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Knowledge and process

Applications and data

Customer and web

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Twelve problems described the way clients describe them, with the causes behind each.

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One process, or one focused conversation. You don't need a scope, a platform or a budget to get in touch.

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Established and growing businesses with complex operations, systems, teams or customer journeys. No rigid size limit.

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Nobody owns the application layer

MSPs own infrastructure. Vendors own their product. The space between has no name and no owner.

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AliveCommerce  /  Industries  /  Distribution and wholesale

Distribution and wholesale

Order flow works. It works because of three exports, a nightly spreadsheet and somebody who remembers to run them. Meanwhile your customers phone all day to ask where things are, and the answers are already sitting in a system they can't reach.

Common ERPsProphet 21 · NetSuite · Business Central · Epicor
Frequent triggerA customer asking for a portal
Typical stack8 to 14 systems

What we see most.

Tick what applies. The count changes what we'd recommend, and sometimes the recommendation is to wait.

What we do here.

Across all three layers, because problems in this sector rarely stay in one.

Applications

ERP ownership, integration and reporting

Distribution ERPs are deep, specific and thinly supported independently. When the person who knew yours leaves, there is usually nowhere obvious to turn.

  • Prophet 21, NetSuite and Business Central support
  • Integration to commerce, WMS and shipping
  • Contract pricing and rebate logic out of spreadsheets
  • Customer EDI and punchout
Web and revenue

Self-service, portals and B2B commerce

Most support volume in distribution is customers asking questions the system could answer. Self-service is a sales asset, not an IT cost.

  • Customer portals against live ERP data
  • B2B commerce with real pricing logic
  • Marketplace and channel integration
  • Companion apps for outside sales
Knowledge and process

Warehouse process and receiving documentation

The warehouse process changed when the racking did, and nobody wrote it down. New staff learn by following whoever has time.

  • Receiving and returns process documentation
  • Paper pick tickets and packing slips converted
  • Warehouse onboarding and training
  • Supplier agreement records

The systems you probably run.

Each has a page on Champion1 covering what typically breaks and what we do about it.

Prophet 21NetSuiteBusiness CentralCin7ShipStationShopifyAdobe CommerceSalesforceAvalara

Who we usually work with.

And the sentence that tends to start the conversation.

COO / VP OperationsOwns fulfilment accuracy“Why did we ship the wrong thing again?”
VP Sales / GrowthOwns the portal and digital channel“Our biggest customer is asking for online ordering.”
E-commerce ManagerOwns catalogue and pricing“The site says in stock and the warehouse disagrees.”
IT DirectorOwns the integrations“Nobody here knows Prophet 21 anymore.”

What it looks like in practice.

Distribution · 80 staff · 14 months

A twelve-year-old ERP nobody could safely touch

Three exports and a nightly spreadsheet held order flow together. We mapped the real process, replaced the seams with integrations, and left the ERP where it was.

31 hrs
returned per week

Straight answers.

Related.

The capabilities this sector reaches for most.

Give customers self-service“The phones ring all day for order status.”Connect systems that don't talk“An export, an import, and a spreadsheet in between.”Sell to customers online“Contract pricing and stock levels don't survive the handoff.”

Tell us what's breaking.

We'll tell you which part of this we'd put on it, roughly what it costs, and whether it's worth doing at all — including when the honest answer is that you don't need us.

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