage sessions will provide a broader vision of the direction technology is headed. Keynote messages will also include conversations with distribution customers who will share their stories of how they have successfully leveraged Acumatica’s cloud ERP solution to grow their businesses and set themselves up for future success.
Additionally, the Acumatica Marketplace will provide the opportunity to connect with Distribution ISV partners who will be showcasing how their applications’ features extend Acumatica’s solution footprint.
Distribution Breakouts
Our Distribution breakout sessions are focused on helping our customers keep up with the pace of modernization in supply chain management as well as the opportunities that digital transformation offers for small, medium, and large size businesses. Adopting best practices and harnessing business data can help introduce efficiencies into daily operations, support strategic decision making, and spur future growth opportunities.
A few of the compelling topics for distribution companies include:
- Harnessing your business data to gain strategic insights in support of better decision making.
- Order fulfillment strategies to mitigate stock shortages.
- Acumatica WMS showcase highlighting warehousing best practices.
- Deep-dive customer roundtable discussions with the Acumatica Product team.
There are three different types of breakout sessions for the 11 Distribution Breakout Sessions in the Acumatica Summit 2024 Agenda—each offering different experiences, which are explained below.
Informational
These sessions provide the latest industry trends, product details, feature specifics and issue background specifically designed to increase attendees’ knowledge of Acumatica and understanding of technology.
Session Example: Freight Shipment: How Pacejet and Acumatica can Help Businesses Achieve Logistical Nirvana. Freight shipments can be complicated, but, with the right ERP solution and ISV applications, they don’t need to be. This session will show attendees how to use Acumatica and Pacejet to navigate the complex freight shipment landscape. It will cover strategies for managing shipping methods (Less-than-truckload and Full Truckload) and Third-party Logistics, while elevating the customer experience and streamlining fulfillment.
Interactive
These sessions are structured for participant engagement and the exchange of ideas, opinions and information, typically featuring a panel, group discussion or roundtable format and provide a platform for presenters and participants to share their insights and experiences and respond to questions.
Session Example: Order Orchestration: A Deep-Dive Distribution Roundtable Discussion. Using manual procedures, fill-rates or business rules to make order fulfillment decisions to decide how orders should be shipped and from which warehouse? Then join this interactive session to discuss the possibility of replacing these processes with configurable business rules to optimize and automate fulfillment and orchestrate orders efficiently. Participants have the opportunity to network and connect with Acumatica Product Management to share ideas. Acumatica experts will gather requirements and identify business use cases to contribute to the Product Roadmap.
Focused Learning
These sessions take a deep dive into common and sometimes complex business process requirements, covering scenarios and designed to alleviate business pain points.
Session Example: Matrix Items: Entering the Matrix and Getting Started. Instead of manually setting up an item for each different product combination, Matrix Items can be automatically created and used to track inventory through various item attribute combinations.
In this session, attendees will:
- Learn what Matrix Items are and when they should be used.
- Understand how to generate items with attributes automatically using pre-defined templates for stock and non-stock items.
- Learn how and why to make variants optional.
- Learn how to make template changes and update matrix items (e.g., UOM changes).
- Gain visibility into the full product range and add Matrix Items to expedite order entry in sales and purchasing.
Because these and other distribution sessions fill up quickly, we recommend you register now to secure your spot.
Distribution Success at Acumatica Summit 2024
As a distributor within the Acumatica community, Acumatica Summit 2024 provides a perfect opportunity to explore the topics most important to you. You’ll continue your professional education while enhancing your skills and knowledge of our comprehensive cloud ERP software while enjoying the exciting Vegas atmosphere and our fun social events that encourage networking, connecting, and building relationships.
To learn more about Acumatica Summit 2024, contact the event team at support@acumaticaevents.com with any questions. For any questions about our cloud ERP software, contact our team today.
