Floriday compared to your own software

With Floriday, we are building an important foundation for the digital infrastructure of the floriculture industry. And this foundation is necessary. Many things have been well organized, yet every day we are confronted with illogical activities or message structures. Digital ordering with the order confirmation still gives rise to much confusion and there are some cracks in the VMP link here and there. And yet, this is only the beginning of a much more advanced digital cooperation between customers and growers. We are only at the beginning of a real digital marketplace. We need to do things differently, which is why we are building a new digital infrastructure with Floriday. 
But how does it compare to your software and your software provider?

Focus - EAB

We want to resolve a number of pressing issues from the past with this new digital infrastructure. With Floriday, we want to harmonize and simplify the logistic operations of the different auction sites (such as the Aalsmeer or Naaldwijk auction documents, for example). This is very complex in the current situation because it requires adjustments to the grower’s systems, several of Royal FloraHolland’s systems and sometimes also third parties’ systems. We are going to solve this by replacing the EAB in Floriday, in a more or less invisible way, by a new data model at a later stage. Growers will be able to manage this ‘renewed EAB’ from their own software, via the Floriday API, submit it to Floriday but also create it directly in Floriday.

We also want to divide the function of the EAB. Today this EAB has a logistic, commercial and financial function. This makes it impossible to just exchange logistic information, because there is always a financial order for collection attached to it. It is therefore impossible to put carts in stock for sale without financial settlement taking place, for example. We will be solving this ‘invisibly’ as well in Floriday through the new data model.

Modular use

The setup of Floriday and the APIs target what we call ‘modular use’. This means that growers can use certain functionalities in Floriday and other components from other software packages. You use the software package that best fits your company and are not restricted to the use of the Floriday screens or the software of a specific provider. You could manage for example your catalogue in Floriday, your stock in your ERP package and your commercial pricing yet in another package. The digital infrastructure of Floriday connects these different packages.

Involving software providers

Floriday has a large impact on the sector. This leads to questions from growers, software providers and other parties. Through the Floriday workshops and our Ideation process, we are actively trying to interact with growers. And we have organized sessions with the software providers together with Plantform. The conversations with the software providers will be intensified over the next months in order to further involve them in the shaping of the digital infrastructure for the floriculture industry.

We are convinced that adjusting the EAB, the transition from VMP to API for message exchange, a new data model, apps in Floriday, etc. are necessary. If we have our digital infrastructure in order, we will be better prepared to implement changes. And the return of your nursery will reap the benefits.

Gerhard van der Bijl
CDO