Tired of manually setting up new accounts, logging cylinder information, and calculating rental costs? Save time, eliminate human error, and achieve cost savings with the introduction of new Datacor AI technologies, to be rolled out in stages over the next 12 months. The following information is a summary of an interview with Lou Zhang, Senior Lead, Data Science at Datacor who is a key contributor to the Datacor AI initiatives.
USE CELL PHONE CAMERA TO STREAMLINE DATA ENTRY
The first AI feature to be rolled out in 2025 includes the use of a cell phone camera to input information quickly and easily into Datacor software. Things like inputting cylinder/asset information will now be a simple picture that assigns a digital barcode to the asset and sets it up in your system with relevant information like manufacture date, manufacturer, pressures, retest dates, and any other data to capture for your records. The best part is that the hardware cost is minimal, as this feature will be available on any iOS or Android phone, eliminating the need for a distributor to purchase or rent dedicated handhelds.
This same camera feature will also enable users to simply take a picture of a purchase order or invoice, updating the customer account in the system, adding products to production, and facilitating delivery, all in an instant. The system also saves time setting up new accounts, as the AI can extract account information from a picture to populate as many fields as possible, all while eliminating human error. This time-saving measure will have a positive impact on production throughout the business, while also feeding the database with better, more timely, and relevant information that will contribute to future forecasting, preventative maintenance schedules, and recertification dates.
Data Integrity checks and balances are implemented by setting rules that enable the system to monitor data and highlight any potential issues for double-checking.
FORECASTING FUTURE COST AND SALES
Another AI feature that Datacor believes will set them apart from other software companies is their state-of-the-art sales forecasting and supply chain optimization. This will take forecasting to the next level by incorporating profitability optimization through analysis of all supply chain levels. Datacor will provide recommendations based on commodity futures to help distributors buy products, molecules, and raw materials at the optimal time through a recommendations feature that analyzes the costs of the goods sold. Distributors being able to buy some molecules up to 24 months in advance, this feature can help guide a distributor to buy at the right time while still selling at market prices.
Sales forecasting will include all the regular data points, including current trends, seasonality, historical invoice data, sales promotions, while accounting for current costs and pricing, helping you easily map and track sales to ensure year-over-year growth, keeping your sales team focused and organized while harmonizing production, ordering, asset utilization, and staff efficiency.
OPTIMIZE PRICING
Distributors will now have access to a business calculator to ensure that all costs and profits are accurately reflected in all products, including rental contracts. Streamline quotes while ensuring price integrity, saving time and administrative work for your sales staff and allowing them more time to build new and strengthen existing relationships with customers.
Aside from rental business quoting, Datacor software includes price intelligence features that analyze the distribution of prices for your customers, allowing you to see how much they have paid for each product over time. This provides valuable insights, including the mean, median, and mode, as well as the percentiles for the prices. With this at hand, you’ll have a far better idea of how much a customer should pay for each specific product you offer.
NUMEROUS ROLES WILL SEE DAILY TIME SAVINGS
One of the primary factors that companies consider when evaluating software is ROI. The return on investment for these offerings will be most evident in increased productivity across different departments at all levels of an organization. These AI features are sure to streamline daily tasks for drivers, administrators, purchasing personnel, warehouse staff, accountants, sales managers, Vice Presidents, and all the way up to the C-Suite and beyond.
IDEAL FOR MID-SIZE TO SMALL COMPANIES
Datacor products have demonstrated significant advancements in recent years, thanks to acquisitions and the recruitment of industry-leading software engineers. For GAWDA members, Trackabout and Infonetics are among the commonly used solutions for asset tracking, point of sale, and accounting among welding and gas distributors. Datacor has been able to harness the best of those offerings, combined with acquisitions from outside this industry, to deliver the best software experience for both gas distributors and mid-size to small manufacturing and wholesale distribution companies on the supplier side of the GAWDA Membership. Many of the supplier companies have similar needs to the distributors because their products and operations are of a similar size.
If you are a GAWDA Distributor or Supplier Member looking for effective and practical software solutions to run your business, consider Datacor to be your complete software and asset tracking partner.
