2020 A Year In Review

So let’s just say the obvious! 2020 reminds me of that game you play in the carnival called Whac-A-Mole. You know the one were moles pop up out of nowhere and if you make contact with them you win a point. Nationally and Globally many of our partners, clients and friends where in the same boat. Personally and professionally I learned many lessons. Believe it or not, some positive events took place too.

Moving About the Country

The last major trip I took was to California in Mid-February for the FedEx® Compatible Solutions Conference in Laguna Niguel, California. I piggy backed seeing my friends near Sacramento to go hiking for a few days beforehand, that always helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FedEx® conference was magnificent and we learned a lot about Cross Border Shipping, eCommerce Business, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Growing Supply Chain Trends such as Ship-From-Stores and the possibilities in International Shipping. We also completed our FedEx® Certification Testing and expanded our shipping capabilities to Europe.

Sadly we all faced the major changes due to the Covid Situation. Due to the fact we are considered an Essential Business we kept our office open. Some of our Team Members had to work from home due to school aged children staying at the house. A few of our Team Members came to work each day, but we are thankful to have over 6000 Square Feet of Space with separate offices. This helps maintain the appropriate distancing required by state and city mandates. Needless to say, like many companies, we had to invest in more equipment to accommodate these technology changes.

I learned a lot about communication and reached out to all of our clients to see how they were doing. This line of communication was critical to help one another. Not all was bad though. We acquired several new customers. Many of our clients also grew their business because of the nature of their products and of course the major changes from palletized shipment to hubs, to thousands of shipments direct to consumer. eCommerce fulfillment type shipments increased.

Innovation and Progress

We also developed four new software releases:

May of 2020 – DCWarehouse 7.80.030
Highlights included new importing tools of shipping data for your customers and their accounts, additional Quality Control data that flows through picking, improved materials control for those who use carts as temporary locations, an automated substitute item prompt option at order entry, and much more.
July of 2020 – DCWarehouse 7.80.031
Highlights included many Sales Order Enhancements to help improve customer service, inventory control and shipping processes. This included more control over order processing types, ease of importing and validation, Pack List Invoice with Back Orders, FOB and Freight Surcharge Changes, and much more.

July & September of 2020 DCWarehouse 7.80.032 and .033
Highlights included new Sales Order Features, new tools to help streamline picking processes, new inventory queries from wireless devices and even more fields to view in your inquiries.
In March of 2020 we had the largest online attendance recorded in our history for our Customer Update Webinar. Our Team added the demonstration of special tips and tricks in our software as well as went over frequently asked questions by our clients.

Client Care

Many of our clients decided to use this 2020 “down-time” to upgrade their technology and we helped facilitate the DCWarehouse© upgrade process. We also took a major Automotive Manufacturer live on our software.

Outside Initiatives

We also continued the #USAMfgHour Twitter Chat Initiative along with our Leadership Group, Dan Bigger of CVT Plastics,  Christine Torres of Graphic Products and Ruby Rusine of Social Success Marketing. 

All in all, the year was not as easy as others but we did have successes. In conclusion, we hope that 2021 is a better year for all of our clients. We also hope to see all Americans back to work, especially our friends in the Hospitality and Travel Industries.