Choosing the best import and export software for a food distribution company

depot

General “Everything to Everybody” type accounting software is simply not sophisticated enough to manage the complexities of importing and exporting food products. The downside of using general accounting and inventory software is blatantly obvious to anyone who is trying it, so I’m going to skip the reasons why a company would be looking for other […]

Simple CRM software for import/export and distribution business

Business growth chart

The challenge for most small businesses considering implementing CRM software is getting people to actually use it. If sales people feel like they are wasting their time by typing their activities into a computer then they will quickly give up and move on to activities that make them money. We have found the solution to […]

Advantages and Disadvantages of Certificate of Analysis Module

thumbs up and down

If you have ever gotten yourself in trouble for sending a customer material that was out of spec, or you are tired of embarrassing yourself by cutting and pasting your logo onto a Chinese Certificate of Analysis document and sending that to customers then its probably time to take a closer look at the Certificate […]

Why QuickBooks/Excel is not the best choice for importers

thumbs down

QuickBooks has over 3 Million customers so Intuit is doing a lot of things right.  The QuickBooks software is generally considered the easiest accounting software to learn and use.  In addition to having an intuitive user interface, the elegant simplicity of the software itself makes it an easy choice for any new company starting out. […]

How software can simplify compliance for wine importers and distributors

Web Assistant

  Regulations around wine importing and distribution create lots of paperwork and consume lots of time especially if they are done manually.   Mistakes can be expensive and even cost you your license.   Fortunately, the right industry specific software can assist in creating the reports and documents needed to satisfy state and federal wine and […]

How to Forecast Inventory as an Importer

chart

The challenges that distributors face in forecasting inventory are multiplied exponentially when those distributors are sourcing product from overseas.  The following factors must be considered when forecasting the availability of inventory for imported goods. Purchasing: Production Time-This information will need to come from the factory but if you are regularly re-ordering the same products then […]

Credit Limit Handling in VISCO

Credit Limit Handling in VISCO

One of the questions that I receive most often is what options are available to help manage customer credit limits in VISCO.  This is one of the more flexible areas of the system with lots of options available:   Integration with QuickBooks-For the credit limits to have any use, we need to know the open balance […]

10 Simple Ways to Get More value out of VISCO

Graph

One of the things I wish we did more of is to let our customers know what other customers are doing to get value out of the system.  Below is a list of 10 recent projects that  could be implemented easily and inexpensively for anyone:   1-Create Competition between Sales Reps: Have a scheduled email […]

Getting Started Guide for new employees

manual

When our implementation manager, Chad Mallozzi, join our team we trained him on how to use the system.  As he went through our training, he took really good notes which he modified into a guide that can be used for any new employee who will be working with the system. I thought it would be […]