Rene Savage, system administrator at Stellar Industrial Supply, Tacoma, Wash., works hard to ensure that every employee gets the most out of her company's Prophet 21 solution. It's a difficult task further complicated by the fact that the company employs almost 100 people at five Washington locations.

Prophet 21's new Custom Education Program helps make Savage's job a little easier. The Custom Education Program is a free, online service for Prophet 21 customers that helps distributors pinpoint training needs and develop programs for continuing education. It's just one of many professional services offered by Prophet 21 to help distributors maximize their technology investments.

“Many distributors know that they need to put an educational strategy in place for their employees — they just don't know how,” said Chuck Boyle, Prophet 21 president and CEO. “We're offering our distributors a solution to this issue with the Custom Education Program.”

One-size-fits-all training sessions are not necessarily the right approach for Stellar Industrial employees. “We can't get everyone together and go over order entry for an hour,” Savage said. “People learn at different speeds. The Custom Education Program helps us offer training for each individual's specific needs.”

Savage has already used the Custom Education Program to develop tests for employees at different levels of her organization. “We've created a basic order entry test to give every sales representative,” she said. “We've developed an advanced inventory movement test for our warehouse manager, and I'm planning on taking a system administrator test.”

Savage said that the Custom Education Program helps her ensure that her company maximizes its return on investment on its Prophet 21 solution.

Plus, targeted education will save Stellar money. “We'll spend money only on resources we need, and our employees will work smarter, not harder,” she said.

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