FORGE

Pros: The quicker processing of the deductions and billbacks feature in Forge. The detailed billback reports in Forge Analytics are also great because of how much data you can include in the report.

Cons: The concept of the system is actually a great concept. The functionality though needs improvement. Forge and Forge Analytics needs to be consistent in refreshing between systems. The contract management piece in Forge is a great feature, however, it provides too much flexibility for sales to enter contracts and easily revise or duplicate them which in turn causes errors on the Forge Analytics report.

Overall: The overall experience for the first year was not what was expected. The features and functionalities would be great if it worked, however, the data was incorrect and it took over 9 months to find out that a refresh wasn't happening between Forge and Forge Analytics. The initial customer service experience was also poor and not helpful. Recently we received better customer service when we were provided with a different group of individuals to help us. There is no ownership on customer service on validating that the data between the systems are running appropriately. We constantly have to catch the issues and report them.

Pros: + The product is intuitive and can be customized to meet our business needs.

+ Our Blacksmith Business partners are CPG experts and are forward thinking.

+ Customer service agent provides us with tremendous support and demonstrate a clear understanding of the current (and future) landscape of our Industry.

+ We recently rolled out the program for our business managers.

Cons: - Data configurations can be complex, but there is always a Blacksmith employee to address any questions that we may have. I do not feel there are actual cons with Forge.

Overall: Roll out to our business managers to take a closer look at their trade spend.

Pros: - The tool is very user friendly.

- Customer Support is top notch whenever we are experiencing any difficulties or have any questions.

- The Blacksmith team is always willing to help with any system efficiencies to enhance our day to day work.

- Being able to network with other Blacksmith users within the industry helps us learn other ways we can utilize this tool across our Foodservice team.

Cons: - We experience a few system outages but the team is quick to work on it and fix the issue.

- System does run slow every now and then.

Pros: - The Blacksmith team are experts in Food Service industry,

- In the forefront of the direction of Food Service Trade.

- Forge System is very intuitive and can be customized to meet our business needs, and provides ability to evolve along with Food Service Industry.

- We are currently reviewing upgrading to the newest version in 2018.

- Continuously adding system efficiencies into system or process to account complexities that we are faced with

- Network of Blacksmith customers

- Bi Annual Blacksmith meetings

Pros: In depth industry knowledge makes the features/functionality invaluable

Intuitive for users of all experience levels

Above and beyond the software, you get a partner

Built to be flexible with it's features

Cons: Although we realize they are growing at a rapid pace, Customer Support can be a little slow at times.

Would like to see a user forum of some type for feedback

Pros: It is user friendly for me because I have used it from the beginning but new users struggle with it.

Cons: It seems upgrades that have been done for other manufacturers can create issues for our company that we are unaware of until something isn't working

Overall: It helps me to perform my daily job duties

Pros: - The product is easy to teach and understand for new users.

- We have great customer support from the Blacksmith Team.

- Blacksmith has an awesome community of users that help keep the tool innovative and fresh.

- It helps me perform my job daily!

Cons: - Can run slowly on some instances, but if there is ever a complete outage, the Blacksmith team has it fixed very quickly and efficiently.