How Distributors Can Prioritize Digital Projects: A Roadmap for the First 90 Days

Start fast: a pragmatic 90-day playbook for new VPs of Digital at B2B distributors

Pain point: You were hired to lead digital transformation, but leadership expects measurable ROI in months — not years. Internal teams are stretched, legacy systems fragment the customer journey, and procurement rejects long, risky programs. This prioritized 90‑day plan gives a VP of Digital a sequence of high-impact, low-friction projects that produce quick wins for B2B ecommerce and automation projects, with clear metrics to prove value.

Why speed matters in 2026 — and why now

In late 2025 and early 2026, the business landscape for distributors accelerated: generative AI improved product content generation, headless and composable stacks reduced implementation time, and automation platforms matured to enable low-code hyperautomation. Buyers demand self-service experiences and near-real-time order visibility. Against that backdrop, adding a VP of Digital is increasingly common — Border States’ 2026 appointment to lead B2B ecommerce and automation is one high-profile example of distributors making that bet.

Jason Stein, CIO at Border States, summarized the shift succinctly: the pace driven by technology and AI is unprecedented and requires bold leadership and a clear vision.

That mandate is exactly what a 90-day prioritized roadmap must deliver: fast, measurable wins that build trust, reduce friction, and create momentum for larger transformation.

Principles that guide this 90-day plan

• Prioritize impact per sprint: focus on projects with high customer or operational impact and low integration risk.
• Measure everything: define a North Star KPI up front (e.g., online revenue %, order cycle time, digital adoption rate) and tie each project to a metric.
• Use pilots and rollups: run small, controlled pilots with clear success criteria before scaling.
• Balance quick wins and foundation: deliver immediate value while investing a small portion of effort in architecture that avoids future rework.
• Govern for speed: set a simple steering committee and a weekly decision rhythm to remove blockers quickly.

Prioritization framework: Impact × Effort + Risk

Use a lightweight scoring model to rank candidate projects. For each proposed initiative, score:

1. Customer impact (1–5): revenue lift, improved retention, faster orders
2. Operational impact (1–5): headcount reduction, process time saved
3. Effort (1–5): dev hours, integrations, testing
4. Risk (1–5): compliance, data dependency, vendor maturity

Calculate a priority score: (Customer impact + Operational impact) / (Effort × Risk). Target the top 3–5 initiatives with the highest scores for the first 90 days.

90‑day roadmap: prioritized and prescriptive

The roadmap below allocates deliverables across 30/60/90 days with specific outcomes, KPIs and who needs to be involved. Each project is selected for fast deployment, measurable ROI, and minimal legacy-system overhaul.

Days 0–30: Stabilize, align, quick wins

• Executive alignment & North Star KPI (week 1)

  Get executive sign-off on one measurable North Star (e.g., increase online order volume by 20% in 12 months). Establish a weekly 30-minute steering meeting with Sales, Ops, IT, Finance and the VP of Digital.

  KPI: steering cadence established; North Star approved.

• Data triage & conversion leak analysis (week 1–2)

  Quickly audit analytics to find where digital revenue is leaking: category pages, search, product detail, cart, checkout. Use existing analytics (Google Analytics, server logs) and sales feedback to identify the top 3 conversion blockers.

  KPI: top 3 leak areas documented, baseline conversion rates recorded.

• Quick content lift: product data fixes and AI-assisted descriptions (week 2–4)

  Fix the 20% of SKUs that drive 80% of digital traffic using a PIM-lite approach and generative AI templates for descriptions. Enrich images, specs, and add cross-sell attributes.

  Outcome: improved discoverability and reduced RFQs to sales. KPI: product-page bounce rate, time-on-page, and add-to-cart uplift vs baseline.

• Checkout simplification (week 2–4)

  Implement two no-code/low-code checkout optimizations: enable quick-order (SKU list upload) and optimize guest-to-account conversion paths. If the platform supports punchout, enable at least one major buyer for testing.

  KPI: checkout completion rate improvement, reduction in cart abandonment.

• Order-tracking notifications (week 3–4)

  Automate order-status emails/SMS using an out-of-the-box automation tool or ERP event feed. This reduces inbound status calls and increases customer satisfaction quickly.

  KPI: inbound order-status calls reduced, CSAT on order updates.

Days 31–60: Pilot, measure, and expand

• Launch a targeted ecommerce pilot (week 5–8)

  Choose a single high-value vertical or customer cohort (e.g., utility contractors). Configure catalog, pricing, and customer-specific rules. Run a 6–8 week pilot with 10–20 customers.

  KPI: pilot adoption rate, average order value (AOV), frequency of orders, and digital % of total orders for cohort. Success threshold predefined (e.g., 30% of cohort places repeat orders online).

• Automate an internal process with RPA/automation (week 5–8)

  Target an invoice-matching or PO-to-invoice process that currently consumes FTE hours. Implement an RPA or workflow automation with clear time-saved metrics.

  KPI: hours saved per month, error rate reduction, cost per invoice processed.

• Pricing and quoting quick-win (week 6–9)

  Deploy dynamic pricing rules for online-only SKUs or implement a lightweight CPQ rule for the pilot cohort to speed quotes. Focus on rules that don't require core ERP rework (e.g., discount matrices, margin guardrails).

  KPI: quote-to-order time reduced, win rate improved for quoted deals.

• Customer self-service portal MVP (week 7–9)

  Deliver the minimum viable portal features: order history, reorder, invoices, and returns initiation. Use a headless or modular portal layer to avoid heavy ERP customizations.

  KPI: percentage of service requests resolved via portal, CSAT for digital service.

Days 61–90: Scale and solidify ROI

• Scale winning pilots and harden integrations (week 10–12)

  Roll out the successful ecommerce pilot to additional verticals, and replace point integrations used in pilots with hardened API connectors or middleware for reliability.

  KPI: rollout cadence, increase in digital adoption, reduction in manual order entry.

• Supply chain automation: prioritized EDI/API modernization (week 10–12)

  Modernize the most-critical EDI flows by introducing an API gateway or integration platform as a service (iPaaS). Start with order acknowledgements and ASN (advance ship notice).

  KPI: time to process supplier acknowledgements, inventory accuracy, on-time delivery improvements.

• Embed analytics & ROI dashboard (week 11–12)

  Deliver a simple executive dashboard that shows the North Star KPI plus the performance of each initiative (revenue uplift, cost savings, time saved). Drive monthly reporting into the steering committee.

  KPI: dashboard in place, positive ROI signals for at least 2 projects.

• Roadmap & funding request for next 12 months (week 12)

  Use pilot results to build a prioritized 12‑month roadmap and a funding ask. Include scenarios: conservative, expected, and aggressive — each tied to projected ROI and headcount changes.

  KPI: roadmap approved, funding committed for prioritized projects.

How to calculate ROI for quick wins (practical formulas)

Make ROI calculations simple and defensible. Use a 12-month horizon for pilots that scale. Two practical examples:

1. Ecommerce conversion lift

   Baseline monthly online revenue = R0. Pilot conversion uplift = Δ% over baseline. Incremental monthly revenue = R0 × Δ%. Annualized incremental revenue = 12 × (R0 × Δ%). Net incremental profit = annualized incremental revenue × gross margin. Subtract implementation cost and incremental variable costs to get payback period.

2. Automation time savings

   Time saved per month (hours) × fully loaded hourly cost = monthly labor saved. Annual labor savings minus annual subscription cost = net annual benefit. Compare to one-time implementation to compute payback months.

Pilot design and success criteria

Every pilot should have:

• Clear objective (what metric will move)
• Baseline measurement
• Success threshold (quantitative)
• Minimum viable scope
• Rollout criteria and timelines

Example pilot success criterion: for the contractor cohort ecommerce pilot, achieve a 25% increase in repeat order rate and at least a 20% conversion rate in the first 8 weeks.

Hiring, governance and vendor vetting checklist

VP of Digital success depends on the right team and partners. Use this concise checklist during hiring and vendor selection:

• Hire for delivery and influence: product and program delivery experience, P&L-minded, with ERP and commerce integrations background.
• Vendor POC criteria: time-to-value, reference customers in distribution, out-of-the-box connectors to your ERP, security/compliance attestations (SOC2), SLA terms.
• Procurement must require: proof-of-concept scope, termination and data exit clauses, performance SLAs, and an implementation timeline with milestones tied to payments.
• Data governance: define a small cross-functional data council to own product master, pricing rules, and identity resolution for customers.

Common pitfalls — and how to avoid them

• Pitfall: chasing shiny, high-effort features. Fix: stick to your prioritization framework and require pilot ROI criteria.
• Pitfall: lack of executive sponsorship. Fix: tie the North Star KPI to a senior sponsor’s quarterly goals.
• Pitfall: underestimating change management. Fix: allocate a small change budget for training, internal comms, and early adopter incentives.
• Pitfall: legacy system constraints. Fix: use middleware and headless front-ends to decouple digital experience from core ERP modernization timelines.

Scorecard: what success looks like at 90 days

• North Star KPI trend shows measurable improvement (early signal: positive direction within 90 days).
• At least two implemented quick wins with documented KPIs and positive payback projections.
• Pilot cohorts showing repeat online order behavior or measurable time savings from automation.
• A clear, funded 12-month roadmap approved by leadership based on pilot results.

Advanced strategies and 2026 trends to fold into your next wave

Once quick wins prove value, plan the next wave with these 2026-forward strategies:

• Generative AI for catalog scale: automate high-quality product copy, spec normalization and attribute mapping at scale while maintaining validation gates.
• Composable commerce & headless CX: accelerate UX experiments by decoupling front-end channels from backend logic.
• Data mesh for product and customer domains: federated ownership reduces central bottlenecks and speeds up enrichment cycles.
• Hyperautomation: combine RPA, workflow, and AI decisioning to automate end-to-end processes like PO-to-fulfillment.
• Marketplace and ecosystem plays: explore supplier portals and two-sided marketplace pilots to increase assortment without inventory risk.

Real-world example: how Border States framed the role

Border States’ 2026 appointment of a VP focused on digital transformation underscores the modern mandate: accelerate B2B ecommerce, embed AI and automation, and generate measurable returns. Use that public example as a governance model — name a single executive accountable for measurable outcomes, give them direct access to CIO/CEO, and grant a 90-day runway to show traction.

Actionable takeaways — your immediate checklist

1. Set a single North Star KPI and a weekly steering cadence in week 1.
2. Run a 30‑day discovery to identify the top 3 conversion leaks and fix the highest-impact product data issues.
3. Deploy 1–2 automation quick wins (order notifications, invoice processing) to reduce manual work immediately.
4. Launch a focused ecommerce pilot for one vertical with pre-defined success criteria.
5. Build an ROI dashboard and secure funding for the 12-month roadmap by day 90.

Final checklist (30/60/90 condensed)

• 30 days: North Star set, analytics baseline, product-data lift, checkout & order-status automations live.
• 60 days: Pilot live with cohort, RPA process automated, CPQ/price rules tested.
• 90 days: Pilots scaled, integrations hardened, ROI dashboard delivered, roadmap funded.

Call to action

If you’re the new VP of Digital or a distributor sponsoring the role, follow this prioritized 90‑day roadmap to generate measurable ecommerce and automation ROI quickly. Want a ready-to-use scorecard, ROI templates, and a 30/60/90 task list tailored to distributors? Contact our team to download the free 90‑day playbook and schedule a 30-minute readiness review.

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