When I began working in distribution more than a dozen years ago, orders were considerably easier to process. I mean, this is IT and here things only get trickier to navigate, so I get it. The “Law of Conservation of Complexity” even informs us that every computer application is inherently complicated, but you may feel more like you need a sherpa just to guide you through placing an order. Somewhere between validating configurations and verifying all the mandatory required software, the process of creating an order that will make it from one end of the system to the other without being cancelled for some reason or another went down a winding path. That’s why leveraging the TD SYNNEX online tools is so important. Quite simply, 1Source is purpose-built to interact with Cisco’s tools and simplify the transaction.
I will point to Cisco because that is where my personal experience lies, but having interacted with others in similar roles dealing with other manufactures, I understand Cisco is not the only one facing these challenges. For our team, I would pinpoint the epicenter of where all the complexity began at right about when Cisco first acquired Meraki. That was the first time we saw what appeared to be simple orders getting completely stuck in the system for unknown validation reasons. This was interesting, because one of the things we were looking most forward to with having Meraki in distribution was how easy it was going to be to transact.
This was supposed to be an entire line of hardware and software where there were no configurations necessary, making it all a breeze operationally with the potential of becoming the model for all of distribution. When we went live, however, there was an entire set of validations between systems that no one had foreseen, and things started off rough.
Initially, the only answer was to hold up every order and validate everything on our side before transmitting anything to Cisco. It was a little cumbersome and dramatic, but we needed to ensure orders were booked properly with Cisco so that they would make it all the way through the system. What we didn’t know then was that we really needed something like 1Source.
Our first solution was to have a human visually inspect every order passing it on to be booked. It was a cumbersome, repetitive process that absolutely had to be done to ensure orders were placed correctly with our vendor. Eventually, the individual we hired became so bored with it all that he learned how to write a program to do the exact same thing while he moved on to do other projects and tasks. We would eventually scrap his “bot” for full-fledged automation, although we kept his simple little code in use longer than any of us are happy to admit. To this day, most of those validations, though automated, are still in place and can only be bypassed by starting with a valid Cisco configuration and using online tools like 1Source.
1Source was created in conjunction with Cisco to interact with their tools and validate everything upfront so that your quote will be valid, and your order will go through the system without the delays of trying to fix things later. Join us to find out how, from quote to order, 1Source can help simplify the entire Cisco transaction. Register for the upcoming 1Source webinar here.
