Adopting New Technology in Distribution: Getting Your Team Behind a New Process

Distributors run on margins of about 4%, so a single missed $5,000 vendor credit on a warranty claim comes straight out of profit. In this episode of the Lead Time Podcast by Continuum, founder and CEO Alex Witcpalek talks with Brett Jaussi from Continuum’s customer success team. They cover how distributors get teams to adopt AI-powered warranty and returns automation, from the CFO down to the branch counter. Brett has spent 15 years in supply chain and logistics technology. He explains why warranty claims get lost (sticky notes, spreadsheets, logging into one manufacturer portal after another) and how a connected supply chain fixes it. What you’ll learn: Why missed warranty credits can add up to six or seven figures a year for distributors How claims that used to take 45 days now close in 4 to 7 days, and many are approved the same day How branch staff file a warranty claim in about 60 seconds instead of 15 to 30 minutes Why leadership buy-in, including a mid-level branch champion, decides how fast adoption happens How AI connects distributors to manufacturer portals that have no APIs How implementations finish in about 45 days, even across different ERPs like Epicor Eclipse, Prophet 21, CSD and SAP How to talk about ROI differently with a CFO and with a counter rep Chapters: 0:00 The real cost of a missed vendor credit 0:23 Meet Brett Jaussi, Continuum Customer Success 2:07 What customer success looks like after the sale 3:11 Where a CSM’s time actually goes 4:20 Driving adoption and change management 6:27 Connecting branch work to P&L impact 8:51 Distribution vs. logistics technology 9:41 Building a connected supply chain without APIs 11:06 How distributors feel about AI 12:25 The sticky-note warranty problem 14:14 Same ERP, different customers: the 80/20 rule 16:08 Learning the whole supply chain 17:03 Where leadership and branch users see things differently 19:46 Why leadership buy-in drives adoption 21:29 What separates successful customers 23:17 Two or three uses and nobody goes back 24:14 76% of claims approved same day 25:00 Bears, Cubs and Tigers About Continuum: Continuum builds AI-powered warranty, returns and vendor claims automation for wholesale distributors and manufacturers. It connects ERP systems and manufacturer portals so distributors recover every vendor credit faster. 🎧 Subscribe to the Lead Time Podcast for more on distribution, supply chain and AI. 🔗 gocontinuum.ai #WarrantyManagement #Distribution #SupplyChain #AIinDistribution #VendorCredits #WholesaleDistribution #CustomerSuccess #LeadTimePodcast