As many companies grow, they use a variety of software like QuickBooks, E-mail, Excel and Word to manage and share information. This is understandable because these tools can help individual employees do their jobs more efficiently, but because each individual is working in their own little world and the information is not getting shared with the rest of the organization.
An example of this might look like this: When customer inquiries may come into the sales team, they may be then added to an ongoing spreadsheet that must be updated and emailed back and forth by everyone in the company. This spreadsheet gets emailed to suppliers, they update the spreadsheet and send back any quotes on products. The quote after being analyzed is then entered in an Excel spreadsheet or Word document and sent to the customer as a quote. The customer sends a new email with a Purchase Order to your company, then someone creates a Purchase Order and Sales Order in QuickBooks. Production and shipping schedule is managed in another spreadsheet, then the inventory arrives and gets entered in QuickBooks and another spreadsheet. An employee manages delivery schedule in another spreadsheet. Sales people are needing to be updated on the statuses of their current orders and available inventory they have to sell so they are placing calls into the back office team.
Using a web application like VISCO, means that your team will no longer have to save and email files back and forth in order to stay in the loop. When things are saved on VISCO, you can be sure that everyone is always looking at the most up to date orders simply by going to your business’s designated VISCO link. All users get their own log in information, which can also help you track who made changes in the system, what was changed and when. With everyone sharing the same set of information, everyone is on the same page.
There are several ways in which VISCO can help communication between users. We have a module called ‘Inquiries’ which allows users to track and update interactions between customers and vendors before Quotes to or from either are entered in the system. In this area the user can state that a conversation with a customer or vendor was initiated and enter some details such as the product, payment and shipping terms, and any comments or extraneous details. Some users even store email correspondence in the inquiry section, that way when another user is checking in or following up on a conversation that was being had between a customer and a sales associate, they can view the exact exchange. 
Another function that people utilize in the system is the ability to ‘Issue’ documentation to a customer or vendor. In VISCO, there are two statuses in the sales order or purchase order creation. One where the document is created and not yet sent to a customer or vendor (un-issued), and another where that initial order can be approved after creation by another user and then sent to the customer or vendor (issued). In the past we have done customizations where the person managing the documentation gets an email alert once a document has been created by the person doing the initial data entry. The email allows the user to know that there is a document that is ready for review and approval.
There is also a pre-issued document that can be sent to a customer or vendor for pre-approval, before the order is confirmed in the system.
Statuses in VISCO help users get a full picture of where items are throughout the logistics process. The idea being that if one person puts a container full of goods from a vendor into transit, another can easily check if the goods are on their way, if ETA of those goods are on time and update ETDs to customers with greater accuracy. No more emails back in forth, checking broker correspondence, and putting customers on hold to find out when their products are arriving!
Users have the ability to upload documentation from Customers, vendors and brokers directly to the system. This means, that if one person uploads a customer’s purchase order, it now lives on the system and can be viewed by anyone at any time. The same goes for shipping documents- once a user uploads a Bill of Lading for example, everyone can view the document by simply going into the container.
No more having to email reports back and forth to account for order changes and additions, now all of your reports are neatly kept within the system. With permissions, users have the ability to generate reports with the most up to date financial, logistic, and order detail.
VISCO also integrates with Quickbooks, so your accounting team can all be on the same page when it comes to accounts payable and receivable.
