Register Log in
EDI Options News: Official weblog of EDI Options

On May 16, 2011. By Lauren, under Other News.

 

We are excited to announce our newest addition to helping your company keep a finger on your ongoing sales, POS Insight. The amount of information that you need to analyze from retailers regarding products and sales can be overwhelming. POS Insight makes your regular sales reports simple to understand, using less time to analyze data and leaving more time to use that information to shape your plan of action. Having all your point of sale information organized and easy to analyze is critical to saving time and money and making good decisions. POS Insight keeps all your important sales information organized and easy to access at all times in both current and historical snapshots.

Keeping track of your sales is easy with POS Insight. There are a variety of graphs and other analytical tools to help view your sales information. Line graphs, bar graphs and ad hoc reporting help you manage your sales and make important decisions faster. All key information for you to make your sales decisions is kept together, making it easier to devise a big picture selling plan. Product performance data is critical for cooperating suppliers and retailers to reduce stock outs and enhance merchandise performance. POS Insight allows you to customize POSInsight in a way that is specific to your company and customers. It keeps track of the flow of business for the past, present, and helps you determine the future. All the vital reports you need to keep your company moving swiftly and sufficiently are in one place. POS Insight concentrates on the unique needs of distributors, manufacturers, and retailers so you can sell more product, reduce costs and trim investments in technology.

Arrange a demo today!

To arrange a demo or for more information on POS Insight, please visit our website  www.edioptions.com/pos-insight.php.  or contact our office at (516) 741-2032.

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On March 28, 2011. By Lauren, under Other News.

No one ever expects a disaster to occur.  As we have been seeing around the world lately in Japan and other countries, Mother Nature has no regard for manmade structures.  So what happens if there is a disaster and everything is gone?  We have decided that it is important to make sure we have a plan, a Disaster Relief Recovery Plan.

There are multiple different combinations of disasters that could happen and we are preparing ourselves for them all.  From common interruptions such as power failures and weather conditions that don’t permit us to work on location, to the other side of the spectrum-the more horrifying circumstances such as fires, floods or more severe weather occurrences.   It is important that if something of the sort is to happen we have all the information in one place and it is accessible.

By putting together several different documents such as risk assessments, recovery step plans, vital records, contact lists and inventory, we are prepared in case something is to happen.  We have collected data such as prime contacts for network issues, software problems and customer service.  Also categories like equipment and important client information.  We have been meeting periodically to review what is being done and to make sure we are incorporating all the vital information.  Everyone is working together to get all the components together and properly put into documents.

 We are making sure to cover all our grounds.  That way no matter what happens, we are exceptionally prepared to recover and get back to business.  Making sure that we have back-ups and off site locations, where we can secure everything,  is a vital part to making sure we can get the ball rolling in case of an emergency.  When all the documentation is finished and put together, making sure everything runs smoothly is also something we intend on doing in a test run. There is no use in a plan if it is not drilled and tested itself.  It is important to be aware and prepared in case something does happen, we do not panic, but rather pick up our Disaster Recovery Relief Plan and get to work.

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On February 16, 2011. By Lauren, under Other News.

     2011 marks the 20th anniversary for EDI Options.  Founders Neil Abbruzzese and Greg Wasserman began their journey as IT specialists in the jewelry industry, where they came to know from experience that there had to be an easier, less expensive way for suppliers to fulfill the retail requirements of EDI. Neil has more than 20 years of senior management experience in retail and data processing, logistics and compliance.  Greg’s expertise is in the industries newer e-commerce innovations both as a consultant and as a software developer.  They decided to leave the company they were working for and branch out, beginning to consult for many jewelry companies along with the one by which they were previously employed. Together they have used their past experiences and knowledge in the field to be the building blocks of EDI Options.

      Starting off in a spare second bedroom, Neil and Greg began to compile all the information and resources needed in order to get the ball rolling.  They started off becoming resellers of the already popular Formula1 system. Their first clients came from inside the Jewelry industry, considering their many years of experience and relationships built there.  They soon began to grow from mainly jewelry to a broad array of industries such as giftware and electronics accessories.  And as the clients grew, so did the business. Quickly moving from the spare room to their first office in Stony Brook University’s High Technology Incubator, within 3 years they outgrew that and relocated to right outside New York City allowing them easy access to many of their clients, as well as talented employees.  They began creating custom EDI tools for their own use and to help meet their customers’ needs.  Soon these tools became substantial enough to release as their own EDI system. This lead to the creation of the DOTTE system, Neil and Greg’s first self-designed software formulated to fit the needs of their customers.

      In 2002, the first production version of the EC Gearbox (version 6) was released.  It came with the idea for a more modern, streamlined, user friendly software, with the same important qualities their customers required.  Within the next 2 years modules were added to the GearBox such as warehouse manager, shipping manager and integration manager.  They were added to make processing easier for the user and to make order processing more efficient in general. 

      The introduction of Value Added Network services including trading partner management, account inter-connectivity, and document tracking came into play in 2005.  By taking the extra step of integrating the network services with their other offerings it created a one-stop EDI marketplace for their customers.

      The company continues prospering with the latest releases in the Gearbox product line in late August 2010– the GearBox 10 and the EC GearBox Gold.   The EC GearBox Gold is the flagship product of EDI Options with the power and flexibility to meet any need. The GearBox Gold has everything traditionally offered in off-the-shelf EDI management tools with the added capability to attach EDI Options custom applications to add almost limitless extensions.  Designed for the entry-level EDI user and affordably priced, the EC GearBox 10 embodies the EDI knowledge and retail experience gained by EDI Options in the last 20 years. Business oriented and easy to use, the EC GearBox is quickly becoming the EDI manager of choice for companies of all sizes.

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On December 29, 2010. By Lauren, under Other News.

Despite the massive amount of snow we encountered during this holiday blizzard, we have managed to keep on rolling. With access to our computers, emails and voicemails from home, we were able to keep in contact with all of our clients who needed our support. Everything that we do in the office we were taking care of from home, and then some. Now that the roads are clean we are back in action in the office. We hope you made it through your travels safely, but most importantly enjoyed the snow!

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On December 15, 2010. By Lauren, under Other News.

     In the spirit of the holidays, we at EDI Options have begun collecting food donations for Long Island Cares, The Harry Chapin Food Bank. It is an organization that began in 1980 dedicated to ending hunger on Long Island. 925 million people or a little less than 15% of the population is undernourished. The food donated goes to food pantries, soup kitchens, day care centers, emergency shelters, senior centers and places alike.

      By donating food and becoming green, we are making an effort to be more socially and environmentally conscious. It is important to help out our surrounding communities, even if it is in a small way. Hopefully we will inspire those around us and start a chain reaction to do the same. It is important that we all open our hearts to those who are less fortunate and help them have a happy and full holiday season.

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On December 10, 2010. By Fran, under Other News.

Tis’ the Season…. To be Compliant!

Are you sure you are compliant with all of your trading partners requirements?  Are you receiving constant chargebacks and do not know how to avoid them?

Let EDI Options help you. Serving the EDI community for 20 years, we know compliancy.

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags: ,   Read more...

On December 2, 2010. By Lauren, under Other News.

Being green isn’t necessarily the first thing people think of when they hear EDI, however being green is one of our main purposes. By using computer-to-computer communication, we are eliminating the use of paper. Traditionally documents such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices ect. were printed to paper and sent in the mail. With EDI they are sent electronically like email, which eliminates tons of paper yearly. It also eliminates all of the energy taking place within the traditional printer to mail process. Printing in a pdf format also helps us in the effort to eliminate paper waste. We also try to incorporate environmentally conscious actions throughout the day when possible. From buying recycled office supplies to turning the computers off at the end of the day, printing pdf’s to re-using cardboard boxes just to mention a few. Like anything else, making the appropriate changes to our every day routines is going to take some getting used to. But we know that in the end it will all pay off. We try our hardest to be as Green as possible.

Being green with EDI is simple! You don’t have to do anything because it is already done for you.
How can you help? Every step you take, whether it be big or small helps…
• Recycle paper in your office
• Re-use folders, files and paperclips
• Un-plug chargers and lap tops when they’re not in use
• Turn off the lights when no ones in the room
• Shut down your computers and turn off monitors at the end of the day
• Re-use your plastic cups, plates and utensils
• Buy florescent light bulbs
• Car-pool or use public transportation as much as possible
• Go paper-less! print to pdf’s
• Use dishtowels instead of paper towels
• Buy recycled office supplies
• Buy Energy Star appliances
• Programmable thermostats

Are you taking the necessary steps to become Green?

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On July 1, 2010. By Fran, under Other News, Specials.

Gearing up

The EDI Options team have been Gearing Up to introduce new features and items to the EC Gearbox system.

Big or small, we are ready to suit your needs.

Check back soon for more information!!

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On February 23, 2010. By Neil, under Executive Desk.

SafetySuite

In the last couple of years I have personally seen an epidemic of disasters befalling customers’ EDI systems. What I call a disaster does not have to be a fire or flood but rather anything that causes the loss of the use of an EDI system for an extended period. Anybody with a modest volume of EDI orders knows that it is like personally going without oxygen for an extended period – if the loss continues for too long, it can be fatal.

Not to date myself, but I have been an IT professional since the PC was a toy and I have seen more than my share of unexpected circumstances causing the loss of data.  When that happens, and you go to your backup library for that critically needed data, it can be at least inconvenient and at most disastrous if that backup is not usable.

Anyone living with us here in NYC or in a hurricane or earthquake prone area does not need a reminder of how the unexpected can occur any time. But it does not take a catastrophe to trigger the need for recovery. Everyone thinks of the worst possible situation, but anything that keeps you from your premises or makes your EDI system crash or become unusable can cause a business interruption.

In the last couple of years we have seen customers kept from their EDI systems due to a fire in adjacent space, due to corrupted backup media, due to a scheduled backup that did not work on schedule and even due to operator error that restored instead of backed up a working system. Often, simple human errors or unusual circumstances can cause huge headaches.

When customers come to us for recovery help we use every trick to get them back up and running but that is often not from the most current set of data can be pieced together from the fragments of data that we can recover from the network or from old copies of systems.

After this recent spate of disasters, we decided to be reactive no more and to offer a proactive solution for protection to customers. We combined a strong, reliable core backup and recovery process bundled with the same monitored security structure that we use to safeguard our own systems.

So starting in 2010, EDI Options is offering the EDI SafetySuite to our customers. Not designed to replace a regular backup processes but rather to secure just the EDI environment by combining a specially configured offsite hosted backup/recovery solution with management by our own highly trained security team. Using the SafetySuite our customers can rest easy knowing that their working EDI environment is being silently protected every minute of every day.

Click here to go to the EDI Options SafetySuite product page on our web site.

Neil Abbruzzese
President
EDI Options, Inc.
www.edioptions.com
516-741-2032 x11

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...

On November 12, 2009. By Fran, under Specials.

Order Labeling

We are excited about out new label 4×6 UCC label offer and we would love to have you as a label customer!  Take the hassle out of running out of labels when you can have EDI Options be at your service when you need them, fast.  Ready and reliable.

Bright White Labels:
Cost-effective bright white.
1000 4 label sheets (one box) = $170

Premium Labels:
Off-white glossy.
1000 4 label sheets (one box) = $190

Share
Comments: No comment   Tags:   Read more...