5 Fun Things to do with WarehouseTWO While WFH*

Categories: Tips and Tricks

By Mark Tomalonis
Principal, WarehouseTWO, LLC

*WFH:  "working from home"

Well, OK.  Maybe our definition of "fun" differs from yours.  Still, consider these five mini-projects if you are looking for ways to help your company deal with these extraordinary business times and prepare for a return to (a new?) normal business environment, while working from home.

1. Suggest new inventory-sharing communities for the WarehouseTWO system.  Which of your manufacturers are struggling the most to provide the parts you need for your end-customers?  Let us know.  If enough of you mention the same manufacturer, we will gladly create a new community corresponding to that manufacturer's product line(s).  If you feel strongly about a particular manufacturer/community, recruit other distributors to contact us to request the same community.  The more feedback we get about a proposed community, the more likely we are to create it.
   
   
2. Verify that every one of your co-workers who needs access to WarehouseTWO has his/her own user account.  You may have noticed that the WarehouseTWO system no longer supports concurrent login sessions by a shared user account, unless the Portal Access functionality is activated for that user account.  We made this change for security reasons.  (Too many "shared" login credentials were being shared with ineligible contacts.) It has always been a "best practice" for each employee at your company who needs access to the WarehouseTWO system to have his/her own user account.  Need more user accounts?  Review our membership levels to see which one is best for your needs.
   
   
3. Automate your inventory postings.  If not now, when?  Our data is clear:  those members who post their inventory data manually, don't post their inventory data.  Automating the nightly uploading of one's inventory data is an essential step toward maximizing the value of one's participation in "inventory-sharing" at WarehouseTWO.  Many of WarehouseTWO members were able to set this up in one day.  Others took five years and one day.  What is your timeline?  Need help setting this up?  Contact us for guidance or hire one of these third-party ERP consultants.  I bet that they also are looking for something fun to do while WFH.
   
   
4. Ask us to host a staff-wide training webinar.  (If only so you can see what your co-workers are wearing while working from home.)  Even though we have our standard suite of live training webinars scheduled for June 10th and 11th, we'd be happy to host a more condensed training session exclusively for your company, at at time convenient to your staff.  This offer is available to the first five WarehouseTWO members who request staff-wide training.
   
   
5. Invite your most challenged manufacturer to partner with WarehouseTWO.  "Inventory-sharing" among a network of like-branded wholesale-distributors is most successful when the activity is supported and encouraged by that network's manufacturer.  We have a complete process for on-boarding manufacturers who want to help their channel partners increase sales and operational efficiency during these challenging times.  Got a manufacturer in mind?  Let us know.

Let's all hope that things get back to normal soon.  Otherwise, I may have to come up with even more fun things for you to do next month.

About the Author
After a successful career in sales and operations management in the wholesale-distribution industry, Mark Tomalonis is now principal of WarehouseTWO, LLC.  He amuses himself by writing articles, such as this one, to help wholesaler-distributors execute their operations better.  Mark’s articles and tips are published in WarehouseTWO’s monthly e-newsletters.  Click here to subscribe.

About WarehouseTWO
WarehouseTWO, LLC is an independent “inventory-sharing” service created exclusively for durable goods manufacturers and their authorized distributors, and for any group of durable goods “peer” wholesaler-distributors, such as members of a buying/marketing group or cooperative.  To learn how inventory-sharing with WarehouseTWO can help your business, visit the WarehouseTWO website, or email info@warehousetwo.com.