News
BWI Companies Migrate to POET®
Landscape Supplier Chooses Superior Functionality
CHICAGO – January 6, 2010 – Software developer Ai2 announced today that BWI Companies will migrate from one Ai2 product to another. BWI is moving from Ai2’s OrderWriter® to Ai2’s new POET® solution for mobile salespeople.
"We are proud to retain BWI as a client as they have been with us for many years," said Ray Walsh, Vice President of Sales for Ai2. Walsh said BWI chose POET for its increased speed and functionality over its current solution, also from Ai2. Tasks like importing and exporting data to and from Microsoft Excel are now just a few clicks with POET instead of the older manual processes of OrderWriter. "There are a lot of examples of how POET can save each sales rep time every day, and that’s part of why BWI chose to stay with us," said Walsh.
POET, an acronym for Portable Order Entry Tool, is an application that allows a mobile sales representative to handle orders, returns, accounting information, margin management and more. The majority of Ai2’s clients are in foodservice, but Walsh stressed that POET is a powerful solution for all types of distributors. "The flexibility of the solution allows each company who uses it to make it their own," Walsh said. POET® runs on Windows on almost any notebook, netbook or pen tablet PC and is fully compatible with Windows 7. POET is the next generation sales force solution from Ai2 for notebooks and netbooks.
Under the leadership of Bob Bunch, BWI has grown from a small retail store, Bunch Seed, to a 16-location company In 1972, Bunch Wholesale, Inc., was formed with the Texarkana distribution center as the original location Throughout the years, new distribution locations were added throughout the southern and southeastern United States In 1992, the company was reorganized as BWI Companies, Inc., and now serves customers in 15 states Their selection of garden, nursery, turf, landscape and agricultural supplies is among the largest in the southern United States Technical assistance is available to all customers through a staff of over 150 professional sales representatives Regional Buyer's Markets are held where customers have the opportunity to preview new products and take advantage of special discounts For more on BWI, visit www.bwicompanies.com.
Ai2 (formerly Access International) is a 24-year old software firm headquartered in downtown Chicago. Their applications are used by over 40,000 users each day to capture over 40 billion dollars in sales each year. Ai2 improves the order entry process for some of the nation’s largest distributors in foodservice, convenience store, grocery, beverage, hardware, medical, beauty and industrial supply. For more information about Ai2, visit www.ai2.com.
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Ai2 Media Contact
Ray Walsh
(800) 835-3200