Corprter Revolution

John F. Canoll Dataline Com.

I

winon. ct

With regional suppoft @nters nationwide, 2*yearold Dataline Corp. provides'tumkef hardware aN soltware sofuticrlls, exctusively forthe buiding natefiat tue$y.

lr ro, think the building material industry has changed Technology and information will drive change.

Computer technology and information availability will continue to drive changes in the lumber industry during the next l0 years. The industry iself will continue to become more efficient, and more business partnerships will be formed between the supplier and the independent lumberyard in order to win the contractors' and consumers' patronage.

The customer will be in the driver's seat. therefore, the independent who continually re-invents himsell anticipates real customer needs and exceeds customers' expectations, will be the true winner in our industry's transformation. I look for the next l0 years to be full ofchange and incredibly exciting!

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'',1'',1'1ffi"' h ting over the last l0 years, imagine an industry (hat sees major changes in is technology occurring every l4 months...with the process of change continuing to accelerate. That is what is happening in the computer industry. There are two components to every computer system: hardware and software. Let's first discuss hardware changes that are taking place. Raw computing power has been doubling every l4 months over the last five years. What this means is that today's computer processor has the ability to process twice as much information as last year's. Computer hardware has ' basically become a commodity, much like studs. Whar we will see in the futurc are pricei of pCs continuing to drop, allowing businesses to put a ..smart" terminal or PC on every employee's desk.

. The second major compbnent of any computer system is software. Software is a program written to help pe-rform certain tasks, such as writing an electonic purchase order or entering a customer order. Significant changes have taken place in this arena over the last several years as well. Advanced computer software use rclational database technology and CASE tools to generate new programs. Using these tools greatly improves the ability of a software manufacturer to respond to its customers' needs.

In the near future, as your customers become more computer literate, they are going to demand more from you in terms of information access. Most computer systems will :9-91 b" able to provide electronic communicarions capabilities between suppliers and conhctors.

Other developments in software to look for include online ordering capabilities and computer faxing capabilitias. By placing your orders electronically, you can save a great deal of time and insure order accuracy. Faxing directly from your system saves time and money as well.

In short, lumber and building product retailers will see that personal computers are going to revolutionize the way we do business, much in the same way the fax did in thl late 1980s. As prices for these products continue to fall and as software such as Windows 95, accounting packages and estimating software become more preval,ent in itre marketplace, you will be able to access and use information about your business as never beforc.

Technology is one of the few tools you can use to help you compete against the "boxes." And as technology continues to change, it is essential that your computer system can change with it.