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Important information about the Star price adjustment

Star has informed us of an adjustment to the list prices for their portfolio, effective from the 1st of October 2026....

Star has informed us of an adjustment to the list prices for their portfolio, effective from the 1st of October 2026.

 

Here is a breakdown of the relevant information for you: 

  • All new orders placed from the 1st of October 2026 onwards will be subject to the new list prices. 
  • All orders placed without project pricing and without fixed delivery date up to and including the 30th of September 2026, will be invoiced at the current list prices. 
  • Open orders with fixed delivery date will be recalculated as of the 1st of October 2026, and a new order confirmation will be issued. 
  • Projects remain valid until their expiry date. 

 

Please note that at the time this message was published, not all details regarding the SKUs and the exact new prices were yet available. 

 

Do you have any questions? We will be happy to assist you with our expertise and service – let us know how we can best support you! 

Important information about the Elo price adjustment

Elo has informed us of an adjustment to their list prices for selected products in their portfolio, effective from the 5th of...

Elo has informed us of an adjustment to their list prices for selected products in their portfolio, effective from the 5th of October 2026. This adjustment results in price increases that vary depending on the product category. 

 

Here is a breakdown of the relevant information for you: 

  • Android devices: 7,5% increase. 
  • Services, Warranties and select Software offerings: 10% increase.
  • Intel devices, Displays and EloView are not affected. 

 

What the price adjustment means for your order:

  • All new orders placed from the 5th of October 2026 onwards will be subject to the new list prices. 
  • For orders shipped up to and including the 4th of October, the old list prices apply. 
  • Open orders will be recalculated as of the 5th of October 2026, and a new order confirmation will be issued. 
  • Project prices and quotes that do not have open orders will expire on the 4th of October 2026, and updated documents will be issued by the 22nd of September 2026. 
  • Project prices and quotes with open orders that are placed by the 4th of October 2026 will be extended through the 31st of December 2026. Validity will be reviewed and extended as needed until the approved quantity is fulfilled. 

 

Please note that at the time this message was published, not all details regarding the SKUs and the exact new prices were yet available. 

 

Details of the affected SKUs and the exact new prices are available upon request from your sales representative. Do you have any questions? We will be happy to assist you with our expertise and service – let us know how we can best support you!

Important information about the Zebra price adjustment

Zebra has informed us of an adjustment to the list prices for a variety of products throughout their portfolio....

Zebra has informed us of an adjustment to the list prices for a variety of products throughout their portfolio. Depending on the item, this adjustment includes price increases of varying levels and will take effect from the 5th of October 2026. 

 

Here is a breakdown of the relevant information for you: 

  • Barcode Scanners:
    • BIOPTIC-ACC, MP72 Series, MP7XXX: 4% increase. 
    • Engines and Accessories (excluding SW DECODE): 5% increase. 
  • Mobile Computers excluding Software:
    • Mobile Computer Devices (excluding Ring Scanners): 15% increase. 
    • All Accessories and Ring Scanners: 5% increase. 
  • RFID Devices:
    • RFID Fixed Readers and Accessories (excluding FX RFID Software): 5% increase. 
    • RFID HH Readers (excluding MC33XXR, TC22R Series): 5% increase. 
    • MC33XXR, TC22R Series: 15% increase. 
    • RFID Modules, RFID OH Readers, RFID Portals, and Accessories: 5% increase. 
  • Printers:
    • All Printers and Aftermarket Products (excluding Desktop, Tabletop, SPS Accessory, SPS Batteries, SPS Printheads, Desktop RFID, Industrial RFID, RXi Line, RZ Line): 3% increase. 
  • Services:
    • Percentage increase varies by SKU, please ask us. 

 

What the price adjustment means for your order:

  • All new orders placed from the 5th of October 2026 onwards will be subject to the new list prices. 
  • All orders shipped up to and including the 4th of October 2026 will be invoiced at the current list prices. 
  • Open orders will be recalculated as of the 5th of October 2026, and a new order confirmation will be issued. 
  • All special prices, such as Deal Registrations, Demo Vouchers and promotions are subject to the price adjustment as of the 5th of October 2026. 
  • All approved Price Concessions remain valid until their respective expiry date. 

  

Details of the affected SKUs and the exact new prices are available upon request from your sales representative. Do you have any questions? We will be happy to assist you with our expertise and service – let us know how we can best support you!

Important information about the Evolis price adjustment

Evolis has informed us of an adjustment to the list prices for their portfolio, effective from the 18th of August 2026. 

...

Evolis has informed us of an adjustment to the list prices for their portfolio, effective from the 18th of August 2026. 

 

Here is a breakdown of the relevant information for you: 

  • All new orders placed from the 18th of August 2026 onwards will be subject to the new list prices. 
  • For orders placed up to and including the 17th of August 2026 and shipped by the 4th of September 2026 the old list prices apply. 
  • Open orders will be recalculated as of the 5th of September 2026, and a new order confirmation will be issued. 
  • Projects remain valid until their expiry date. 

 

Details of the affected SKUs and the exact new prices are available upon request from your sales representative. Do you have any questions? We will be happy to assist you with our expertise and service – let us know how we can best support you!

Zebra Nucleus – cloud-based platform for centralised Zebra device management

With Zebra Nucleus, your customers can centrally manage their Zebra mobile computers, scanners and printers...

With Zebra Nucleus, your customers can centrally manage their Zebra mobile computers, scanners and printers from a single cloud-based platform. Device status and performance can be monitored in real time, while onboarding, configuration, and software and security updates are managed centrally. In addition, the free Zebra Nucleus Connector App for Android and iOS simplifies the setup of Zebra Link-OS printers and replaces the previous Printer Setup Utility.

Particularly useful in view of the current EU RED requirements: once downloaded, the app does not require an internet connection to set up devices. Connectivity, security, media and Nucleus registration settings can be saved in printer profiles and quickly transferred to additional printers via NFC. This makes both centralised device management and the consistent, EU RED-compliant configuration of large Zebra device fleets considerably easier.

Find out more about Zebra Nucleus and the EU RED requirements right away from your sales representative!
 

Microsites

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Zebra Printers – Without Zebra something is missing

You see the workplace of your customers and you know immediately what is missing: It is Zebra! Because Zebra printers simply can't be missing anywhere. That's why we have summarised the complete Zebra printer portfolio for you – so you quickly find the right device for your customers.

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Zebra products for all microsite!

Zebra mobile computers and tablets are popular in all work areas. No wonder, because they stand for great technology! Get more out of your workday now and discover the extensive Zebra portfolio on our Zebra products for all microsite!

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Hardware for Defence

The defence sector demands the highest standards of security, availability and reliability. At defence.jarltech.com, you will find rugged mobile computers, tablets, scanners, security technology and check-in systems for defence and other mission-critical applications. Our vendor-independent portfolio is designed with practical requirements in mind and tailored to the unique challenges of demanding operational environments.

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Super-heroic software service

Learn more about the great benefits of the »Datalogic Shield« software service from Datalogic. It protects your customers' mobile computers with regular security updates and provides them with support throughout their life cycle. A super service that pays off - extended device lifetime, reduced investment costs and comprehensive protection against security risks. Learn more on our Captain Datalogic Microsite.

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Elo Touch Solutions

As the inventor of the touchscreen and global leader in touch technologies, Elo manufactures and markets a full range of interactive displays and monitors, plus offers various technologies. To see the complete portfolio, please visit our Elo vendor page.

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Zebra – Essential in manufacturing

Reliability, transparency and performance are crucial in industry. Zebra technologies are developed to ensure smooth manufacturing processes and guarantee greater efficiency and stability along the entire production line.

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Zebra Hospitality Microsite

In no other sector is service as important as in hospitality. Those who rely on Zebra improve team communication, save time for both employees and guests alike and streamline processes. Simply because Zebra makes everything easier! Learn more on our Zebra Hospitality microsite.

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Hardware for Healthcare

The more specialised the market, the more specialised the demands on the hardware. At healthcare.jarltech.com you will find an overview of all products from the top manufacturers that are suitable for the demanding challenges in healthcare.

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Hardware for industry and manufacturing

Move your customers forward quickly and make them fit for the Industrial Internet of Things! At manufacturing.jarltech.com we present the large product portfolio of the top manufacturers in the Auto-ID technology sector for industry and manufacturing.

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Zebra DNA – The Heart of Intelligent Hardware

The Zebra DNA brings out the best in Zebra mobile computers, scanners and printers. It optimizes the hardware and permanently transforms and evolves the devices – for even greater efficiency and productivity wherever they are used.

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Kiosk and self-service systems

The market for kiosk and self-service systems is growing rapidly. At kiosk.jarltech.com, you will find the right hardware, components and services for efficient processes, shorter waiting times and flexible retail spaces – from planning to implementation with Jarltech as your partner.

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Hardware for warehouse

In the warehouse, the goods that are in the warehouse, arriving and being shipped are the hub of every activity. At warehouse.jarltech.com we have put together a large selection of robust special hardware from the top manufacturers for the warehouse.

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Zebra Tablets – Made for everyday heroes

Whether in production, transport & logistics, in the field or in-store retail – true everyday heroes are found everywhere. And as you know, every hero needs a helpful sidekick. What could be better suited for this job than the powerful and robust tablets from Zebra?

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Datalogic handheld scanners are great in every area

When Datalogic was founded in 1972, no one could have imagined how much the company would change the business world and simplify data capture. Now Datalogic's great handheld scanners and scanner technologies have become indispensable. Get to know them now!

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Hardware for Transport & Logistics

Hardware devices for transport and logistics require innovative technology, a particularly resistant housing, strong performance and high ergonomics. You can find precisely these devices on transport-logistics.jarltech.com across manufacturers and sorted by topic.

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Zebra – Strong products for more performance

Are you interested in Zebra? Then our Zebra microsite is the right place for you! There you will find the complete Zebra range of label, barcode and card printers as well as rugged mobile computers and reliable barcode scanners.

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Datalogic – Data capture at its best

Datalogic offers a comprehensive and innovative portfolio of barcode scanners, mobile computers, RFID systems, sensors and industrial automation (IA) devices. Our Datalogic microsite makes it quick and easy to find the right product for your customer.

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The warehouse is Zebra

When you look into a warehouse, the first things you see are boxes, cartons and high racks, certainly a forklift truck and, of course, hard-working people. And what else do you see when you look closer? Exactly: Zebra! Zebra's innovative products simply belong in every warehouse!

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Zebra Service

In addition to comprehensive hardware, Zebra offers you strong service offerings, such as VisibilityIQ. It provides deeper, data-driven insights into Zebra mobile devices and consistently strong performance. Learn more now on our Microsite!

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Hardware for Field Service

Nowhere are the demands on staff and equipment more influenced by the external environment than in field service. At field-service.jarltech.com you will find a large selection of particularly robust and powerful devices from the top manufacturers.

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Hardware for Retail

Whether for management, POS, self-service or for incoming goods, outgoing goods and inventory - at retail.jarltech.com you will find many innovative self-service devices and mobile POS technologies that are driving the change in retail towards more convenience.

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Getac Unbeatable

Getac's robust tablets and notebooks are simply unbeatable! Get to know the devices on our microsite »Getac Unbeatable« for different application areas and learn how to take Getac tablets and notebooks to the next level with Getac software .

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TC22/TC27 Zebra mobile computers

Give your customers the best of all worlds with Zebra TC22/TC27 mobile computers! They are as handy as a smartphone, as robust as industrial equipment, as powerful as a high-class tool and as affordable as an entry-level model. Get to know these two multi-talents now!

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Zebra – a strong partner for healthcare

In the healthcare sector one thing is particularly important: time! To ensure that medical staff have time for patients, Zebra offers a large portfolio of reliable devices with easy initial start-up and operation. On our Zebra healthcare microsite you will find all the products clearly sorted.

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Hardware for Hospitality

In no other sector is the service concept as important as in the hospitality industry. Therefore, at hospitality.jarltech.com you will find innovative and particularly reliable technologies that have been specifically developed for the diverse areas of application in hotels, restaurants and catering.

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Honeywell 2D4U

Fast and reliable capture of damaged and hard-to-read barcodes is an impossible task for many scanners – but not for Honeywell 2D scanners! Thanks to their innovative technology and extremely fast reading speed, they are ready for any mission. Learn more about the super-innovative scanners on our Honeywell 2D4U microsite.

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Honeywell label printers

Among many other printer vendors, Honeywell label printers are a real alternative. And all that you need for great, smart, fast labelling. Get to know the smart Honeywell label printers from their best and most interesting sides.

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Zebra Moves Retail

In retail, speed, transparency and seamless processes are essential. Zebra technologies ensure efficient operations across the shop floor, in the stockroom and at the checkout – providing full visibility and control over inventory, data and workflows at all times.

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TSC Printronix Auto ID – powerful printers for all needs

With printers from TSC Printronix Auto ID, you cover every printing requirement - from budget-friendly entry-level models to high-performance printers. Discover all company information and the complete portfolio on our microsite.

Manufacturer Epson
Epson – Printing and scanning with added value

Epson has a very wide range of POS or special printers as well as mobile and stationary document scanners for almost any application. On our Epson microsite you will discover all company information and the complete Epson portfolio.

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Newland – innovative technologies that optimise processes and simplify workflows

Newland EMEA, founded in 2009 in the Netherlands, aims to revolutionise the AIDC world with accessible scanners and make processes in businesses of all sizes simpler and more efficient. The headquarters in Culemborg supports teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. With a network in over 60 countries, the company is one of the fastest-growing AIDC vendors worldwide.

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iiyama – Displays with that certain something

iiyama is one of the leading international vendors of monitors and professional displays with and without touch screens. The portfolio includes desktop, built-in and interactive displays for advertising and display surfaces. On our microsite you will find all products at a click.

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Citizen – Print with style and precision

Discover Citizen’s complete receipt and label printer portfolio on our Citizen microsite. All models are the result of more than 40 years of development and convince with an exceptional design and top quality.

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Honeywell – Innovative technology for the future

Honeywell offers you a wide range of Auto-ID hardware, barcode scanners for every application, handheld and vehicle terminals as well as label printers and satellite-based tracking hardware. You find the entire portfolio at one click on our microsite.

03/09/2026

Distribution Mechanics: The complaint that never was

There’s a figure in our business that nobody likes to talk about because it’s embarrassing for everyone involved: a significant proportion of devices returned as...

There’s a figure in our business that nobody likes to talk about because it’s embarrassing for everyone involved: a significant proportion of devices returned as faulty are perfectly healthy. No fault, no defective component, nothing. Incorrectly configured, incorrectly paired, the wrong power supply, no proper introduction – or simply a user who expected something the device was never designed to do. The industry has come up with a wonderfully forgiving abbreviation for this: »NFF – no fault found«. Anyone who runs a service centre knows their percentage pretty accurately. They just don’t say it out loud.

The instinct to blame the user is understandable, but it’s still wrong. Because the user isn’t the one paying for the process. You are. Do the math: outbound and return shipping together, €30. Testing, even if nothing is ultimately found, an estimated €45. Your own time spent receiving the return, logging it, asking questions and chasing up  on people – let’s generously call it an hour at €75. And then there’s the week during which one of your customer’s workstations is out of action. Even if we generously ignore that last point, you’re already at €150. Twenty cases like that a year comes to €3,000. You’ll never see them in any report because they spread themselves neatly across twelve months – like all the really expensive things do.

And now for the uncomfortable part: most of these cases could have been resolved with a twenty-minute phone call. No training course, no process, no service contract, no project with a steering committee. Just a call where somebody asks: »What exactly happens when you press the button?« In the majority of cases, that’s enough to sort it out. That’s why I don’t see support as a cost centre, but as the most effective lever there is for reducing your returns rate. And, purely by coincidence, it’s also the cheapest.

There’s a second point that is almost always underestimated: a return is also a matter of trust. Your customer bought something, it didn’t work, they sent it back – and three weeks later the device comes back with a note saying that everything is perfectly fine. From their perspective, that note says: »It was your fault, and nobody helped you.« You can be completely right about the facts and still lose the customer. When the next rollout comes around, they won’t remember your good price; they’ll remember those three weeks. Being right and doing business are two different disciplines in our industry, and you can be a champion at one while getting relegated in the other.

What actually helps: first, an initial assessment with four questions that are always the same. Since when? Does it affect every device or just one? What changed most recently – firmware, network, location, accessories? And: does an identical device work at another workstation? Those four questions eliminate half the cases before anyone even touches a cardboard box. Second: where possible, provide a replacement device on site rather than having the faulty one sent in. Third – and this is the part that takes a bit of courage – review your own cases once a quarter and count how many were »no fault found«. The number surprises everyone. It surprised me too, back then.

I’m explicitly pointing the finger in our own direction here as well. A distributor that simply processes returns instead of trying to help first is making life too easy for itself. For the distributor, the case is neatly closed; for you, it’s a customer who now thinks badly of you. So the question to ask your supplier isn’t »How quickly do you process an RMA?«. It’s: »What do you do to make sure I don’t need one in the first place?« The answers can be remarkably revealing. So can some of the faces.

There’s a reason I’m going into so much detail here. A device that gets sent in and returned with no fault found generates no revenue, no margin and no satisfaction. It’s the only process in our entire chain where everyone involved loses – and the only one that could have been prevented by a phone call.

So remember: »The most expensive complaint is the one where it turns out there was nothing broken in the first place.«

 

31/08/2026

Opinion: why I no longer send price lists as PDFs

I’ve already had my say about PowerPoint in this series, and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that I thought I’d keep going while I’ve got the wind behind...

I’ve already had my say about PowerPoint in this series, and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that I thought I’d keep going while I’ve got the wind behind me. Because there’s a second document that gets passed around our industry with exactly the same unquestioning regularity: the PDF price list. Forty pages, accurate as of some point last week, emailed once – and immortal ever thereafter. I’m convinced there are still Jarltech price lists circulating today featuring products that haven’t existed for years. Sitting somewhere on a drive, in a folder called »important«.

The problem isn’t the format. It’s the shelf life. From the second a document like that is created, it is, at best, approximately correct. Exchange rates move, manufacturers announce price adjustments, promotions end, products are phased out. Four weeks later, it’s no longer a working document; it’s a historical source. And that’s the dangerous part: on day one hundred, it looks every bit as official as it did on day one. At least a carton of milk tells you when it’s gone bad. A PDF just sits there, politely keeping quiet while you get your calculations wrong.

Let me put a figure on what that can cost you. You price up a project for 150 units based on a list that’s two price rounds out of date. The purchase price has since risen by 4 per cent, while your sales price is already in the quotation and out with the customer. At a unit price of €480, that’s just over €19 per unit, or nearly €2,900 in total – out of your margin, not the customer’s. That’s more than most companies will have given away as a discount in the same tender. At least they got a negotiated outcome in return. You got an old folder.

The second reason is even more uncomfortable: a PDF knows nothing about availability. It tells you what a device costs, but not whether it actually exists. And let’s be honest – over the past few years, the crucial question in project business has rarely been »What does it cost?«, and almost always »When can I get it?«. If you’re sitting with a customer and can immediately tell them how many units are in stock today and how many more are arriving in three weeks, you have the edge over the person who says: »I’ll check and get back to you tomorrow.« I’ve written about that sentence elsewhere on this blog. There really are some remarkably elegant ways to run yourself in circles in our business.

The alternative isn’t glamorous, which is precisely why hardly anyone talks about it: you get prices and stock levels from where they originate – live. Through your shop login, through an interface connected to your ERP system, or via a feed your system pulls automatically overnight while you’re asleep. This isn’t some digitalisation fantasy dreamed up for a consultant’s slide deck. The companies leading the way in project business have been doing it for years. Implementation takes a few days, and a single order like the one above pays for it. After that, you never again have to wonder whether the price list sitting in your folder is still correct.

And now for the awkward part, because I don’t want to be a hypocrite: we still send out price lists ourselves. Customers ask for them, and I’m not going to force anyone to change the way they work. But these days I make it clear what they contain – a snapshot, valid today, not for the rest of the quarter. If you use it to calculate a project that won’t be ordered for another six weeks, you’re taking a risk that nobody is going to take off your hands afterwards. If you use live data instead, you never have to have the conversation about renegotiating in the first place. And let’s face it, nobody enjoys having that conversation twice.

And since I’m confessing things here: I genuinely get excited about a clean interface. Sincerely. Show me prices, stock levels and order statuses flowing between two systems without anyone having to touch them, and I think that’s a beautiful thing. Probably not the most exciting passion a person can have, but I’ve seen worse. The reason behind it is nevertheless entirely practical: it’s about response time. The difference between sending a quotation in twenty minutes and sending one the following morning decides who wins the order more often than a 5 per cent difference in price – because once the customer has found the first supplier who can deliver, the decision has often already been made in their head. Everything that comes afterwards is just a comparison quote. And comparison quotes are mostly written to give the filing system something to do.

So, to finish with a completely shameless plug: at Jarltech, we have an API team that spends all day doing exactly this – bringing prices, availability, product data and order statuses directly into your system, whether that’s an ERP platform, an online shop or your own costing tool. Give them a call. The conversation costs you nothing, takes half an hour, and by the end of it you’ll know whether it makes financial sense for you. If you still want to work with PDFs afterwards, that’s absolutely fine – but at least it’ll be a conscious decision, rather than simply because nobody has ever suggested an alternative.

So remember: »A PDF tells you what a device cost last week. Your customer wants to know what it costs today – and when they can get it.«
 

27/08/2026

We have been writing our own software since 1988

A few weeks ago, a specialist reseller asked me whether we could print delivery notes for his end customers with his logo, his sender details and his numbering system....

A few weeks ago, a specialist reseller asked me whether we could print delivery notes for his end customers with his logo, his sender details and his numbering system. He asked in the apologetic tone you develop when you are used to being told no to questions like that. At a distributor using off-the-shelf software, the answer would indeed have been no – or, more precisely: a ticket raised with the software provider, a place somewhere in the release schedule and an implementation date at some point next year. Our answer was: from Monday.

The reason goes back thirty-eight years and, at the time, it was not a strategy but a matter of necessity. When we started in 1988, there simply was no suitable software available to buy for what we do. We could have bought something and adapted our processes to fit it. We did the opposite and adapted the software to fit our processes. Looking back, it was the most consequential decision this company ever made, and I want to be honest: at the time, I had no idea just how significant it would prove to be.

Because a standard ERP system does something very specific to a business. It forces your own processes into a structure that somebody else designed for the average of all their customers. Every exception becomes a workaround, every workaround ends up as a separate Excel spreadsheet, and eventually half the company is working around its own software. You can spot this quite easily from the outside, incidentally: whenever you ask what should be a simple question and the answer is that unfortunately it cannot be done because the system does not allow it. No system refuses to allow anything. Nobody has written the code for it, that is all.
The second part came in 1995, although nobody called it the cloud back then. We had customers dialling into our system to see what we had in stock – at a time when the usual way to get that information was for somebody to call you back after they had checked the warehouse. The benefit was the same then as it is today: you do not ask, you see for yourself. None of this is spectacular. It is simply the difference between working and waiting.

The best way to understand why this matters is to switch sides for a moment and ask a manufacturer what they actually need from a distributor. The answer is rarely »revenue«. What they want is to know where their devices end up, promptly and in their format, not ours. They want a registered project to be genuinely protected rather than overtaken three weeks later by a list price. They want a price change made overnight to flow through every customer price list rather than ending in renegotiations. If there is a firmware problem, they want to know which serial numbers are affected – not be told that unfortunately we only track products at item level. And they want a new product to be available to order on the day it is announced, complete with all its technical specifications, rather than four weeks later when somebody somewhere has finally updated the master data.

In an off-the-shelf system, every single one of those requirements is either an expensive add-on module or a process that two people have to handle manually. For us, it is a question for our own developers. That is why manufacturers entrust us with things they would otherwise do themselves: preconfiguring entire device ranges, creating customer-specific bundles, and provisioning according to a rollout plan rather than the order in which purchases arrive. These are not standard processes, which is precisely why standard software cannot accommodate them.

For you as a reseller, the same mechanism simply works from the other direction. Your product numbers instead of ours on the order. Your price list, which your colleague also sees when they call on a Friday. Your framework agreements with call-off orders spread over several months. A live feed of stock levels and prices into your own webshop instead of a CSV file that arrives by email in the morning and is already wrong by lunchtime. Serial numbers on the delivery note so you can give your end customer documentation for their devices without having to copy them out manually. And, of course, a delivery note with your logo when we ship directly to your end customer.

Work out the value at just one of those points. A reseller manually entering two hundred orders a month instead of processing them through an interface spends, at four minutes per order, more than thirteen hours a month typing – over one hundred and fifty hours a year in which nobody is selling; somebody is simply re-entering information that was already digital in the first place. And a webshop operator whose stock data is half a day out of date will reliably sell something a few times a month that is no longer available. Each of those cancellations costs them not just the margin on the order, but the customer.

The real point, however, is that both sides are talking about the same system. The feedback the manufacturer needs and the data you want to extract are simply two ends of the same process. If you buy one system and bolt the other onto the side, you end up with two systems and an Excel spreadsheet connecting them – and that spreadsheet then has to be maintained by somebody who should really be on the phone to you.

Now for the uncomfortable part, because this approach does not come for free. If you build your own software, you bear the development costs alone – with a standard product, those costs are shared between a thousand customers. We pay for every line of code ourselves, and we also pay for every mistake ourselves. Because we do introduce bugs that would not exist in bought-in software, and when that happens there is no supplier we can point the finger at. That is uncomfortable, but it is the more honest arrangement: the people who made the mistake are also the people who fix it.

Ultimately, it is the same principle I wrote about recently. Whether a decision here takes a day or a quarter does not depend on how clever somebody is, but on how many doors stand between your question and the decision. When it comes to software, there is exactly one. That is why our answer to an unusual requirement is almost never »that can’t be done«, but »when do you need it?«
 

Remember: »No system refuses to allow something. Nobody has written the code for it – the only question is whether the person who can is in the same building.«
 

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