Articles by Jeana Bolanos

Tomar Electronics x SalesE Case Study: Turning 50 Years of ERP Knowledge Into the Foundation for Growth

How SalesE helped Tomar Electronics transform a 3-million-line COBOL system into structured documentation, training, and a path to modernization. A Proven System Ready for Its Next Chapter Tomar Electronics has been a leading signaling, safety, and industrial technology manufacturer for decades. Central to that success is a custom ERP system built and refined over decades […]

The Four Layers of Enterprise AI

You are not behind, but you do need to using AI in your enterprise. Here’s how to do it. I talk to CEO’s in distribution and manufacturing everyday. In this article I’m going to share with you what we are helping them with. There are Four Layers of Enterprise AI in a successful, high ROI […]

The Complexity of the COBOL Problem

IBM’s stock dropped 13% the day Anthropic announced a COBOL translation tool. The COBOL crisis is significant, but a translation tool is not the entire solution. It’s a part of a larger effort to preserve the efficacy of these critical systems while also having qualified operators. Jeana Bolanos · President, SalesE When Anthropic published a […]

You Already Have the Data. You’re Just Not Using It.

Distributors and manufacturers are sitting on years of untapped business intelligence. It’s in your inbox. Jeana Bolanos · President, SalesE When executives talk about AI, the conversation usually arrives at some version of: “We don’t have enough clean data.” It’s a common (and important) reason companies put off AI projects. There are two important classifications […]

Whitepaper: Legacy ERP Characterization

A Structured Framework for Documenting, De-risking, and Modernizing Around Legacy ERP Systems Joshua Bone Chief Technical Officer — SalesE Carl Hewitt Technology Architect — SalesE

70% of the World’s Mission-Critical Data Still Runs on COBOL

If your organization still runs core operations on COBOL or mainframe systems, you’re not behind nor are you alone. For decades, COBOL has quietly powered the most important systems in the world. Today, an estimated 70% of mission-critical business data and transactions still run through COBOL-based systems, including banking, insurance, government services, airlines, and global […]

Don’t Migrate Your ERP

There are many distributors and manufacturers that are using AS-400, equivalent legacy ERPs, or home-grown systems. And if you are still using these systems, it’s because you understand the pain and risk of transitioning an ERP. You have seen the disasters, you have seen people get fired for the mismanagement of this incredibly complex operations […]

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Resource War: The Battle for Memory

For decades, DRAM shortages followed a predictable script: overshoot, crash, recover, repeat. Demand spikes would hit, manufacturers would add capacity, and the market would flood with chips again. This time is different. At first glance, the global DRAM shortage may look like a typical semiconductor cycle, but it is actually one of the first pain […]

The Future of Electronics Distribution is in the Cloud(s)

AI has started to change distribution economics in ways the industry has never experienced. McKinsey estimates that end-to-end AI adoption can reduce inventory by as much as 30 percent, cut logistics costs by double digits, and drive major improvements in service levels and working capital efficiency. Across the broader supply chain, early adopters are seeing […]

Procurement in an AI World: A Field Guide for Distribution & Manufacturing Leaders

Procurement is a value engine under extreme pressure. McKinsey finds that managed spend per FTE is up ~50% vs. five years ago, while AI (including “agentic” systems) can lift procurement efficiency 25–40% if embedded correctly. Mature operating models correlate with ~5 percentage-point EBITDA impact. Yet core systems like P2P (Procure-to-Pay), SRM, and e-sourcing are still […]