Author: admin

How UCC labels help facilitate EDI worldwide

admin

 Blog provided by ACT Data Services, Inc. 1-800-ACT-DATA

Anyone who has taken part in E-commerce is familiar with the UCC 128 or GS-128 label on packages making their way through the supply chain. One scan of the barcode on these labels can tell you vital information about a shipment, such as product type, container specifications, and the number of products included with a shipment. By scanning a barcode, trading partners can keep each other in the loop and help improve supply chain efficiency and warehouse logistics. This process results in products being sold faster and more frequently, leading to more profits.

These labels are regulated by the global organization formerly known as UCC (Uniform Code Council) and currently known as GS1. GS1 is a nonprofit organization that developed out of the need for worldwide standards in business communication. If two trading partners are using different standards for keeping and sending information, it is much harder to facilitate communication and information exchange between them. Barcodes help bridge the gap by providing an easy way to catalog information according to the standards established by GS1. According to a video from GS1, in the past, barcodes have helped the UK retail industry save 10.5 billion pounds a year because of how they streamline every part of the retail business.

If you would like to reap the benefits of GS1 barcodes for your retail business, contact ACT Data for their web-based EDI solutions. ACT Data will help automate all your EDI functions and generate shipping labels for your packages. Contact them today to see why they are one of the most trusted EDI providers worldwide.

Read More

Why EDI is essential to pick and pack operations

admin

 Blog provided by Act Data Services, Inc. 1-800-ACT-DATA

The phrase “pick and pack” has become synonymous with eCommerce as business practices for retailers have evolved to keep up with new technologies. The Internet has made it possible for retailers everywhere to ship their products to customers around the country and the world. Since eCommerce allows customers to pick specific items they want delivered to them, it is not always necessary to send whole shipments of a line of products. Instead, you can have workers pick only the products your customers have ordered and ship them to the customers straight from the warehouse.

This process can save you time, money, and labor, but it also requires a high amount of planning and precision to function effectively. You must be aware of how much inventory you have, which items are currently being shipped, and how much inventory is due to arrive from your provider. There are also other considerations you must take into account, such as what type of product has been ordered and what type of packaging you need.

Fortunately, EDI or electronic data interchange can facilitate quick and accurate information exchange between your company, your vendors, and the warehouses that store your inventory. By storing and managing all of your order information in their system, a good EDI provider will be able to promote greater efficiency in your supply chain, saving you time, money, and resources.

If you need an EDI provider for your pick and pack operations, ACT Data has been a global leader in EDI for more than two decades. If you’d like to work with the company that has partnered with brands such as Amazon, Gap, and JC Penney, contact Act Data Services, Inc. 1-800-ACT-DATA.

 

Read More

Are you using the right EDI format?

admin

Some have touted EDI, or electronic data interchange, as a miracle solution to business challenges. It has reduced the costs of paper for documentation and made it easier for companies to communicate. Furthermore, it has made supply chains quicker and more accurate. However, you won’t be able to reap any of these benefits if you aren’t using the same EDI format as your business partners.

It’s important to understand that not all companies or industries use the same EDI document standards. For example, automobile companies in Europe use the ODETTE format, while companies in the electronics industry will probably be using the RosettaNet format. There are many different formats, and any company would have their hands full trying to keep up with and learn all of them.

Things are bit easier when they are industry standards such as the ANSI ASC X12 format for North American businesses, but if you have many trade partners, the chances are high that you won’t all be using the same format. Instead of trying to learn all of the formats used by your trading partners, you can find a good EDI provider who will translate all of your data into a format your partners will understand.

Read More

Web hosting: When shared hosting servers get too crowded

admin

Blog provided by Rack Alley

In recent years, shared hosting has been the most popular form of web hosting across the entire web hosting industry. This is largely due to shared hosting’s affordability and ease of use. However, shared hosting won’t satisfy every business’s needs, and there are a few reasons you might need to switch to another type of server such as one for cloud hosting.

One of shared hosting’s biggest cons is that you have to share a single server with a collection of other clients whose behavior you have no control over. If your hosting provider places a massive amount of sites on the same server, it might start running out of RAM and CPU power, which are essential for sites to run smoothly. This causes sites on the server to slow down and reduces their performance quality.

Furthermore, there will be shared hosting clients who push the limited resources of a shared server to their limits. Shared hosting is the most popular option because it is the cheapest, which means that people who should be on a more expensive server with more RAM and other resources will still use shared servers for complicated tasks they are not equipped to handle. Other clients’ usage habits are one aspect of shared hosting you will not be able to change, so it’s important to make sure your provider has set measures to prevent this. If not, you’ll want to consider switching to another type of hosting server such as a VPS or a cloud hosting service.

If you are looking for Los Angeles web hosting and feel the need for better website speed and performance, Rack Alley provides cloud hosting, dedicated servers, colocation, and other web hosting services.

Read More

Need a Call Answering Service

admin

Article Written by: Herb Kimble

No matter what kind of business you have of your own, there is no doubt that a call answering service can make a big difference on how your customers perceive you. Right from the management gurus all the way to the people in the business for many years, all of them will agree that it is all about how you handle customer complaints that distinguishes whether or not you will be successful at what you do.

However, what is not being suggested is that you do not have to hire an entire customer service unit of your own. You can look for other economical options, especially if your business is not that large. Yes, you can recruit the services of an outsourced call center that will be able to handle a small business answering service quite easily, thanks to the years of experience that has been spent in this industry.

And there are different types of service that will be offered as well as there are varying levels of service that can be provided to make your customers happy. Right from a virtual receptionist all the way to a doctor’s answering service, you can find almost anything that you need from these situations.

All in all, what this means is that you can improve your business greatly by being able to use these services to please your customers. Just remember that it is all about the customer at the end of the day!

Bio: Herb Kimble is an entrepreneur in sales and marketing, who has expertise in everything from direct to telemarketing. Herb Kimble grew several businesses in the Philippines, and is considered a leading mind in sales and marketing. Check out Herb Kimble’s Pinterest page.

Read More

Basic checklist for user interface and experience

admin

Designing the user interface is now more important than ever and is one of the most critical roles in a web design team. Following is a basic checklist for user interface and user experience design of a website.

The first and foremost factor is to ensure that the team is happy with the design. If the product fail to excite the team behind the execution, then it would not create an impression in the market. Therefore, the product needs a team that believes in the choices they made.

Sometimes nothing will appear on screen, due to no search results, or lack of entries in the table. Therefore, you need to model out your blank states and then create UI to handle those moments.

You also need to account for every possible error state and then create a workflow that prevents that from happening. You cannot expect your users to figure out how a system works. You must help your user through the entire web browsing experience.

Whenever possible, for example when something is loading, you must show some animation that shows progress to the user that could help them know the exact time the loading is expected to finish.

Always use real data in your designs and ensure to test a dummy of the website with at least five potential end users. This will help to eradicate any glitches, before moving to a design phase.

Article by Rack Alley. You can host your website and other applications on tier one infrastructure with LA colocation of your own hardware or rented systems.


Read More