News
Colombo Distribution to Implement POW®
Convenience Store Distributor to Automate with Ai2 Solution
CHICAGO – January 6, 2010 – Software development firm Ai2 announced the addition of Colombo Distribution of Omaha, NE to its growing customer family. Colombo will implement Access’ POW solution for its outside sales force, replacing pens and paper with a solution that Ai2 will host in a software-as-a-service approach.
Colombo chose Ai2 for its compatibility with CDR, a host computer software firm based in Louisiana. CDR’s "back office" solution has an interface to Ai2’s POW product, allowing Colombo to take critical sales data outside of its four walls. Colombo’s sales force will now be able to scan, generate orders quickly, help each customer maintain stock levels, see accounting information such as invoices, and more.
"The SaaS model is very beneficial to smaller companies like Colombo," said Douglas Katich, CEO of Ai2. "They have to compete with companies who have 40 or 50 sales reps and while they can’t purchase the system, they can subscribe to it for a lower investment and less responsibility." Colombo anticipates the ability to better compete in a rapidly changing industry with the use of POW.
POW® is Access’ mobile computing system for outside sales representatives who must generate daily orders and obtain regularly updated customer and product information. Using mobile handheld computers, POW® allows salespeople to scan, type, write, generate orders, receive messages and manage customer accounts with one convenient application.
Colombo’s roots date back to more than a century ago when Phelps Candy & Tobacco was formed in 1906. Phelps Candy & Tobacco acquired Colombo Candy & Tobacco Wholesale in 2007, retaining the name in a merger that would create one of today’s leading full-service distributors serving the Midwest. For more on Colombo, visit www.colombodistribution.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