Background:
In January of 2001, a group of software vendors got together to form the Distribution Solutions Council, an industry roundtable dedicated to promoting distribution centric software and providing a forum to discuss industry related topics. Participation is open to any software company that has been in business for at least three years, sells a distribution centric software package or has domain expertise in distribution and possess a development capability. Other companies may petition the group to participate. The Councils’ efforts are focused on best practices, standards and education.

Education:
The DSC maintains this “Learning Center” for the purpose of educating the distribution community about technology, industry trends, important vertical market functionality and more.

The DSC also facilitates a Speakers Bureau Guidelines and publishes guides for vendors as speakers. These guidelines are meant to assure the meeting planner that a program on technology will deliver valuable content to their programs. The DSC also published guidelines related to technology fairs sponsored by associations: It provides ideas to increase the value of such programs to the members.

Standards:
For several years the DSC engaged Professor Al Bates of the Profit Planning Group to prepare a Performance Analysis Report (PAR) for the members of the group. The Profit Planning Group prepares these types of valuable benchmarking reports for over 100 associations and industries. The PAR allowed participants to measure their performance against the average for the distribution-centric software industry and identify areas for improvement.

Best Practices:
Our regular program includes speakers selected from three categories; industry expert, association executive, and sophisticated customer. Guest speakers and Industry Experts have included:

1. Adam Fein (Pembroke Consulting, Author of Facing The Forces of Change)
2. Dr. Al Bates (Profit Planning Group, Founder and President)
3. Charles Germano (IBM Americas, Segment Executive Wholesale Distribution)
4. Taylor Fernley (Fernley and Fernley, President and CEO)
5. Ron Schreibman (National Association of Wholesalers, Senior VP-Strategic Direction)
6. Bruce Merrifield Jr. (Merrifield Consulting, President)
7. Robert Riefstahl (Demonstrating To Win, and Author of a book by the same name)
8. Michael Marks (Indian River Consulting, Founder and CEO)
9. Jon Schreibfedder (Effective Inventory Management, President)