DemandBridge is excited to report some of the many developments we have been working on in second and third quarters of 2019, related to product enhancements and new integrations. We strive to provide constant improvements to products, services, and customer support.

In this quarterly review, we’ll highlight the following:

• The new DB Sourcing Integration is now available for customers using EQ Distributor as their back-office system so that they can track orders with the Job-Status dashboard and search, request, and compare quotes, send branded proposals to customers, and convert opportunities into purchase orders through an interactive supplier user interface.
• The DB Commerce Promo Workflow integration automatically configures many Item Codes for each possible combination of variants, and creates corresponding records in EQ Distributor dynamically for each unique variation.
• The DB Commerce to KS Distributor integration features automated order flow, impressive data transfer, hourly synced inventory values, and quick site implementations. 
• DB Commerce coupons can now be created each with a valid date range, coupon type (flat dollar amount, percent off, or free shipping.), minimum purchase requirement, user access, and item eligibility requirements.
• New highly efficient DB Commerce admin interface includes basic company details, user management, catalog maintenance, vendor overview, item list, item groups, and promo item maintenance with more coming soon.

DB Sourcing Integration to EQ Distributor

Our teams in Hunt Valley and Reno have been working hard to make our web-based procurement solution, DB Sourcing, available to our customers using EQ Distributor as their back-office system, and we’re happy to say that this integration is complete and ready for use!

DB Sourcing helps distributors take control of the most significant functions affecting their profitability. With features aimed at finding efficiencies, standardization of buying processes, streamlining communication, and providing transparency in purchasing, users can instantly measure cost savings on the activities that impact their bottom line.

Key features include:

• Job-status dashboard to facilitate end-to-end project management and collaboration across your organization.
• Ability to request and compare quotes from suppliers, send those bids to customers in a branded proposal, award items, and convert opportunities into purchase orders all from one portal.
• Interactive supplier user interface where vendors can maintain their company profile, respond to RFQs and revise bids, send and retrieve comments/attachments, and acknowledge orders they’ve won.
• Sophisticated search functions to help CSRs find the best supplier for a job.
• Robust approval rules, reports, and supplier maintenance tools that offer administrators insights and control over how to direct their spend.
• Integration into the DemandBridge back-office systems to minimize redundant data entry through seamless order transmission, dynamic item creation, and data replication.

DBC Promo Workflow & EQ Distributor Integration

In our Q1 Technology Release, we announced the integration of DB Commerce into EQ Distributor, as well as the launch of our “New Promo Workflow”. Since then, we’ve seen several distributors using e-Quantum as their back-office system begin taking advantage of the new features available to them as a result of this integration, from modernized branded storefronts, to advanced editor capabilities and digital output options, and more. Meanwhile, many other distributors have started utilizing our DB Commerce Promo Workflow to create and showcase items with many possible variant combinations on their customers’ sites. Since the initial launch, we’ve gathered lots of positive feedback that we’ve used to improve the software and tighten the current integration with DB Distributor, and to expand this feature set to additional customers.

A key benefit of this workflow is the ability to automatically configure many Item Codes representing each possible combination of variants, and to have corresponding purchase orders created in one’s back-office system, thus reducing initial setup time and effort. We’re now pleased to be able to offer this dynamic item creation capability to our customers using EQ Distributor, and are actively working towards making the full suite of “Promo” features available to our KS Distributor customers in the near future! 

DB Commerce to KS Distributor back-office

In Q1, we brought you the integration between DB Commerce and EQ Distributor. In continuing our efforts on the integration front, we are excited to announce connectivity of DB Commerce to KS Distributor. The DB Commerce platform offers quick site implementations through availability of data, ensuring current information for items, inventory, and pricing. Equally important are a modern look and feel and feature-rich solutions for customization of marketing materials and options for digital delivery.

Integration benefits include automated order flow from DB Commerce to KS Manager, impressive data transfer (i.e. customers, items, ship-to, ship-via and tax), and synced inventory values on an hourly basis. This resulting in a transparent and seamless integration.

We look forward to providing you with the efficiencies needed to turn your customer ordering experiences into best in-class solutions.

Coupons Coming to DB Commerce

DB Commerce offers a variety of payment methods from corporate cost centers to credit cards, and even spending accounts with preset amounts and business rules. A long-standing customer request has come to fruition as we prepare to release coupon codes in Q3. 

The site administrator can now create one or more codes to be used to discount the order. A step-by-step process allows the code to be specified, date range to be indicated, and coupon type (flat dollar amount, percent off or free shipping). Next, minimum purchase requirement, user access, and item eligibility are considered before activating the coupon for use.

The checkout workflow is blissfully simple; when a coupon code is enabled, the entry box appears. The user enters their code, validation occurs, and the discount appears. The system supports one coupon per order, and each code is a single use per user. The final step is near completion as the teams work to transmit the order discount to the respective back office system.

We can’t wait to share this long-anticipated feature with our users!

DB Commerce Administrative Overhaul

Our site administrators are our unsung heroes of the DB Commerce world. These users plan and construct beautiful customer sites through details of catalog setup, item maintenance, and site configuration. The administrative tools are plentiful, and we’ve made efforts over the years to create efficiencies, but the interface overall has taken a back seat to the end user experience.

The new promotional products workflow required a completely new administrator component and was the perfect precursor to a whole new administrative experience. Our product management and user experience teams have worked together to carefully select core areas of the system to begin with. The result is a beautiful and highly efficient new distributor admin interface. We started with the most frequently used areas, and those that would be necessary first for promo, and next for other key functions, and the team is continuing to build out additional components.

Customers with access to the latest version of DB Commerce will see this interface and can toggle back to the “legacy” view for features not yet converted. Users will rejoice at the simple efficiency gains from saved active company and auto-save fields. They will save time with hover over details and edit in place.

The current iteration includes basic company details, user management, catalog maintenance, vendor overview, and item list, item groups, and promo item maintenance. The list of features is growing with each release. We’ve had rave reviews since released and we cannot wait to see more administrators take advantage of this.

Did you know?

As part of the DemandBridge Learning Center, we offer monthly webinars designed to educate users of the software on best practices, platform navigation, workflow efficiency, setup, configurations, new releases, and much more! Each session is recorded and can be found at https://dblc.dbenterprise.com. You may login with an existing account or you may create a new account using the self setup link at the bottom of the login page with password = dblc.