Industrial distributor Valin began moving operations to the cloud and making other technological adjustments years ago that helped employees switch to remote work during the coronavirus pandemic. Technology alone isn't sufficient, as companies also need "the building blocks for performance management," says Cory Calderon, the company's director of organizational development.

Price fluctuations for in-demand items will continue as health care facilities compete for already limited supply, Grainger CEO D.G. Macpherson says. "For the next few years, we're going to be in a world where these types of products are going to be the norm for how we work," he says.

Warehouse-management systems, robotics and other technology are enabling warehouses to meet customer demand for same-day and next-day delivery, as well as increase worker safety and compensate for labor shortages, writes Curt Croley of Zebra Technologies. "[T]his trend will become more noticeable as retail and warehouses continue to merge into one fulfillment center, all with the intent of delivering packages ever faster and more accurately to the end consumer," he writes.

Over half of business-to-business sellers don't have product information management technology that could help them sell more and better serve online customers, according to a survey done by 3GEM Research for Akeneo. More than half of respondents plan to adopt voice-activated search within the next year.

Distribution salespeople should emphasize the value their company provides, writes Debbie Paul of Real Results Marketing/Distribution Strategy Group. "Each customer persona cares about something different, and it's the salesperson's job to learn about how the company, product or service can make their lives easier," she writes.

This infographic from Flow displays the pros and cons of webinars and podcasts. Webinars enable real-time interaction and have good conversion rates but can be time-consuming to create, while podcasts reach prospects on the go but audiences are less likely to be fully focused on the content.

Worker skills will need to be updated for the post-pandemic factory floor, especially with greater adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, writes Jasmeet Singh, global head of manufacturing at Infosys. This will require an "open and curious" approach that prioritizes creativity and problem-solving, Singh writes.

A PathMotion survey of 2.9 million job candidate questions found the most frequently asked questions were about the company and the position itself, a sign that company websites and job descriptions may be falling short, writes Bryan Adams, CEO and founder of Ph.Creative. The survey also showed day-to-day activities, company diversity and company culture have become increasingly important over the past four years, he notes.

In his Chairman's Column, NAW 2020 Chairman of the Board Doug York talks about the benefits of membership in NAW to include exposure to new trends and ideas in distribution, access to key partnerships and government affairs. He adds that this combined value has grown exponentially throughout the pandemic, bringing particular attention to the daily updates from our government relations team which deal with the impact COVID-19 has had on distribution businesses and our industry. Read his column.

Subscribe to the new NAW Podcast Series: INNOVATE TO DOMINATE, sponsored by PROS so you don't miss a single episode. In episode 1, listeners will learn about INNOVATE TO DOMINATE and what it means in the context of COVID-19. This podcast series is centered around the findings in NAW's "Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series," which helps distributors connect the dots between the forces of change, the things that are reshaping how customers buy, and how businesses operate.