Pleasanton, CA December 19, 2002 Ironside Technologies, a provider of e-commerce solutions for the manufacturing and distribution markets, this week rolled out a solution it said would allow companies to electronically receive customer purchase orders into their enterprise order management systems.
The provider said that by connecting manufacturers and distributors directly to their customers' purchasing systems, the Order File Connector solution could eliminate duplicate data entry and remove a significant barrier to online user adoption.
In addition, because the process is fully automated, it can help businesses reduce order management costs, improve call center productivity and increase order accuracy, Ironside said.
The Ironside Order File Connector accepts purchase orders from customer purchasing systems using comma separated value (CSV) format and then translates this purchasing data into XML. The solution then submits the order directly into the manufacturer or distributor's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
An administration utility allows for the creation of an unlimited number of CSV file mappings to accommodate the purchasing systems of different buyers.
Steve Meredyk, ERP applications manager at Ironside customer OM Group said that the solution would benefit both his company and its customers, agents and distributors.
"We will be able to streamline our order management processes, become more efficient and be able to reduce costs," Meredyk explained. "At the same time, we will be making it easier for customers to place orders. By connecting directly to their purchasing systems, our customers will not have to call, fax or do any additional data entry."
