2020 Vision
Get the party decorations back out… It’s the time of year again for our annual “Year in Review”, where we look back on the past 12 months – and this time we’re adding some hints as to what’s coming in 2020 too.
2019 was yet another busy year for Erudus, and a significant step forward in providing the food industry with a united solution for sharing product data. We continued to see robust growth, with even more Wholesalers, Manufacturers and Caterers signing up to our solutions.
API usage continues to increase
We’ve seen a 33% increase in API usage throughout 2019 as more ERP and e-commerce solutions opted to integrate with Erudus. API usage topped out at just over 20 million product updates, up 5million from 2018.
Tighter Data Validation
In August we added no fewer than 230 new validation rules into our Data Validation Engine. The new rules checked for accuracy of product information on a much deeper and granular level than any validation rule previously in place. Of the 230 rules, 132 related to allergens – 3 were miscellaneous validations, and 95 were exception rules.
Image Hub Launched
Launched to Manufacturers last May, Image Hub was our most significant customer-facing development of 2019. Enabling Manufacturers to share lifestyle photography and product packshots with 120+ Wholesalers, as last year ended, Image Hub held over 59,000 images and is an important focus area for 2020.
Now, a sneak peek at what’s to come in 2020
We’ve got some major new features that we’re getting ready to deploy in the first half of 2020. Get ready to see the launch of Variable Product Specifications, Product Revisions and Version Control and Allergy Alerts.
Variable Product Specifications
After consultation with over 100 food manufacturers, we’re going to be rolling out “Variable Product Specifications” which, in short, will see “not applicable” product attributes removed and or replaced with product-specific attributes. For example, For a fish product, we’ll remove all ‘meat accreditations’ attributes, making it quicker and easier to publish product specifications to the Erudus Data Pool.
Product Revisions & Version Control
Version controlling product specifications is vital for both the Wholesaler – so they know which product is selling through – and the end-user Caterer – so they know which version of a product they have on their menu. So step forward “Product Revisions and Version Control” – this feature will enable just that.
Allergy Alerts
When a product’s allergen content goes from “Does Not Contain” to “Contains” or “May Contain”, end-user caterers need to know! The introduction of Allergy Alerts will ensure that happens, alerting users to the changes almost instantly.
In Conclusion
2020 looks set to be an action-packed year for Erudus. Our development team have been working hard to release some significant new features, and we’re excited to see how they’re received by our users in the coming months. We fully expect to announce new business wins, integration partnerships and improvements to our data validation engine as the year progresses. Happy 2020!
