Floriday is the digital platform for the floriculture industry, with which we want to promote and facilitate trade. The aim is to enable growers and buyers using their own software packages to benefit even more from Floriday's advantages. We do this by adding new features to the links every six months and by working with software vendors to further optimise existing implementations. In this article we speak to Justin Steenbergen, Integration Consultant at Floriday.
Many growers and buyers use their own software packages. The API connection allows the software supplier to seamlessly link this package to Floriday, allowing the grower or buyer to continue working. Justin: "In my job, I am involved on a daily basis with the implementations that software vendors develop so that users can enjoy the benefits of Floriday. Whereas before we focused more on new developments, we are now entering a new phase. Many software vendors have integrated the basic functionality of Floriday. We want to help them improve the quality of these existing functionalities so that users can take full advantage of the connection and the experience really does feel seamless".
Complete and clear documentation for software vendors
Justin: "There have been a lot of steps taken recently by software vendors to work together on this. The next step is to harmonise practices by more clearly documenting the guidelines for software vendors. By clearly stating what is expected as a minimum from an implementation, we can ensure that the whole supply chain is even better aligned.
Thematic roadmap
Justin: "The issues we will be focusing on with software vendors in the coming period are :
- Labels: Growers receive labels from buyers. When properly implemented, producers indicate that the label has been 'handled', i.e. printed and/or applied. This gives the buyer peace of mind and eliminates the need to make follow-up calls or reserve extra manpower to do it themselves. With the right implementation, we can further optimise the chain.
- Delivery terms: the grower enters delivery slots in Floriday. These are the terms of delivery that the grower can guarantee to the customer. If a buyer doesn't know these delivery slots and enters a time 'casually', the grower's order will be processed incorrectly. Using the correct times and quantities avoids unnecessary corrections or cancellations. The aim is to only place orders that meet delivery requirements.
- Article synchronisation: Implementing items from the catalogue also affects the rest of the supply chain. For example, if a change to an item results in a new item, the buyer's software package will no longer be able to match that item. As a result, buyers miss out on supply and growers miss out on orders".
With great enthusiasm, Justin has recently been working on tightening up the documentation and updating the software vendors at the quarterly meeting. "In addition to the release process we are implementing for the Grower API and Buyer API, we will be focusing on the above issues in the coming period. Curious about what your software package can do? Contact your software supplier or check out this overview for growers and buyers.