IDEA Changes Leadership

Late last week came news that Bob Gaylord, former president of IDEA, was leaving the organization to pursue “other interests” (which, as an aside, is a nice euphemism!).  Bob was a nice guy and contributed much time and energy to the continued pursuit of IDEA’s vision to be a centralized data warehouse for the electrical industry.

We’ve followed IDEA for many years as:

• we feel that the vision, and concept, are admirable and beneficial for the industry
• we’ve shared thoughts about IDEA from time to time (and our post IDEA with a Vision attracted much interest)
• when IDEA was first launched, David was involved with their marketing committee when he was at IMARK and Allen has been involved in a couple of projects for IDEA.

So, we understand the concept and are advocates … and a robust, centralized data repository would be of assistance to our clients … helping them sell more and operate more profitably.

As we were reading the press release about the change, there was a section of the release that caught our eye:

“Throughout this year, NEMA and NAED leadership have worked closely as IDEA shareholders to increase support of, and attention to, IDEA’s mission of providing the industry with a single source of complete, high-quality data delivered efficiently and cost-effectively. Core to that mission is the establishment and administration of an industry data standard that provides distributors with all key information their customers require, and manufacturers with a clear expectation of what data is needed from them.”

We’ve highlighted the key area of interest in red.

Many have commented to us “why can Amazon, Grainger, MSC, etal get data from manufacturers but distributors can’t and some manufacturers don’t want to participate in IDEA.”  One of the possible reasons, we remind people, is that these customers represent significant volume (current or potential) to the manufacturer and hence are “demanding”.  And in some instances, these “distributors” may be having some staff refine the data for themselves.

Let’s go back to the statement …

• IDEA’s ownership is 50% NEMA and 50% NAED
• Historically NAED has been focused on IDEA’s data (read manufacturers) only be available to NAED members
• Not all manufacturers who sell to distribution provide data to IDEA, but we’d surmise that there are more NEMA electrical members than there are manufacturers contributing data to IDEA.

And here’s the thought.  The key words in the statement are “information their customers require” and “distributors”.  The term “distributors” infers, in our opinion, any entity that distributes (or redistributes) products to another entity (either end-user or contractor / middleman).  It does not mean “only those who are part of a select group.”

If we broaden the term, hence Amazon, Grainger, MSC, AutomationDirect, etc should then be able to get their information from IDEA.

• And if manufacturers supported a “one-stop shop” for giving (from them) and getting (to distributors), then there would be more data in the system.
• And if NEMA exerted some political capital or developed some programs / incentives for all NEMA electrical manufacturers to contribute data (or maybe made it is an element of membership), then perhaps more lines that distributors need would be in the IDW database.

The challenge with this concept is that

1. NAED needs to “think bigger” and think of “industry stakeholders” (i.e. inclusive of manufacturers) and in the best interests of its members.  Data isn’t a differentiator.  What you do with it can be a differentiator.
2. NEMA needs to better understand the distributor challenge … they need a one-stop shop for all of the lines they need data from.

And perhaps the plan to have lower level staff employees and consultants as “observers” on the IDEA BOD vs decision-makers and high level employees of the association would insure that industry needs are taken in to consideration.  In looking for a new leader, we’d encourage the IDEA BOD (or NAED and NEMA) to spend the money and have a search committee to hire someone who can bring new ideas to the challenge … and not just individuals who either favor one side or are adept at managing organizational politics (consider working for an organization owned by two associations!)

Just some food for thought.  If IDEA or data is important to you, we suggest you share your thoughts here and call Chris Curtis, ex-Square D, who is serving as interim IDEA president at 703-562-4600 or contact NAED or NEMA.

Data needs have moved from a back-of-the-house issue to a profit and revenue generating issue.  This issue has moved beyond an IT issue.  It is an organizational issue that affects each individual.