The Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) announced that ComCept has joined the association as a corporate member.

Founded in 1986 by Glenn Atwell, the company is based out of Seminole, Fla., and has built distribution management solutions for U.S. paint jobbers for almost 40 years. These include National Coatings & Supplies/Single Source, Painters Supply and Equipment Co., Colours and many more. Most of ComCept’s 16 employees have worked with the company for 20-plus years.

Rob Gamble, CTO of ComCept Solutions’, said that the business’s software provides paint, body and equipment (PBE) distributors several ways to add value to their customers’ shops, including perpetual inventory control, automated replenishment and reporting. 

About five years ago, a ComCept customer wanted to integrate with a shop’s accounting system using BMS-formatted data. 

“ComCept hadn’t interacted with body shop management systems at that time, so it was a relief to see industry standards in place for data exchange,” said Gamble. “Ultimately, the project didn’t go through, but we learned about CIECA and its role in creating standards for the collision industry ecosystem.”

Atwell said that becoming a CIECA member will broaden the company’s knowledge and enhance its toolset to build additional offerings that will help differentiate ComCept distributors from those using other systems.

In today’s digitally connected world, Gamble said that no system stands alone.

“Systems integration is the lifeblood of an industry, and standards bodies make these integrations possible,” he said. “We expect to enjoy completeness and consistency in our future integrations because of the work CIECA has done in standardizing interchange formats.”

Gamble and the team are looking forward to networking with other CIECA members and discussing data usage and challenges.

For more information on CIECA, visit cieca.com