Supply Chain Management - A Simple, Inexpensive
e-Commerce Web Solution

ACT Announces EC-EZNET - our patent-pending product to fulfill trading partners compliance requirements.

Customized to each Hub's specifications, EC-EZNET is the only realistic way to achieve 100% EDI Internet compliance from the supply chain information system. Why? Because we only require your vendor to have Windows 95 (or better) and Internet access with our supply chain software to trade just like an international conglomerate.

Web forms may be OK for an extremely low volume of documents. They are, however, cumbersome and prone to errors like typos and too may clicks on the old submit button.
EC-EZNET is designed for batches of documents distributed in a custom tailored, 2-way, Hub-Spoke, relationship.

If you have a large document distribution problem, be it EDI mapping, XML, SAP, faxes or e-mails,
call 1-800-ACT-DATA ext. 31 and choose a proven product that your supply chain will love.

ACT Data Services, a leading supplier of e-commerce solutions to manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, headquartered in Fair Lawn, NJ, has created EC-EZNET, an Internet-based supply-chain-management outsourcing solution that is virtually free for hubs and that is easy to implement and cost-effective for suppliers.

Targeted at industries in which electronic data interchange (EDI) has made few inroads, such as large restaurant chains, some aspects of the trucking business and other heavy industries, EC-EZNET enables hubs to continue to issue and receive data using their existing infrastructures. And the outsourced solution, which operates like a clearinghouse or a value added network (VAN), is custom-tailored by ACT programming specialists to the hub's data requirements-at no charge - providing a simple, unobtrusive way to exchange vital business information with trading partners.

"We have truly leveled the playing field, enabling large hubs to electronically trade with all of their suppliers; including the technologically challenged," says ACT Vice President of EC Services Michael Meyer. "ACT has created a compliance solution that performs communication, translation, Hippa and VAN functions all in one. Plus, it offers an interface to the spokes' ERPs. Both trading partners get what they want and the spokes never spend a dime on web EDI."

EC-EZNET can be configured to handle any kind of messaging to and from the hub's host system, including EDI; and it provides audit trails, acknowledgments, and automatic updates for complete reliability.

"Our EC-EZNET solution is document independent, meaning anyone searching for a method to eliminate hundreds of daily faxes or e-mails, such as orders, ASNs, point-of-sale spreadsheets, or trip tenders, can now have a single electronic source and standard," says Paul Meyer, ACT's President.

To access EC-EZNET, all suppliers need upfront is a PC with Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 4.0 (or better) and an Internet service provider (ISP). They then have the choice of two ways to use the service: in standalone or EDI mapping modes.

In standalone mode, the supplier downloads EC-EZNET software from the Web-free of charge, in an hour - which includes a short tutorial. Operators master the system quickly and are ready, in short order, to use the application. Document manipulation is then performed off-line and messages are sent in batches to the ACT server for rapid processing and conversion to a format suitable for the host.

Mapping mode, paying a small fee for licensing ACT's mapping software, enables suppliers to exchange data directly with EC-EZNET, eliminating the need to rekey information. Mapping mode takes a little longer to master-perhaps a day, instead of an hour-but both are orders of magnitude easier to learn and support than traditional EDI. And the costs of the ACT service, in either mode, are a modest monthly charge and per document fees that are substantially less than typical EDI VAN fees.

Grand Avenue Produce

Grand Avenue Produce Company, based in Phoenix, AZ, has been in the business of supplying fresh produce to institutional food service clients for 54 years, but, until recently, it never occurred to them to install an EDI system. "A year and a half ago, [a major restaurant chain] told us they wanted us to implement EDI with a particular company, and we really balked at it," says Jeffrey Gross, sales manager for Grand Avenue. "The start-up was close to $5,000, and the cost of transmission of invoices was high. How do you recover these costs? The produce business is very competitive, and we knew it would cut into gross profits, so we put it off as long as we possibly could."

Then the restaurant chain offered Grand Avenue an option-EC-EZNET from ACT. "We looked at it and it seemed to be a lot more cost-effective for us, and we thought it would work," he says. "All we did was put in an ISDN line, which was something we were planning to do anyway."

In the six months since Grand Avenue went live with EC-EZNET, the company has been using it every day, in stand-alone mode, to turn around P.O.s from 50 to 60 restaurants; and the firm is considering using mapping mode in the future, as volume increases.

"The ACT system has been outstanding in practice for us," says Gross, "and our whole mentality about EDI has changed. The system has been very cost-effective and it helps us turn around our receivables, so we get paid a little quicker. It has not only strengthened our relationship with our customer, but it is also now a selling point for us with other customers."

ACT has a long history of providing innovative e-commerce solutions. It counts among its trade partners more than 40 of the nation's largest retail organizations, including Kmart, Walmart, Home Depot, Sears, and Toys R Us. And ACT's expertise in all facets of being the number #1 EDI provider has made it the recommended service bureau of choice for the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA).