Vendor Coordination: How to Stop Chasing Printers

Introduction

If you have ever tried to launch a campaign with five different vendors, you know the pain. The printer says the files are wrong, the promo guy is out of stock and the shipping company is late.

Vendor coordination often feels like herding cats. You spend your whole day sending emails just to make sure things arrive on time.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

IRIS Strategic Marketing Support (IRIS) simplifies the mess. With GearBox® by IRIS, you can manage all your vendors in one place. It stops the email chains and gives you a clear view of every order, every time.

The Struggle of Managing Multiple Vendors

When you rely on manual vendor coordination, things slip through the cracks.

1. Different Processes for Everyone

Your printer wants a PDF via email. Your promo vendor wants an order through a portal. Your signage guy wants a phone call. keeping track of who needs what is exhausting.

2. Inconsistent Branding

When you use different vendors without a central system, your brand colors often come out looking different. One banner is bright red, the other is dark maroon. It looks unprofessional.

3. Zero Visibility

Once you send an order email, it goes into a black hole. You have to chase the vendor to ask, "Did you get this?" or "When will it ship?"

4. Billing Nightmares

Processing dozens of separate invoices from different companies is a waste of time for your finance team.

How GearBox® by IRIS Fixes Vendor Coordination

GearBox® by IRIS acts as the bridge between you and your supply chain. It forces organization onto a chaotic process.

• Centralized Routing: You place the order in GearBox®, and the system automatically sends it to the right vendor.
• Unified Status Updates: You see the tracking info for the print job and the promo item on the same screen.
• Quality Control: Because everything goes through one platform, it is easier to enforce brand standards across all vendors.
• Simplified Billing: You can consolidate spending data, making it easier to track your budget.

Use Case: Ply Gem Consolidates 20+ Vendors

Ply Gem had a massive vendor coordination problem. They were working with over 20 different partners to support their distributors and sales reps. It was confusing and inefficient.

They needed a way to bring everyone onto the same page.

They used GearBox® by IRIS to centralize the network.

With the platform, they:

• Onboarded all 20+ vendors into a single interface
• Saved time by stopping the manual "traffic control" of orders
• Gained 100% visibility into where money was being spent
• Improved the experience for their thousands of distributors

Read the Ply Gem Case Study

Conclusion

Vendor coordination doesn't have to be your full-time job. You should be focusing on strategy, not checking tracking numbers.

GearBox® by IRIS gives you the power to manage a complex network of partners without the stress. It streamlines the communication so you get the right product at the right time.

Talk to IRIS to get your vendors under control.