Distribution One: A Software Company Built on Customer Service

Burlington, N.J., March 15, 2008 - Distribution One values its customer relationships. Each customer is KING! Understanding customers’ overall business needs and goals is an essential part of determining their software requirements. Past and present business software purchases affect customers’ decisions when purchasing new business software. Many companies approach the selection of business software with a budget or dollar amount in mind. This is an acceptable practice so long as the software satisfies the company’s current and foreseeable future needs. Otherwise, the time and money spent is wasted. The Distribution One software is very flexible. Whether your business requires the ability to electronically exchange information via EDI or the Internet that will bring in thousands of orders per day, or you prefer to handle operations at arm’s length, the system can handle it.

The Distribution One advantage that differentiates their software from the competition is that its software is all-inclusive. Distribution One software is not sold in modules or separate packages that have to be tied together. The Accounting, Financial's, Order Entry, Purchasing, Inventory Control, Warehouse Automation, Reporting, CRM, Vendor Expedite, and unlimited customer support (where a real person answers the phone), are all included.

Very often, the systems that they replace are fully leveraged and are not able to satisfy the needs of the business. Most of the time, the customer has reached the limits of the current software application and is looking to make daily procedures and processes more efficient to take their business to the next level. The Distribution One software readies a business for organic growth or growth through acquisitions.

Older Legacy systems do not provide the ease of use, common functionality and standards of some off-the shelf products like QuickBooks or Peachtree. However, these off-the-shelf products do not provide the multifaceted procedures required by today’s wholesale distributors. This is where the Distribution One software plays a key role. It has the ease of use and the short learning curve of off-the-shelf products, with the added capabilities and functionality of its large scale Enterprise ERP system.

Tom and Larry Ward, along with Dean Christanson, formed the company in partnership. Tom is the President and CEO, Larry is head of Customer Support and Installation, and Dean is the Lead Technologist and is responsible for all product development. Tom Ward’s distribution software industry experience include 18 years in a key management position at a major wholesale distribution software company, teaching courses in Computerization of Wholesale Distributors at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and helping to form several industry trade show events such as the Services to Industry held at IDA each year. With this extensive experience, he knows firsthand that the secret to being successful is to go a measure beyond to provide the best customer support possible and that every single customer is important…. regardless of size.

In 1995, Distribution One developed the Unix system, known as Vision, and sold their first system to Schmitt Kane Plumbing Supply of Chicago. The Vision product was sold to over 100 companies from 1996 until 2003 and was very successful.

In 1999, Distribution One, Inc. purchased Distribution Management Systems (DMS), located in Vermont (with 40 customers in a COBOL environment). Included in this acquisition were several highly skilled employees. Over the next three years, Distribution One upgraded their customers to the Vision system.

In 2000, under Christianson’s direction, Distribution One proceeded to develop the next generation of Distribution Software. With an assembled team that included Mark Thompson, head of design for DMS, the company began developing their Windows- based Enterprise system, later to be known as V2. With a clean slate and over 100 combined years of experience from the employees at both Distribution One in New Jersey and DMS in Vermont, the team created a completely new system to be the most powerful software ever developed for the wholesale distribution industry.

The first Windows-based Distribution One system was sold to VLC Industries in Houston, Texas in January 2003 and has since been a huge success. The Windows system now has over 60 installations worldwide ranging from five users to larger systems with 100+ users. These companies range in diversity from Industrial, Electrical, Fasteners, Aerospace, HVAC, Sign Supplies, Importers, Exporters, Retail Fulfillment, Fire Safety Equipment, Household Goods, Music CDs, Home Accessories, Books, Cell Phones, Accessories, etc.

In 2005, Distribution One implemented a system for a customer in Knoxville, Tennessee that distributes and manufactures musical CDs around the world. Because of the success of the installation and the intensive customer support provided, the good word has spread and Distribution One was selected to install a system for Select Music of London, United Kingdom. With prior installations in Canada and Mexico, this was the first installation outside of North America. The system was designed from the beginning for international distribution with the ability to handle foreign currency and is gaining acceptance outside the United States. Now, customers in Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, Germany and Australia have placed orders for this software. Sweden and Denmark are currently in operation and the Hong Kong system will be installed in June, followed by Germany in July.

In March 2006, Distribution One introduced an even more powerful version of the V2 system called Distribution One Enterprise. This upgraded version of the Windows system is designed for larger customers with more users and more transactions.

The company has also made the current Windows software version more affordable for average distributors with under 15 users. Both systems have the same features and will continue to gain upgrades.

Several business practices have made Distribution One successful. Because customers come first, phones are answered by a human being (not a machine) in the customer support area If the call is for someone else, it gets transferred. The person who answers the phone is actually a member of the support team. This support staff is located at the company headquarters in the United States, not a foreign country.

All training is done on site at the customer's place of business to make it easier to get through the conversion with minimal disruption of their business.

A unique feature at Distribution One, everyone is considered a customer support person from management to the person who answers the phone.

Distribution One is dedicated to responding to customers’ wants and needs. As new features are added for a particular customer, they become available to all customers at no additional charge. This philosophy not only keeps the system in pace with today’s distributors’ business demands, it also streamlines support. The staff doesn’t have to deal with the possibility of hundreds of “customer options” for each customer and allows for quick, accurate and helpful answers to customer questions.

The latest Distribution One Enterprise software offers the most powerful Windows-based ERP system in the market today. Using Windows 2003 server and Microsoft’s terminal services technology, Distribution One Enterprise offers four optional programs that include: Shipping Manifest Integration, E-Commerce, EDI and Automated Credit Card Processing. Navigating through Distribution One Enterprise is simplified with dynamic navigation buttons by users as well as drill down/around capabilities throughout the system.

For more information or a demonstration of the Distribution One software, contact them via email at information@distone.com or call us at 888-730-8600.