Peter Drozda, business operations manager, American Orthodontics
As manager of business operations at American Orthodontics, a manufacturer of orthodontic treatment supplies, Peter Drozda gets involved in many aspects of using digital technology to help customers. In this Q&A, he discusses what B2B ecommerce means to a medical products manufacturer and its customers.
Drozda also will share his ecommerce expertise and insights on two panels covering ecommerce technology and order management strategies at the EnvisionB2B 2023 Conference & Exhibition in June in Chicago.
DC 360: What is driving B2B companies like American Orthodontics to expand online?
Drozda: American Orthodontics has had a B2B ecommerce presence for well over a decade and was one of the first orthodontic manufacturers and suppliers to do so. That being said, we are constantly working to improve the customer experience. As more and more customers prefer an online full-service web store, we are driven to meet and exceed their expectations and stay at the cutting edge of the industry.
DC 360: What are your biggest internal and/or external barriers?
Drozda: External barriers: regulatory compliance. We sell medical devices globally. And maintaining regulatory compliance for every market in an ever-changing world — on everything from data integrity, labelling of complex made-to-order products, and even online payment — requires constant changes to our systems. We are proud to be fully compliant in all major markets, even with the newest UDI (Unique Device Identification) regulations in the U.S. and the MDR (Medical Device Regulation) in Europe.
DC 360: What are the chief gains you’re realizing?
Drozda: Order processing has always been very labor intensive for us due to the complex nature of our products, but through our new ecommerce and ERP systems launched in summer 2022 we are realizing huge gains in scalability as we continue to grow without needing to drastically increase headcount. That is especially beneficial in this tight labor market.
DC 360: What is the most valuable piece of advice you have on how to launch online B2B sales or increase them?
Drozda: Find a good implementation partner who is truly invested in becoming a long-term partner in your business.
DC 360: What excites you the most in new digital commerce technology?
Drozda: AI-driven personalization.
DC 360: Going forward, what do you see as the most significant commerce challenges and opportunities?
Drozda: Technology is changing at an exponential rate, and it’s becoming harder and harder to stay on top of trends and weed out fads from what is truly worth spending time and capital on. Staying educated and being unafraid to try things, fail, and pivot quickly will be key for all ecommerce practitioners. Luckily, that challenge is also an opportunity, because new technology can be implemented and adopted — or dumped — faster than ever.
Drozda will speak on how to engage and win customers with ecommerce technology and order management and fulfillment strategies at the EnvisionB2B 2023 Conference & Exhibition in June in Chicago.
Jim Daly is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy.
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