Most people start the New Year with high hopes thinking that this year will be a more successful year than the last. Goals are set and resolutions are made, so if one of your goals or resolutions for 2013 has to do with eCommerce success, than you came to the right blog.

I found three articles that really lay out what eCommerce retailers need to do to be effective in the fast pace tech-industry during 2013. The articles lay out what you need to do to set your eCommerce site apart from others. Shoppers now have the flexibility to shop in a store, online, or through their mobile device, which gives them access to eCommerce stores all over the world. The three articles do a great job providing tips and tricks that range from website layout to unique promotional ideas which I think will give ideas for even the most veteran eCommerce sites.

Perhaps you’ve neglected your 2013 goals or just haven’t gotten around to making the wanted or needed changes to your eCommerce website, well now is your time. Don’t put it off any longer. 2013 is moving quickly, so by following these helpful tips, you could reach success that you once thought was only a dream!

If you have any other great eCommerce articles, please post them in the comments section. I would love to read other tips you have used to help your company succeed in 2013!

13 Tips for Ecommerce Success

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3882-13-Tips-for-Ecommerce-Success-in-2013

Revamp Your Open Source e-Commerce Website for the New Year

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/blogs/post/1011-Revamp-Your-Open-Source-e-Commerce-Website-for-the-New-Year

What Do Shoppers Think of Your Ecommerce Site?

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3873-What-Do-Shoppers-Think-of-Your-Ecommerce-Site-

If you have any other great eCommerce articles, please post them in the comments section. I’m sure that there are tons more effective tips that may help your fellow e-retailer!

Education, Support, Uncategorized, Webstore Integration, eBRIDGE Blog, eCommerce eBRIDGE Blog, eCommerce, eCommerce Tips

As a small business starts to grow, organization and business management become major factors when making everyday business decisions. Resource management quickly turns into insight into new business opportunities but sometimes developing small businesses don’t have the resources to catch-up with their growth. Microsoft Dynamics is currently running a Business Challenge where they looking for three worthy businesses who are trying to gain more control over their growing companies with a giveaway of $45,000 toward new ERP software and implementation services.

In order to be considered for this giveaway you need to make a short video explaining how Microsoft Dynamics ERP could positively transform your business operations and increase your potential for future success. Once your video is complete, upload your video to the “Win To Grow” website and share it with as many friends and colleagues as possible to help you receive the most votes. There are currently only 4 videos uploaded so odds are in your favor! Three companies will then be awarded $45,000 toward their ERP systems. This money will be put toward licenses for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, or Microsoft Dynamics SL 2013 and implementation services from a Microsoft Dynamics Partner. If this is something that interests you please read the full Terms & Conditions and upload your video today! This contest closes February 15^th 2013. Be sure to post your video entry in our comments so we can vote for your business!

CRM Integration, EDI Integration, Events, Integration, Uncategorized, Webstore Integration, eBRIDGE Blog Business Challenge, contest, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics SL, eBRIDGE Blog, ERP, erp integration, Grow To Win, Integration, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics Nav, Microsoft Dynamics SL

As promised, this week we wanted to follow up with the eBridge attendees to the Sage Summit 2012 to get some on-the-ground insight on the Summit and what it means for Sage accounting stakeholders moving forward!

Representing eBridge Connections at the Summit were two of our Account Managers, Neha Dar and Kevin Moffat.

We will start with Neha:

Neha, as a first-time Sage Summit attendee, how would you weigh the value of these types of conventions?

As a first time attendee I was not sure what to expect. I had heard the stories and read the manual. Needless to say, it was much more than advertised. These events are a phenomenal opportunity to meet like-minded people who are aiming to service the needs of customers thru technology.  Some of the main highlights were most definitely the commitment of the Sage team to educate their Business Partners and end customers alike. In addition to this, Sage has a lot of emphasis on networking and the benefits of that. The atmosphere is relaxed and extremely social.

What were some of the highlights of the summit for you?

One thing that struck me the most is that we are primarily viewed as an EDI Integration company.  This time we focused our attention on the eCommerce integration. With more and more people moving parts or all of their business into this space, this type of integration is essential

How do you see integration solutions from eBridge fitting in with the strategic vision of Sage over the coming months and years?

Our commitment to continue to service a large line of Sage products leaves us in a unique position as we are able to offer eCommerce integration with 20+ platforms, 100s of EDI trading partners and CRMs to a large customer base. Our Cloud based solution makes deploying the solution faster and a smoother process.

Thank you, Neha. Your input has been very informative.

Now we will speak with Kevin Moffat:

Kevin, as a veteran Sage Summit attendee, what was unique about this summit as compared to previous years?

Aside from being in Nashville TN this year VS the previous year in Washington DC, all show dates had a mixture of End Users and Re-sellers.

I also noticed there was better scheduling of the breakout sessions so that they ultimately would not interfere with the tradeshow hours. That alone was a huge positive for both attendees and vendors.

Is there anything that jumps out as a general theme for this particular Sage Summit?

What really stuck out for me while attending the conference this year was the strong emphasis on the use of eCommerce. I’ve been noticing as each year goes on, there are more customers and vendors interested in attending the information sessions surrounding eCommerce related topics. Myself, working for a company that specializes in Sage Integration to 20+ eCommerce Shopping carts; this excites me to see and to be a part of.

What were some of the highlights for you, and what did you take away from the Summit which will leave you better equipped to accommodate Sage users in need of an integration solution?

One of the biggest changes this year for Sage was their re-branding of all of their product lines. Having been a vendor at this year’s show allowed me to fully understand Sage’s desired direction with their products and where they’re envisioning the company being in 5-10 years down the road. Coming back to eBridge equipped with this knowledge will allow me to provide my clients with more insight to the Sage product. As well as demonstrating to them how our integration solutions are able to compliment and grow with their Sage ERP.

Thank you, Kevin.

If you have attended a Sage Summit, or plan on attending in the future, drop us a comment and let us know your thoughts!

We hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cheers,

The eBridge Team

Events, Integration, Webstore Integration, eCommerce e-commerce, e-commerce integration, eBRIDGE Blog, Sage, sage accounting integration, sage mas 90

Good Afternoon!

This week in our Support blog we will continue to highlight some of the central documents which are exchanged between the eBridge Help Desk and our clients.

Last week we highlighted the importance of the ‘export only’ function, which allows us to view the raw data being sent from your ERP – we use this data to troubleshoot a compromised transmission.

The log report is similarly vital: it tracks the entire process from start to finish and will provide a snapshot of any errors or anomalies which could be halting the process, both inbound and outbound.

If there should ever be an issue with either your inbound or outbound profiles, providing a log report to the Help Desk is a fundamental first step for launching an investigation.

Below are the steps for retrieving a log report:

Step 1:

Open the eBridge application:

Step 2:

Navigate to Reports on the File menu:

Step 3:

Select Processes:

Step 4:

Highlight the process that you wish to export:

Step 5:

Double click on the process and the report will appear, click ‘OK’:

Step 6:

Click on the ENVELOPE icon:

Step 7:

You will be presented with the option to print the report to a variety of different file formats. Please choose text or .pdf format and then choose the location for the file to be saved to from the LOCATION drop down. Click ‘OK’:

You are now ready to send the report to support@ebridgeconnections.com!

I hope that you have found this information helpful.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any issues with your integration solution.

You can call me directly at 905-631-8057.

Have a great week!

Paul Tittel

Help Desk Administrator

Support eBRIDGE Blog, eBridge log report, Support

Over the next few weeks in our Support blog, we would like to highlight and clarify some of the documentation which is typically requested of our valued customers when they log a Support Case with the eBridge Help Desk.

For some, logging a Support Case can be a somewhat stressful exercise, and we take very seriously the fact that we are dealing with our clients’ vital business documents – which can be subject to strict timelines, and involve significant sums of money which are dependent on sound relationships.

We also appreciate that the issues which arise can be fairly technical in nature, and their solutions are oftentimes no less simple. It is because of this fact, however, that our Support Specialists sometimes require a range of technical documentation to troubleshoot an issue and come to a prompt resolution to the satisfaction of you and your trading partner.

One of the main pieces of documentation which is often requested is referred to as an ‘export only’.

An export only is usually requested when there is an issue mapping business data from your accounting package out to your trading partner. Accordingly, an export only is usually only requested if there is an issue with an outbound profile (exporting invoices, purchase order acknowledgements, shipping notices, etc.).

The issue is often caught by our ePortal system, which will recognize non-compliant data and send it to your non-compliant outbox, triggering an email notification which is sent to you informing you of the problem. Secondarily, the issue will sometimes be brought to you by your trading partner. If the relationship is primarily EDI, you will most likely receive an 864 text document indicating a document you sent was non-compliant according to their protocols, or the accepted EDI standards.  In other instances, your trading partner will contact you directly via email.

An issue with the data being sent, or the map being used to send it, is usually the culprit; although a document can be rejected for a variety of reasons – including changes in the EDI standards accepted by your trading partner, a change in the business relationship, or changes in taxation, pricing, discounts, and other promotional details which are subject to change.

An export only allows our Support Specialists to view the raw data being sent from your accounting package. This data is evaluated independently for errors or inconsistencies, and it is also compared against the map being used, the data which arrives on ePortal, and the standards insisted upon by your trading partner.

The process for retrieving an ‘export only’ of raw data from your accounting package is quite simple.

The process is executed through the eBridge desktop application through the outbound profile, ‘export only’. Please find the steps below:

1. Open the bridge program.
2. Choose process from the file menu.
3. Select outbound run from the drop down menu.
4. You will see a Profile ID dropdown-please select the export only or export profile id.
5. Then run the outbound profile.
6. Select the document type for the type of documents you wish to export (810, 855, 856, etc.)
7. Put in any other criteria you wish for retrieving these documents (date range, trading partner, etc).
8. Click the retrieve button.
9. You will see your screen start to process and then it will populate with data.
10. Please highlight the documents you wish to export.
11. Then click export.
12. The file will export to C:\Program Files\eBridgesoft\eBridge200x\Data\export.txt – please email this file

This documentation is essential to the troubleshooting required to determine what the issue is and to locate a resolution as quickly as possible.

We hope that you have found this information useful and that you will now have some background on the rationale behind our requests from the Help Desk.

Thank you for reading and make sure to check in next week for more information about the nuts and bolts of your interaction with the Help Desk and Support Services generally.

Take care for now,

Paul Tittel

Help Desk Administrator

Support, eBRIDGE Blog eBRIDGE Blog, eBridge Help Desk, Export Only, Support

Films Presents…

Dave Malda, Marketing Coordinator at eBridge talks about our new website and blog. The eBridge Blog was created to not only give us an online voice, but to serve as a collaboration hub for customers and industry members as well. Users are encouraged to leave comments, ask questions, and subscribe via RSS to stay up-to-date.

Now that you’ve taken the time to read this post and watch the video, why not leave a comment? We would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions on how we can improve the blog and/or website.

If you would like to see more videos from eBridge Films, be sure to check out the eBridge YouTube Channel.

Kevin Martin
Assistant Marketing Professional

Events, Technology Corner, eBRIDGE Blog eBRIDGE Blog, edi, Integration, Website