Blacksmith Applications Releases SHIELD^SM, a Deduction Management Solution for Foodservice Manufacturers

Wilmington, MA (April 26, 2004) - Blacksmith Applications, the leading provider of contract, trade, and deduction management solutions for the foodservice industry, announced today that it has expanded its solution portfolio to assist foodservice manufacturers in managing the ever-growing problem of deductions with the release of its web-based deduction management solution, SHIELD^SM.

"There is no doubt that deductions have become a huge issue in the foodservice industry over the last 10 years, with distributors becoming more aggressive on what they deduct, how often they deduct, and how quickly they do it. For the manufacturer, this often creates an accounting nightmare, and the associated headaches that come with managing these deductions can filter all the way down from customer service to field sales, where valuable sales time is overrun with tedious, labor-intensive activities spent on deduction research and follow-up," said Paul Wietecha, President, Blacksmith Applications. Along with those headaches comes the ongoing pain of losing significant revenue on a daily basis because manufacturers often lack the processes, systems, or controls to identify, research, and resolve deductions in a timely fashion, if at all. Our customers need solutions that can stop the bleeding right now, and we’re ready to do just that with SHIELD^SM.

Blacksmith Applications SHIELD^SM provides a centralized, collaborative, and workflow-based environment that will enable foodservice manufacturers to gain the necessary controls and methods to research, track, and resolve all deductions, regardless of type or reason, more quickly and efficiently for all customers. The deduction management process will be simplified with automated internal and customer correspondence and communication, auto-close functionality, automated follow-up capabilities, and a link to Blacksmith’s contract management application, FORGE^SM.

"The contract management process does not exist in a vacuum. Deductions are often closely tied to customer contracts and trade programs, and in order for sales and marketing to understand their total customer and product spending and profitability, they need to have insight into and control over deductions and their associated dollars. There is currently too much revenue leakage in this area and has been for too long. By already providing a standardized environment for manufacturers to manage their operator and distributor programs, we believed the next logical step in helping our customers grow and become more profitable was to provide them with a deduction management solution that met their immediate needs head on," said Chris Spallino, Vice President, Marketing & Product Development.

SHIELD^SM Benefits

• Reduce overall time spent on deduction research and follow-up
• Reduce the average Days Deduction Outstanding (DDO)
• Reduce the overall outstanding deduction dollars balance
• Gain insight into problem areas and customers, understand trends in deduction activities
• Reduce clerical work and manual paperwork related to communication, correspondence, and follow-up activities
• Improve ability to track trade payments and billbacks
• Accurately record the correct GL codes and reason codes for all deductions
• Prevent fraudulent deduction activity
• Maintain a history of all deduction-related activities for auditing purposes
  

SHIELD^SM Features

• Single source of all customer deductions and related data for all deduction types, reasons, and amounts
• Automated workflows to guide users through the deduction resolution process
• Image-viewer to view scanned images such as check copies and invoices
• Direct link to the contract management application and billback data for researching and clearing deductions
• Clear deductions to unpaid billbacks or rebill customers for paid billbacks
• Accounts Receivable Interface with nightly updates to the deduction database
• User settings and profiles to establish security, management, and approval rights
• Define company parameters and age ranges for categorizing and prioritizing deductions
• Perform multiple activities on a deduction such as splitting, reassigning, or auto-closing
• Numerous deduction communication methods such as printing, e-mailing, and faxing
• Scorecards to monitor user and deduction performance
  

About Blacksmith Applications
Blacksmith Applications is the leading provider of contract, trade, and deduction management solutions for the foodservice industry. The company's solutions enable foodservice manufacturers to more effectively and profitably manage national account contracts, operator deals, distributor trade programs, and deductions. Blacksmith helps eliminate expensive, inefficient processes and reduce contract and deduction management costs, complexities, and overspending. The results are increased speed to market, improved visibility into customer and product performance, and controlled trade spending - all enabling increased revenue, more strategic and profitable decision making, the appropriate deployment of resources at all levels of sales and marketing, and greater overall profitability. Blacksmith Applications is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.blacksmithapps.com or call 1-866-572-9299.