A pilot government procurement program overseen by the General Services Administration has drawn criticism from the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors because of the prominent role played by Amazon Business. "Our members were hesitant with, 'Now GSA is going to go forward and create Amazon as the gatekeeper for anybody who wants to sell the federal agencies,'" said Blake Adami, NAW's vice president of government relations.

Synnex Corp. and Tech Data on Monday announced they plan to merge in a deal worth $7.2 billion, creating a combined entity worth $57 billion. Separately, Synnex announced a fiscal first-quarter profit of $87.8 million and revenue of $4.94 billion.

Logistics and supply chain platform providers are increasingly working with trucking companies to improve flexibility and efficiency while reducing costs. Platforms provided by Google, SmartHop and others use machine learning and artificial intelligence to book and track trucking services.

Logistics companies in northern Nevada have struggled to find enough truck drivers during the pandemic and are introducing incentives and improving communication with drivers to attract and retain more of them. Truck dealers have also seen increased demand due to a surge in e-commerce delivery.

Distributors need to acknowledge the changing reality of sales and start treating it as a function done inside the company, rather than outside, writes Justin Roff-Marsh, founder and president of Ballistix. This means delegating some responsibilities to other departments so salespeople can focus on acquiring customers, he writes.

The concept of "understanding" for salespeople involves getting to know customer organization, becoming familiar with industry trends and also understanding customer contacts as people, writes David Brock. "Understanding enables all of us to enter into collaborative two way conversations," Brock writes.

Employees are less likely to worry about their jobs when leaders are upfront about the health of the business, regularly recognize excellence and give people a say in how things are run, writes Tanveer Naseer. "Being proactive rather than reactive is the name of the game with this one," Naseer writes.

Springing from the COVID-19 crisis in growth mode will require companies to ingrain flexibility, reallocate resources and focus on outcomes, according to a McKinsey analysis. "[B]old innovators emerge from crises substantially ahead of peers -- and maintain this advantage for years to come," note the authors, who detail how to implement changes.

According to David Bauders, SPARXiQ CEO, "Many distributors may consider strategic pricing to be a relatively mature opportunity because it's been around for a few decades now. After all, lots of distributors have built pricing matrices, established controls and put pricing managers in place. While this may be the case, many still treat pricing as a checklist activity, without any intention of making it a key strategic and financial capability." Read his post.

During this 90-minute open discussion, you'll exchange ideas with a trusted network of C-suite peers in distribution. Companies belonging to this community are from firms that exceed $1 billion in annual sales. There is no formal agenda or speakers -- just you and more than a dozen of your friends in distribution discussing today's pressing issues. Last year, participants shared how they were protecting their employees during the pandemic and more. Don't miss this opportunity. Register today!

Now you can choose transparent A/R and payment integration, plus concierge-level customer support for your existing Epicor Prophet 21 environment. Cloud-based, modular accounts receivable and Cash Application Technology from NAW Trusted Partner Unified Payments Group is customizable for fast, easy integration to P21 for full visibility of your order-to-cash process, with no huge CapEx.