PromoStandards is proud to provide suppliers with an easier way to transfer order details electronically and allow others to access their products. One success story comes from Charles River Apparel.
The leading apparel brand for corporations, businesses, school teams, athletic groups, and college students nationwide was founded in 1983 and is based outside of Boston, MA. Here’s how they discovered PromoStandards and saw immediate results!
What They Were Doing Before Implementing PromoStandards Correctly
Jeison Ortega, at the time, was the Director of Information Technology and is now its Chief Technology Officer. He understood the advantages of trading partner integration; sellers can more efficiently provide information online, and customers have immediate access.
Yet, the technology provider Charles River Apparel initially chose didn't know how to implement the integration endpoints correctly. In the promotional products industry, almost every order is customized and highly configurable, so well-formed orders are vital for including fine details and communicating accurately.
Since the provider wasn’t versed in the intricacies of the promotional products industry, they learned the PromoStandards protocol from scratch. They didn’t use a standard method or platform, and the fact that they were not very experienced with trading partner integration made it all the more challenging.
How They Discovered PromoStandards
Jeison knew what his company needed was an experienced integration service to reliably create, host, and maintain integration endpoints while meeting the specific needs of the industry. Then, at the 2019 PPAI Technology Summit, he recognized Essent Corporation, a provider of fully-integrated business management software solutions and services for process-intensive industries.
Stephen Luisser, Vice President of Research and Development at Essent Corporation, is an award-winning integrator and former PromoStandards board member. When he delivered a presentation on integration and how rapidly its spread throughout the promotional products industry, Jeison realized they’d make a great team.
Charles River Apparel Saw Immediate Results
After working with their initial provider for one year, they switched to working with Essent’s OrderTrax Network, which implemented the Media Contact endpoint in just 24 hours. Essent implemented the endpoints for Inventory and Order Status next. And, within a few phone calls, Charles River Apparel had the Media Service endpoint fully implemented.
Charles River Apparel distributor partners immediately expressed they were pleased. Jeison shared that Charles River Apparel was even able to salvage a relationship with a customer that was having issues using the endpoints set up by the previous provider.
Find the Right Integration Provider With PromoStandards!
At PromoStandards, we make it easy to communicate with others in the promo industry. When you become a member, you can leverage the open-source standards more efficiently by working with a service provider who knows the promo industry. Find a service provider by joining PromoStandards today!
