Thursday, August 05, 2004
Welcome!
Welcome to PromoTech Blog, the weblog discussing technology issues in the Promotional Products/Advertising Specialty Industry (including premiums and incentive and reward programs). My name is Brent Buford and I run a company called eBlox that provides technology services and software to the industry. I also pen a monthly column for Identity Marketing magazine devoted to technology issues for industry professionals; those columns can be viewed in our Resource Center, which is free for anyone - industry and non-industry alike - to use (read a press release about the Resource Center here). I'll also be publishing and discussing abridged versions of those columns in this weblog, although my main focus will be on current issues and trends in the industry.
Numerous technological hurdles face our industry; despite the advances of the internet and e-commerce, many distributors and suppliers still process orders the old-fashioned way, using phone and fax. Because the industry is fragmented, with thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of salespeople, inertia and entropy tend to keep us behind the curve when compared to other industries with similar supply chains. All of this is changing, of course, but not rapidly. I'm not here to determine whether that's an inherently good or bad thing – for some of you, change really translates into enormous risk.
But for those of us who believe technology can actually benefit every link in the sales and distribution process, keeping up with technological advances (and mishaps) is a way of life. For those of you realize that technology is important for your business but don't have time to keep up with the latest news, consider me your geek filter. I'll let you know what's important and when to take notice. And please, tell me what you'd like to hear about - whether it's product sourcing, company stores, wireless networks, security and privacy issues, or anything else that interests you - I'll do my best to break it down into plain English.
Numerous technological hurdles face our industry; despite the advances of the internet and e-commerce, many distributors and suppliers still process orders the old-fashioned way, using phone and fax. Because the industry is fragmented, with thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of salespeople, inertia and entropy tend to keep us behind the curve when compared to other industries with similar supply chains. All of this is changing, of course, but not rapidly. I'm not here to determine whether that's an inherently good or bad thing – for some of you, change really translates into enormous risk.
But for those of us who believe technology can actually benefit every link in the sales and distribution process, keeping up with technological advances (and mishaps) is a way of life. For those of you realize that technology is important for your business but don't have time to keep up with the latest news, consider me your geek filter. I'll let you know what's important and when to take notice. And please, tell me what you'd like to hear about - whether it's product sourcing, company stores, wireless networks, security and privacy issues, or anything else that interests you - I'll do my best to break it down into plain English.
# posted by Unknown @ 12:53 PM 
