Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/11/2016 -- Many manufacturers successfully use a data analysis solution to help sales manage their trade spend and identify issues. Imagine if a sales team could be alerted about issues that are either "current," based on having increased visibility or are "predictive," based on a trend that will move KPI's outside their targeted range. This is where "Management by Exception" can make analysis actionable.

Management by exception (MBE) is a style of business management that focuses on identifying business performance issues where key metrics either have, or will, soon deviate from targeted guardrails. This allows management to not only focus on today's problems but to also address tomorrow's problems before they occur. When an analytics solution is used to automate MBE, it expands the scope of what can be monitored, and as a result, less management time needs to be allocated to monitoring every situation on the off chance that an issue may occur.

On the flip side, when something does happen, MBEs can be designed to escalate to the right management level. For instance, it can be set up so that the promotion manager is alerted at <40% compliance, the boss is notified when the threshold is <35% compliance, and the VP of Promotions is only brought in when it is <30%.

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About AFS Technologies
AFS Technologies (AFS) is the leading provider of software solutions purpose-built for consumer goods companies. AFS is committed to generating improved outcomes at the point of purchase coupled with generating efficiencies in trade spend, retail execution and supply chain. With experience developed over its 30 year history, AFS serves more than 1,000 customers of all sizes in over 50 countries around the world. AFS products are innovative, configurable solutions that are proven to optimize your potential with automated processes, improved productivity and rapid time to value.

AFS (http://www.afsi.com) was founded in 1985 as a software provider focused on helping food and beverage distributors and wholesalers automate complex tasks with an ERP system, which was developed exclusively for the industry. Starting in 2005, AFS began building out its capabilities to provide niche solutions, such as a warehouse management system from Motek, for niche segments, including seafood processing and foodservice manufacturing, within the food and beverage industry.

Over the next 10 years, AFS added 13 new solutions to its portfolio with the goal of supporting manufacturers, distributors, sales agencies and retailers across the value chain. Solutions included trade promotion management from MEI, Synectics and Answer Systems, retail execution and direct store delivery from Visicom, Quofore, The Pop Company and Ross Computer Systems, and sales agency management from Becton-schantz.

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