September Newsletter
Here’s what you’ll learn about in this month’s newsletter:
There’s Still Time to Register for eBiz 2025!
Don’t miss the electrical industry’s leading digital transformation summit.
eBiz 2025 is shaping up to be the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about digital commerce and online business innovation!
Here’s why you can’t miss eBiz 2025:
- Industry Leaders Unite 🚀 – Top executives, innovative startups, and visionary entrepreneurs all in one place sharing breakthrough insights
- Actionable Learning ⚡️ – Exclusive keynotes, hands-on workshops, and exhibitions showcasing tomorrow’s game-changing solutions
- Unmatched Networking 🌐 – Connect with thousands of digital commerce professionals driving the online economy forward
- Competitive Advantage 💼 – Where the next big ideas in digital business are born – miss it and fall behind!
eBiz 2025 is just three weeks away but, don’t worry, there’s still time to register!
Want to Learn More about Data Whispers?
Did you miss the recent live webinar?
Patrick Knight and Mark McGready’s recent webinar, Turning Analytics Into Actionable Sales Intelligence, is now available on-demand.
This engaging webinar is devoted to exploring how to turn complex analytics into clear action and accelerate sales performance with targeted insights. Discover how account-specific playbooks help salespeople focus their efforts, identify growth opportunities, and improve customer conversations in real time.
Ready to Try IDEA Data Whispers? Your 30-Day Access Awaits
You now have the opportunity to explore Data Whispers free for 30 days. During this trial, you’ll receive powerful “whispers” using sample data that highlight:
- 🔍 Account-level sales summaries
- 📈 Monthly activity of note
- 💡 Revenue growth & cost-saving opportunities
- 💸 Price recovery suggestions
- 📊 Long-term business trends
Or, want personalized insights?
Simply send us a data file, and we’ll tailor the whispers to your business. If you’d like help getting started or uploading your data, contact idea-sales@idea4industry.com.
Patrick Knight on the Electrical Wholesaling Podcast
How AI Could Transform Product Data
AI is opening new possibilities for product data. On the Electrical Wholesaling podcast, IDEA CEO Patrick Knight explains why the industry is still in the early stages and how large language models could help create and optimize product data at scale.
What’s New in the IDEA Connector?
New Compliance Fields in IDEA Connector: Why Your Data Matters More Than Ever
IDEA has introduced powerful new compliance fields into the IDEA Connector—and we need your help to populate them. These updates are designed to support distributors in navigating evolving trade regulations, improving data quality, and enhancing their ability to deliver complete, compliant product information to their customers.
What’s New?
Manufacturers can now populate the following fields:
- Multiple Country of Origin (up to five entries)
- Build America, Buy America (BABA) Compliant
- BAA COTS Compliant (Commercial Off-the-Shelf)
- Trade Agreement Act Compliant
- Product of Canada / Made in Canada
- Additional Certification Agencies
- EPD – Environmental Product Declarations
- NEMA Make It American™
- PEP – Product Environmental Profile
- USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement)
Why It Matters
Populating these fields helps:
- Distributors quote and bid accurately for government and infrastructure projects.
- Ensure compliance with domestic content requirements.
- Market products effectively with compliance indicators
- Operate efficiently by reducing back-and-forth with manufacturers
- Avoid missed sales due to incomplete regulatory data.
- Centralized access to this data improves speed, trust, and sales enablement.
Standardized compliance data empowers the entire channel to operate more efficiently and meet evolving regulatory demands.
Reach out to the IDEA Customer Success Team for support or to get started.
HDM Progress Update: Driving Data Quality and Industry Efficiency
The HDM (Harmonized Data Model) initiative is making strong progress in standardizing product data across the industry. Key achievements include:
- Nearly 400 product categories are harmonized and operational
- 50 additional normalized categories will launch in December
- This expansion will cover over 90% of active SKUs in the IDEA Connector system
The harmonization process aligns product attributes with both CAS and ETIM standards, enabling manufacturers and distributors to work from a unified data model. This alignment improves data consistency, reduces manual cleanup, and accelerates onboarding.
To support this effort, IDEA has rolled out a suite of HDM reports for manufacturers and distributors, including:
- CAS and ETIM Data Typing Reports
- B8 CAS Population Templates
- Load Summary Reports
Log in to the IDEA Connector to access these new and customized reports.