Standardization: The Industry Goal That Finally Found Its Way Forward
DraftStandardization: The Industry Goal That Finally Found Its Way Forward
In 2015, the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) published a study calling for greater standardization in Special Pricing Agreement (SPA) management. It highlighted what most of us already knew—every manufacturer, distributor, and rep was speaking a slightly different pricing language.
At the time, the report was forward-thinking. It laid out a vision for unified processes, cleaner data exchange, and improved profitability. But a decade later, many organizations are still struggling with the same core issue.
So what happened?
The challenge wasn’t a lack of will—it was the reality of legacy systems. Each partner has its own ERP, its own file format, its own way of defining a “valid claim.” Changing all of that simultaneously across the channel felt impossible.
That’s where Celerity has taken a different approach.
Instead of trying to replace those systems, we’ve built a way to connect them—creating standardization without disruption.
Here’s how it works:
Celerity translates and aligns data between manufacturers, distributors, and rep agents—regardless of their ERP or pricing format.
It standardizes claim validation, SPA logic, and reconciliation in real time.
It gives every participant one accurate, consistent view of the same agreement.
As one customer recently told us:
“You’ve built what the industry has been talking about since 2015—without asking us to change our system.”
The truth is, standardization was never just about technology. It was about collaboration.
And today, with Celerity, that 2015 vision is finally becoming a practical, scalable reality—built on connection, not replacement.