DataDirect Helps Pacer Group Set the Pace

When Pacer Group made the transition to the cloud, Progress DataDirect was there to assist with data integration, improving speeds 25-50% so Pacer could focus on excellent customer service without data-based headaches.

Founded in 1979, Pacer Group has established itself as a leader in the wire, cable and electrical product industry by providing their customers with awesome products and even better service. A major enabler of that excellent customer service is their ability to make timely shipments and respond quickly to customer needs.

So, when several key processes slowed or became completely impossible after their transition to the cloud, Pacer Group knew it had a major challenge on their hands. Luckily, they found a solution in Progress® DataDirect® connectors.

Disabled Labels

Pacer Group was able to save time and money with Progress DataDirect

After moving to the cloud, Joseph Swiatkowski, Head of Engineering at Pacer Group, frequently found himself asking, “How hard is it to make a label?”

Pacer Group’s troubles began when they realized it was suddenly almost impossible to create barcodes and labels for their nearly 4,000 products. This is especially important in an industry where products can’t always be identified by the naked eye.

“You get a spool of wire in and unless you have a magnifying glass, you really don’t know if you’re pulling 14-gauge or 16-gauge, or if it’s automotive grade or boat cable grade,” Swiatkowski says, ”Labeling becomes very important to ensure proper identification of the product.”

What had previously been a simple task was now a monumental obstacle. Their newly-implemented cloud systems—including Salesforce, Rootstock and Microsoft SQL Server—were blocking access or obscuring data behind their user interfaces despite the benefits they brought to other parts of the business. Worse, these solutions were slow due to limits on queries and throughput.

“If we’re sitting with a customer and have 20 to 30 items that we need to process, there’s a latency issue,” Swiatkowski says, “you don’t want to wait five minutes to produce a report or a barcode packing slip.”

They needed to find a solution—fast.

Barcodes and Beyond

The main challenge that Pacer Group faced essentially came down to a need to get “behind” the user interface of the cloud-based products they had implemented. They found a solution in Progress DataDirect connectors.

With DataDirect, Pacer Group is able to get to all their data. And thanks to DataDirect’s focus on performance, they can do it at a blazing speed. Swiatkowski estimates that data access is anywhere from 25 to 50 percent faster with DataDirect.

Even better, Pacer Group saw significant savings from the DataDirect solution by maintaining their digital autonomy.

“When you can avoid bringing in a consultant, you’re saving huge money,” Swiatkowski says. “We’ve easily saved $100,000 already with DataDirect.”

Further, because they have unlimited access to the raw data behind their systems, there are myriad ways Pacer Group can use this data in the future. Today, they are using it to improve their labeling system, but tomorrow it could be used to build a mobile shopping app or any number of other systems.

Keeping Up the Pace

Now that Pacer Group has set the pace with improved data integration processes, their competitors will have to work extra hard to keep up. Regardless of the industry you work in, however, you can benefit from the improved data connectivity brought by DataDirect connectors.

Check out our website to get a free trial and a full list of our supported data sources, which includes both cloud-based and on-premise systems. And if you have any questions or comments on our high-performance connectivity, don’t hesitate to contact us.