Chuck Bennett has an important message for electrical distributors: Don’t underestimate your IT department.
Bennett spoke on Sunday at the NAED National Speaker Series about leveraging Amazon and turning your IT department into a profit center. Bennett says one common mistake distributors make is thinking of their IT department only as a computer repair shop, and not as the great resource they are.
Bennett recognizes that in many companies, IT professionals may not seem to have ideas or the drive to use their skills to help increase profits for the business. The way to change that, says Bennett, is to empower your IT department. Let them know that you realize they have expertise that no one else in the company has, and that that knowledge is invaluable in increasing profits from a data perspective.
If you do this, Bennett believes IT departments will become a wealth of information and ideas for leveraging computer systems to increase business. Continue to empower them by setting realistic IT budgets so that they have the resources with which to implement their ideas.
IT can also help distributorships to be better prepared to ward off online threats. Bennett suggests leveraging Amazon to your advantage by selling C and D items through the online superstore. This way, you get those cold products off your shelves, and your name and data are out there for everyone to see.
If you’re worried about Amazon taking a huge chunk of change out of your pocket, and getting the inside track to your data, Bennett says they’re already there. The SEO results that you are paying your IT department to get you on the first page of Google search results, and ahead of your competitor, are also helping Amazon and Google mine your data. It’s an inevitability, says Bennett, so use it to your advantage.
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