Success Stories

Non-Destructive Testing

Customer: JME

What we did: Implemented K8LV

Site link: www.jme.co.uk

X-ray leader upgrades its software for improved customer service and reduced costs

JME, the market leader in manufacturing and supplying precision X-ray inspection systems for the non-destructive testing (NDT) industry, recently upgraded to the latest version of K8LV from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). K8LV is an ERP system that offers a comprehensive range of modules to help manufacturing businesses track and trace their stock and communicate across all parts of their operation in real time. Implemented in 2020, JME opted to upgrade K8LV to drive efficiencies and help provide better customer service.

Based in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and with over 35 years of experience in the NDT industry, JME has developed a reputation for excellence and high performance. Their delivery and support of industry-leading products like DXB:1 and Betatron, along with their Pipeline Crawler and food inspection systems such as the DFR:1 System, ensure companies can complete inspection activities effectively and efficiently.

Supporting the different precision systems used by multiple customers has meant that JME holds millions of pounds in stock at any given time. Understandably, given the precise nature of their industry, JME must support the products efficiently and adapt to changes when specific system components become obsolete.

‘Managing our stock has become quite a task over the years,’ explains Josh Leech, JME’s Global Sales Manager from their Lowestoft headquarters. ‘And as we’ve developed as a business, our needs have grown to include automated real-time reports and notifications. To streamline our performance and respond to customers quicker, we felt it necessary to upgrade to the latest version of K8LV.’

Since the upgrade, Josh and his team have driven many improvements and efficiencies across their business. For example, the latest version of K8LV allows companies to structure permissions and access controls according to what staff can do within their department. Purchasing rights can apply to staff who need that permission, as well as more bespoke responsibilities, and the easy assignment of these helps JME create a more streamlined and efficient operation.

But, as Josh explains, the area of quote stages and the ability to maintain notifications have made the most noticeable improvement.

‘There were quite a few admin steps we’ve removed by using quote statuses in K8LV to automatically send emails to the relevant staff members depending on the status,’ Josh explains. As a result, such functionality has not only saved JME time but it’s also improved communication between departments. For example, if JME receives a PO while still awaiting payment, they can change the quote status to say the PO is received and pending settlement. This functionality gives JME’s production teams that extra bit of notice, which helps them keep their lead times down.

Josh explained that they can now send production a notification to say an order is incoming, whereas, before the upgrade, it might turn up without prior notice. Such an innovation has improved communications and smooth-running efficiency across JME’s business as they can manage the steps involved in maintaining notifications and inform key staff of the different quote stages for streamlined performance.

Producing accurate reports instantly for each department has also been another game-changer. After all, with so many departments and product lines, it’s essential management can keep on top of the details in each one. Naturally, this is where K8LV’s automated reports have saved vast amounts of time and expense.

‘There’s much more transparency across the business,’ highlights Josh, ‘which helps managers because these automated report processes ensure accuracy. Also, if you get new people in, we don’t have to explain how to produce the reports or worry about new trainees forgetting vital details. The reports synchronise in real-time across departments, so we get an accurate picture without adding to the workload or spending extra time and money on training. Now we can produce insightful and accurate reports at the touch of a button.’

Of course, sustainability is a crucial concern for responsible businesses, so Josh and the JME team are happy with the efficiencies and waste-cutting measures K8LV has helped them make. ‘Such transparency between sales and processing has helped us cut down on shipping and helped us better manage orders. But, similarly, because we’ve now got automated stock control reports, we’re not ordering last minute. Therefore, we’re saving money on shipping and ordering less frequently – all because we can see what’s coming up.’

‘We’re proud to partner with JME as they continue on their digitisation journey with the latest version of K8LV,’ says James Mitchell, Managing Director of KCS for the UK and Ireland. ‘We’re constantly developing our products to answer the specific needs of our customers, and we’re delighted to see that JME is using KCS products to see sustainability and profitability go hand in hand.’

For more information, visit kerridgecs.co.za or jme.co.uk

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Actsys  IT & Office

Ark Trading  Builders Merchants

Retailers

The future looks bright as Toy Kingdom’s empire grows

In 1988, Toy Kingdom opened their first store in Sea Point, Cape Town. Then known as Peggity’s Toy Store, they have moved to the V&A Waterfront in 1996, where they’ve since become an institution for locals and tourists.

In 2006, an opportunity came about to open an emporium store in the V&A Waterfront, and a year later, the first Toy Kingdom store came to life. Currently, they have 24 stores across Gauteng, Durban, and Cape Town and they stock a wide range of products, which includes: action figures, dolls, arts and crafts, kids’ electronics, educational games, and more.

In previous years they didn’t have an ERP system in place, and needed a solution that is affordably-priced, with global support that has a substantial local presence. The features most crucial during their decision-making process, was to have best-in-class POS, CRM, and Stock Management capability.

As a result of implementing KCS’ Retail solution, Toy Kingdom experience the following benefits:

• Accurate recording of transactions.
• Ease-of-use.
• Great service by the KCS Support team.
• Repeat business, because of effective loyalty communications to their customer database.

KCS looks forward to our continued collaboration with Toy Kingdom, and remain committed to supporting their business objectives.

For more information about Toy Kingdom, please visit: https://toykingdom.co.za/

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Fine Fragrance Retailers

Abhani Commercial Ltd Retailers

Rental

Kempston Group chooses inspHire as their preferred rental software solution

Established in 1973, the Kempston Group offers a broad spectrum of specialised services. Over the years, they have grown from a basic operation in East London, to having branches country-wide, that employ over 4 000 staff members.

The group have diversified their interests and now operates in sectors outside of the transport arena including: logistics, financial services, contract cleaning services, recruitment, fuel, retail and agricultural machinery.

Over 4 decades of operations, Kempston have made their mark in various South African industry sub-sectors, by consistently tailoring their service spectrum to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. In 2006, the Clark forklift range was introduced as part of Kempston’s service offering, to ensure that customers have an even wider range of quality solutions to choose from.

Kempston needed a hire management solution to meet their business needs

Previously, Kempston had an in-house system that was designed for their Truck Hire division. The system had no direct features or benefits relative to their Material Handling division. They were looking for a simple, easy-to-use software solution to streamline the processes of their forklift fleet operations.

inspHire was the answer…

Since using inspHire, the Kempston Group have enjoyed the following benefits:

• Control over invoicing.
• Centralised information on their fleet (including service, repairs, and maintenance history).
• Easy access to reports, as and when required by Management.

The future of inspHire’s partnership with Kempston Group is bright, and we look forward to a strong continued alliance, in support of their operations.

For more information about the Kempston Group, please visit their website: https://kempston.co.za/

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Kwick Access Rentals Rental

Bearing Man Fixtures & Fastenings

Retailers

Fine Fragrance partners with KCS for enhanced stock management and reporting

In 2014 two friends, Simon and Grant, decided to launch a website to wholesale and retail generic designer perfume. By challenging convention and not following perfume pricing monopolies, they established a price point suited to their market, and the business gradually started to grow. Over the years they expanded into retail stores, kiosks, and eventually a shared warehouse.

COVID-19 presented its own challenges for the business in terms of product distribution and sales, but like entrepreneurs are often required to do, Simon and Grant retained their innovative thinking. An additional price drop and a pop-up sale in a shopping center, helped to carry the business and expose them to new market audiences. Currently, Fine Fragrance stocks a range of 20 men’s’ and 20 ladies’ fragrances. They have 27 shops and kiosks in the major provinces, and deliver throughout South Africa.

In previous years, Fine Fragrance didn’t have an ERP solution in place, and they were introduced to the KCS team through an acquaintance. They required a functional solution that could support a wide area network of stores, matched their budget, has a POS functionality, and Head Office module. Because of the extensive network they manage, keeping record of all business activities is also crucial.

Benefits of the KCS Retail solution, that Fine Fragrance enjoys:

• Great functionality, within the company’s budget.
• Improved performance of warehousing and inventory management.
• Enhanced stock control at central and store-level.
• Increased profit margins, due to improved processes.
• Extensive reporting functionality, which provides total visibility of overall business performance.

The KCS team wishes to thank Fine Fragrance for the great partnership, and we look forward to many years of collaboration and growth for their business.

For more information about Fine Fragrance, please visit: www.finefragrancecollection.com

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Abhani Commercial Ltd Retailers

Solomons Fashion & Décor  Retailers

Rental

Customer: Kwick Access Rentals

Site link: kwickaccess.co.za

Kwick Access Rentals raise their game with inspHire’s award-winning software

Kwick Access Rentals provide contractors working at height all the relevant assets they need. The business has an ambitious team and aims to be the largest female-owned and operated rental company in Africa. Such clear vision and commitment to quality, prompted them to sign with inspHire in November 2021.

Since then, they’ve used the award-winning plant, tool and equipment hire software to fully digitise their fleet and further enhance their service.

Highlights

• Ability to access K8 remotely and continue trading off-site
• Improved product margins allow more informed customer pricing
• Batch invoice processing is now around four times faster
• Enhanced stock reporting to identify slow-moving items

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Actsys IT & Office

Bearing Man  Fixtures & Fastenings

Retailers

Abhani Commercial Limited Invests in IQ Retail to Streamline their Operations

Abhani Commercial Ltd, a second-generation family-owned business, offer general hardware-type products with a specialist focus on plumbing solutions. The industry-leading hardware business run a central operation, with a large warehouse and trading branch in Mombasa, Kenya, supplying products throughout the country and have been doing so for over 35 years.

Traditionally Abhani relied on manual processes to manage their operations. Given the way the world is going, Abhani realised a need to move over to a more digital way of running their business.

Additionally, as they grew, they required instant access to real-time stock levels. IQ Retail seemed to tick all the boxes and offered all the features that Abhani was looking for, in addition to having a good reputation and offering a cost-effective solution.

Since they moved over to IQ Retail, they had instant access to relevant sales data and stock levels, without having to physically be on the premises and without human resource.

IQ POS’s bespoke functionality has provided Abhani Commercial Ltd with:

• Reconciliation of stock quantity movement
• Email statements and invoices to customers
• Customised reports and advanced filtering engine

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Rene Mariane  Apparel and Footwear

Solomons Fashion & Décor  Retailers

IT & Office

Customer: Actsys

Site link: www.actsys.co.za

Actsys, first Kerridge Commercial Systems customer in SA to adopt latest ERP system

Actsys, one of the first business in the world, and the very first business in South Africa, to adopt Kerridge Commercial Systems’ latest and most up to date flagship ERP System, K8 Babbage.

Actsys was established 28 years ago and offers leading edge products & technology that enables modern day connectivity in various sectors. Some of Actsys’ products include cable and wireless solutions such as Commscope, as they are a distributor for Netconnect (krone), as well as various data solutions, fibre solutions, security solutions, backup power, solar, instrumentation & control, and a variety of other solutions for telephone, network cabinets, active equipment, test equipment, labelling, fire, health & safety, audio & visual, hardware, tools and routing requirements.

Actsys’ products are suitable for different types of environments, whether that be in the ground, in buildings or even through the air.

Lance Govender, owner of Actsys, joined the family business 5 years ago and aspires for Actsys to play a pivotal role in the ICT sector for enterprises of all sizes.

Actsys implemented K8, which is Kerridge Commercial Systems' flagship ERP system, in 2018.

Highlights

• Ability to access K8 remotely and continue trading off-site
• Improved product margins allow more informed customer pricing
• Batch invoice processing is now around four times faster
• Enhanced stock reporting to identify slow-moving items

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Ark Trading  Builders Merchants

Bearing Man  Fixtures & Fastenings

Fixtures & Fastenings

Customer: Olympic Fixings

Site link: www.olympicfixings.com

Gains and benefits

Vecta, the on-line sales analytics and CRM solution, has enabled Paul Gordon, managing director of Olympic Fixings, to spend more time managing and directing his business - rather than chasing data!

Olympic Fixings was founded in 1989 and supplies British and Irish merchants from distribution centres in Accrington and Bangor with over 3,500 catalogued and stocked SKUs. A trusted brand among electrical wholesalers, tool and plant hire businesses, builders’, plumbers’ and agricultural merchants, the Olympic product offering includes all types of fixings, drill bits and blades, cutting and abrasive products, hand tools, sealants and cleaning products. Customers are served by a 20-strong, highly experienced field sales team and can also use the company’s online catalogue that shows their own negotiated prices.

Vecta stores a company’s data in the cloud and is accessible by sales and management teams over the internet. Uniquely, it combines transactional data from a company’s ERP system with customer and contact records to deliver an instant and comprehensive picture of performance, margins and opportunities directly to desktops, tablets or smartphones.

“Our sales team were previously using manual systems to report and record their activity,” said Paul, “so effectively we had no visibility from a CRM perspective. We had recently upgraded our ERP, which enabled us to integrate with a CRM system and so we looked closely at three providers. In addition to the functionality Vecta gave us, we discovered it was also successfully integrated with another user of our ERP system and this proven link gave us extra confidence in its implementation.”

Vecta has revolutionised the ability to capture customer information at Olympic. Paul said, “Before Vecta, the only thing we knew internally about our customers was where to send their invoice! Now we have several thousand email addresses and we’ve been able to engage in direct marketing campaigns to key customer contacts where we send special offers and get orders in return! Previously the only way we sold was through direct selling from the rep, so Vecta has facilitated a more multi-channel approach.”

Results:

• Vecta has enabled multi channel selling with direct mail campaigns resulting in orders by return
• Managers now investigate variants themselves rather than asking colleagues to create reports for analysis
• Vecta delivers link and upselling opportunities, as well as gap analysis and customer branch comparison data
• Variances can be investigated quickly using Vecta’s margin report

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Automotive Aftermarket

Customer: Kalundu Trading

Site link: www.ktr-sa.co.za

Challenge

Kalundu Trading, established in 1976, specialises in the import, export and distribution of starter motors, alternators and associated spare parts. They are a key supplier to major distributors and wholesalers throughout the world.

Kalundu Trading is a long-standing client of KCS and approached KCS with a request for a hosted solution that could alleviate the risks and concerns associated with the maintenance, administration and monitoring of their on-premise ERP system. Due to the age of their hardware, the possibility of data-loss was becoming a risk which could result in system down time and loss of productivity, which would be costly to recover from.

KCS offered a hosted solution, K-Cloud, that drastically decreased the expenditure associated with non-hosted solutions, such as capital costs of hardware as well as payroll costs of IT staff members.

K-Cloud provides a very secure offering with the ability to actively monitor processes and back-ups which was an important requirement in Kalundu Trading’s decision-making process.

Patrick Schärer, Managing Director of Kalundu Trading said; “It was of great concern that our business was at risk due to our outdated server. As our business continues to grow, we need to ensure that we are able to securely store our data so that we can remain operational with no down time. K-Cloud offered us a unique solution that ensures our business remains operational under all circumstances”.

Key benefits

• Comprehensive stock reporting
• Real time access to actual data and performance
• Customised reporting capabilities
• Drill down functionality to manage inventory and employees
• Reliable and accurate management reporting

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Retailers

Customer: Beauty Zone

Site link: www.facebook.com/beautyzoneSA

Retail Solution

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) is pleased to announce that Beauty Zone has gone live with its first pilot of our latest ERP Retail solution ‘K8 Retailer’.

K8 Retailer is a full system integration of our flagship ERP solution; K8 combined with our robust retail management solution; Retailer.

K8 Retailer offers an extensive front end retail environment with off-line capabilities available through Retailer and the complete ERP solution offered in K8. Transactions completed on the Retailer front end are fed into K8 and the appropriate K8 tables updated, this includes cash sales and cash refunds. The K8 Retailer integration engine facilitates the automatic synchronisation of all files - this process is fully automated.

K8 Retailer enables retail operations, warehouse and distribution management and financials to work coherently as one integral solution for any complex retail environment.

Ishrat Dastagir, IT Executive commented; “Beauty Zone came on board as the first pilot site for K8 Retailer as we required a solution that was capable of managing a complex multi-branch business. Due to our store locations and down time that we experience as a result of poor network infrastructure, the offline capability of the solution was a key determining factor”.

Beauty Zone, an established FMCG retailer in KwaZulu Natal, offer an extensive range of beauty, health and well-being products, including a range of traditional / natural medicines for all types of ailments.

Beauty Zone houses approximately 15,000 items, across 26 stores, with an exciting expansion plan well into the future. Their distribution centre is estimated at 2500sqm and holds an extensive range of stock. Their business is synonymous for very high transaction volumes with competitively priced items. Their smaller stores average a minimum of 1400 transactions daily while their larger stores reach an average of 50,000 transactions daily.

Key Benefits

• Improved performance of warehousing and inventory management.
• Improved control of stock at central, regional and branch level.
• Boost profit margins and reduce costs through improved processes.
• Continued trade during offline periods with secure tracking of offline transactions.
• Drill down functionality and extensive reporting functionality gives total visibility of overall business performance.

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Solomons Fashion & Décor Retailers

Retailers

Customer: Carrol Boyes Retail (Pty) Ltd

Site link: carrolboyes.com

Gains and benefits

Carrol Boyes is the founder, creator and CEO of Carrol Boyes Retail (Pty) Ltd in Cape Town. Her high-end deftly crafted and coveted product range of upmarket home and lifestyle products is associated with inimitable and unique design that exudes style and finesse and are available throughout South Africa and in over 30 other countries around the world.

Establishing a strategic partnership with KCS in 2009, Carrol Boyes opted to implement the KCS Retail solution to her existing store base at the time, which comprised of a centralised head-office and 9 stores.

Carrol Boyes commented; “The system we were using at that point was not working for us in spite of promises made by the developers. The KCS Retail solution offered everything that we needed – live movement of data, up to date reporting across all transactions, stock management and control of pricing.”

The Carrol Boyes store base has now grown to an impressive 22 stores. Carrol Boyes added; “The main attraction for us is the flexibility to add stores as our requirements grow. The addition of stores is a seamless process. As per the norm, retail has a continuous turnover of staff which means that we continually need to train new staff. The system is user-friendly, resulting in shorter training time for staff. It allows us to monitor performance of each branch, product line and individual sales people.”

Key Facts

• Offline trading
• Multi-branch reporting
• Stock management
• Suggested replenishment

The KCS Retail solution is designed to fulfill the requirements of retailers that have multiple stores with varied locations and retail complexities. It supports inventory management for both stores and central warehouses, enabling retailers to easily expand their retail operations.

Carrol Boyes noted; “The most important aspect of any system is the ability to continue trading when connectivity is lost. The off-line capability of the KCS Retail solution allows us to be confident that no data will be lost while connectivity is down. As soon as connectivity is restored, all transactions are filtered and available at head office”

Carrol Boyes concluded; “Implementing the KCS Retail solution has resulted in us having daily live data at our fingertips which in this day and age is vital in our decision making as trends and designs continue to change”.

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Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Spec-Cast Wear Parts

Site link: www.spec-cast.co.za

Gains and benefits

Spec-Cast Wear Parts has nearly tripled in size since 2015, therefore they required a system that could better manage their operations and financials. K8 provides the support for further growth of the business with a system that will offer the controls and efficiencies required.

Spec-Cast Wear Parts (Pty) Ltd was founded in 1986, specialising in the manufacture and supply of patterns and casting to the railway industry with replacement parts for coaches, wagons and locomotives. In 2005, Spec-Cast launched a new division - Spec-Cast Wear Parts (Pty) Ltd, supplying replacement wear parts for the construction, mining and agriculture sectors.

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) first established a strategic long-term relationship with Spec-Cast Wear Parts in 2015. Spec-Cast Wear Parts realised the need for a comprehensive, fully integrated ERP system after experiencing exponential growth in the business. K8 will be replacing their legacy system, which Spec-Cast felt lacked efficient stock management functionality causing unnecessary duplication of work.

Tiaan Grobbelaar, Sales Director at KCS said "We look forward to working with Spec-Cast Wear Parts and offering them the same value and expansional growth which we continue to offer our current customers. With more than 40 years in the industry, we have no doubt that Spec-Cast Wear Parts and KCS will continue to grow together".

Client Focus

• Full real-time integration with K8 ERP
• Customers can source own account information and pricing
• Immediate visibilty of customer orders
• Immediate access to product detail

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Trading Depot Builders Merchants

Bearing Man Fixtures & Fastenings

Builders Merchants

Customer: Trading Depot

Site link: www.tradingdepot.co.uk

Gains and benefits

Trading Depot, the online trading sister company to Grant & Stone, offers more than 48,000 product lines to a loyal and growing customer base who maintain its ‘excellent’ rating on Trustpilot, the online review community. The company supplies plumbing and electrical products, sanitaryware, flooring, PVC windows and doors, some heavyside materials such as paving and more than 30,000 tools.

“We’re seeing huge growth,” said Trading Depot General Manager Darren House. “While around 70% of our customers are homeowners, the remaining 30% are tradesmen who are happier shopping in an online environment today than they were 10 years ago. Although we don’t offer trade accounts, we offer a choice to builders who are looking for a keener price and are happy to wait a day or two for their delivery. We also offer a click and collect service from our warehouse. I like to think there’s a traditional merchant feel about the business as we offer great customer service including technical support over the phone at pre-purchase stage.”

At the front end of Trading Depot’s business is a Magento eCommerce platform that interfaces directly with their ERP system - K8 - a solution developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems. As each order is placed, the data is drawn into K8 and, if the product is in stock, a pick note is automatically produced in the warehouse and data sent to the labeller ready to print.

Before going live on K8 in April 2017, the team at Trading Depot had to manually re-key orders in to their legacy ERP system. “It was a really cumbersome process,” said Darren. “We used to print out the orders from Magento and, while one member of staff spent all day re-keying them into the old system, another used to type out the labels! We were working on two totally separate systems and only able to process around 50 – 80 orders each day. Plus, there was a high risk of making errors when retyping postcodes and product codes etc. We upgraded for a short while to exporting orders from Magento on CSV files every couple of hours, and then importing them to the old system. But the process wasn’t reliable so we still printed them out and cross-referenced them manually!”

When Darren joined Trading Depot from sister company, Grant & Stone - which was implementing the K8 system across the group – a demo from KCS showed how upgrading to K8 could totally automate sales order processing. And, he was able to protect the investment Trading Depot had already made in Magento using K8’s Magento plug in. (Companies with no existing eCommerce platform can take advantage of KCS’s Web Builder when they implement K8. It’s a responsive eCommerce suite that enables the fast deployment of fully integrated online trading and a B2B online customer portal.)

The benefits were immediate. As orders come in from Trading Depot’s website or the company’s Amazon or eBay shop, they are automatically drawn into K8 and a pick note for goods in stock is processed with no human intervention. If part of the order is direct, a member of staff briefly intervenes to instruct K8 to send that part of the order directly to the supplier. On the old system the team had to type a separate email to the supplier along with the re-keyed customer information.

“Now that our Magento platform interfaces with K8, customers can see an accurate reflection of our stock levels,” explained Darren. “So many websites tell customers that products are in stock when in fact they’re not. This annoys customers who only find out after they’ve placed their orders, and end up waiting lengthy delivery times rather than risking not getting a refund. We like being straight with our customers and can now confidently show the actual stock position on around 80% of stock in our warehouse or held by manufacturers and other third party suppliers - and we’re working on increasing this figure.”

This new confidence has also enabled Darren to make shipping more profitable because knowing something is definitely in stock means he can offer and charge more for a premium next day delivery service. K8 also allows Darren to take advantage of ‘buy 10’ deals because purchasing and sales can be set up separately - unlike on the old system.

Further significant cost savings have been made from not having to replace the three staff lost due to natural wastage since the implementation of K8. “The business is now so streamlined we don’t need to replace them,” he said. “In fact turnover has doubled in the seven months since K8 was implemented and, although I can’t put that all down to K8, there’s no way we could have managed the current level of business using the old system.”

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Cape Garden Centre Home & Garden

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Retailers

Customer: Solomons Fashion & Décor

Site link: www.solomonsfashionanddecor.co.za

Gains and benefits

Solomons Fashion and Décor is the ultimate fashion and décor destination, offering a range of top quality local and imported fashion & décor labels, which promise to brand your world for less. Solomons’ legacy has been around since the early 1890’s and has since grown into a multi branch retailer with 5 other multi brand stores located in and around Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Estelle Nell, the systems project manager said “Due to Solomons’ growth, the need for a centralized head-office system became critical, as the stores were decentralized, making stock visibility and global reporting a huge challenge. A business of this size and nature needs to be able to manage stock effectively, have visibility of best performers and non-performers, and we need to be able to stock intelligently, based on the needs of our customers. Debtor’s management with revolving credit was a key requirement for us, as we have a base of loyal customers.”

Opting for the KCS Retail solution, Solomons will benefit from a comprehensive retail management solution that offers:

• Centralized head-office control
• Stringent security & permissions
• A user-friendly point of sale
• Full debtor’s management
• Revolving credit
• Emailing of statements
• Automated updates to head-office
• Global reporting on stock movement
• Accurate replenishment
• Consolidated management reports

Estelle continued to say “Selecting a new retail system has been a priority for a long time and after considering various options, we’re happy to be implementing the KCS retail solution in our stores.

We look forward to being a single integrated multi-store business, with head-office control in place, that has clear visibility of all activities in store, tracking our stock movement, stocking efficiently, and producing one set of management reports monthly.

In our stores we are hoping that the Retail solution’s user friendly interface will make the user acceptance process easier and faster. With the help of the KCS services team we look forward to a successful implementation and to Go Live.”

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Home & Garden

Customer: Cape Garden Centre

Site link: www.capegardencentre.co.za

Gains and benefits

Cape Garden Centre gained control over their sales and stock management processes by implementing the Kerridge CS (KCS) Retail solution.

Cape Garden Centre opened in 1996 and has evolved into the largest garden centre in the Western Cape. With 4 branches in Joostenbergvlakte, Stellenbosch , Somerset West and Vredendal, Cape Garden Centre carry a wide selection of plants, pots, pavers, water features, garden furniture and other garden décor for the whole family all year round. Cape Garden Centre did not have a sales and stock management system in place and with their growing business, the need for centralised control became more urgent.

They needed a robust yet user-friendly system that would encompass:

• Centralised control from head-office
• Detailed stock control
• Promotions management
• Pricing control
• Detailed reporting across all transactions

Christelle Smal, the Retail Manager at Cape Garden Centre said: “We knew we had to make the transition and the perfect time arrived when we opened our newest branch in Somerset West, where we first implemented the KCS Retail solution.”

Cape Garden Centre opted for KCS Retail due to its comprehensive retail management solution that is suited to the multi branch retail environment.

Built on a centralised head-office and featuring automated updates between branches and head-office, the KCS Retail solution offers clear visibility from a stock management, transaction records and reporting perspective. With its user-friendly point of sale interface, Cape Garden Centre were able to easily adopt the Retail solution into its various retail stores, allowing for seamless in store processes with stringent control and accurate reporting back to head-office, giving management the information they need to make informed business decisions.

Peter van Niekerk, Owner of Cape Garden Centre, commented: “The KCS Retail solution was an obvious choice due to the fact that the system suited our needs and was very well priced. It is also very user friendly and is backed up by an excellent support team, always standing by for any questions or queries which in our trade are essential to have.”

Christelle Smal concluded by saying: “At this current moment we do not have any plans in expanding but if an opportunity presents itself in the near future a retail system will be the least of our worries as we have everything we need and more in the KCS Retail solution.”

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Pet Masters Retailers

Rene Mariane Apparel and Footwear

Apparel and Footwear

Customer: Rene Mariane

Site link: www.renemariane.com

Challenge

Rene Mariane, an exclusive woman’s fashion label, chose to implement the KCS Retail solution as part of their plans to grow their business within the South African market.

Rene Mariane, a European based brand opened its first store in in Morningside Sandton in 2009. Irena Staneva, owner of Rene Mariane, contacted KCS for a solution, as she had plans to grow her business, but the current system she was using could not support her overall requirements. Irena commented “I need a system that will give me control over my stock, the ability to accept customer orders, lay byes, a loyalty programme, and good reporting.”

The KCS Retail solution is an end-to-end solution that combines point of sale functionality with stringent inventory management, a detailed colour and size matrix, vouchers, gift cards and a built-in loyalty system powered by comprehensive reporting that is automated and delivered directly to your inbox.

Irena needed to improve Rene Mariane’s overall business management, and selected the KCS Retail solution based on:

• Similar retailers recommended the KCS Retail solution
• The product offered all functional requirements as standard
• Centralised control, using the KCS Retail solution head-office module, meant that additional stores could be opened while stores could be managed from a single location
• Detailed reporting enabled clear visibility of each garment’s performance per colour and size
• The system proved to be user friendly, yet feature rich enough to provide the control that the business needed.

Nadine Durst, Sales Executive for KCS Retail commented, “During the implementation, Irena was extremely hands-on and assisted the KCS consultant with all the pre-implementation requirements that resulted in an efficient and timeous system conversion.” She further said that “Adding Irena’s new Menlyn store to her Morningside based head-office was just as seamless and it was up and running within a few hours.”

Gains and benefits

• The ability to see sales, by size and colour, allows for accurate stock replenishment
• Store staff can navigate the system with ease
• Clear visibility over all store activities

Irena said “I am very happy with the KCS Retail solution. It has given me the tools I needed to operate my business efficiently and has supported me in opening my Menlyn store within a few short months of implementing the system.”

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Carrol Boyes Retailers

Luminance Apparel and Footwear

Retailers

Customer: Pet Masters

Site link: www.petmasters.co.za

Challenge

Pet Masters implemented the Kerridge CS (KCS) Retail solution in 2013 and have been happy with the system and level of service received ever since!

Pet Masters, the largest pet retailer in Southern Africa, are synonymous with the supply of a variety of top end pet products, expert advice, toys, and livestock. Their head-office with on premise bird park is based in Boksburg. Customers can enjoy a quick bite to eat at their Blue Crane Tea garden while admiring a wide variety of birds.

Pet Masters has two additional stores, one in Alberton and the other in Pretoria, which also offer a great customer experience.

In 2013 Pet Masters began looking for a user-friendly retail system that would offer centralised control from their head-office, allowing them to save costs and aid their buying and replenishment process, as well as reward their customers with a loyalty programme. Functionalities like vouchers and gift cards, as well as accurate reporting, were also deemed important. The system that they had previously been using had become redundant and was not being developed or properly supported any further.

Financial Director, Roelof Coertse, selected the Kerridge CS Retail solution as their system of choice as it is built on a centralised head-office, with a user friendly point of sale interface, built in loyalty and gift card functionality, with suggested re-ordering for accurate replenishment. It gave them all the features a modern-day retailer should benefit from, like remote access as well as integrated EFT.

Gains and benefits

The Kerridge CS Retail solution enabled Pet Masters to:

• Increase store efficiency, thus improving the customer experience at store level
• Process and implement promotions and multibuys
• Improve stock management and replenishment, through consolidated stock reports
• Improve security on transactions through integrated EFT
• Capture customer data for the future implementation of the loyalty program
• Conduct accurate stock takes through the use of hand held scanners

Financial Director, Roelof Coertse said that “KCS catered to our requirements and understood our business well enough to add the value that was needed with their solution. KCS showed flexibility in their approach, the team was professional and delivered a seamless conversion.”

Customer loyalty is becoming increasingly important at Pet Masters and they look forward to implementing KCS’s loyalty functionality later this year. KCS’s product also offers time and attendance as part of its core functionality, which can also be used to authorise overrides and discounts, affording further control over the business, even when staff are not on site.

Pet Masters are, additionally, running with the Payroll & HR software offered by KCS which allows them to process payroll, payslips and reports, as well as SARS reconciliations. They have been able to do away with manual tax reconciliation and have replaced it with automated reconciliation. Through the Payroll solution offered by KCS, Pet Masters have been able to pay the right amount of money to the right people, at the right time.

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Luminance Apparel and Footwear

Solomons Fashion & Décor Retailers

Bathroom & Kitchens

Customer: Howdens Joinery

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.howdens.com

Howdens and Kerridge Commercial Systems – working together to build strong systems

A company that operates 642+ branches and manages 450,000 trade accounts clearly needs robust software to ensure sales are processed efficiently and inventory is managed visibly and accurately. Ten years ago Howdens Joinery chose K8, an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to replace its ageing legacy system. Since then the relationship between the two companies has evolved into a strong partnership that has seen the KCS team working closely with Howdens to help them achieve their business objectives and regular reviews to plan future strategic developments.

Howdens has a simple philosophy according to CIO Clive Cockburn. “We firmly believe that having a kitchen fitted by a trade professional is absolutely the best way of doing it. It’s a complicated process that can involve other trades like plumbing and electrical work. There can also be design changes made along the way. We’re therefore committed to providing a great service to local builders to ensure they always have everything they need in stock at their local depot, to support them as they work and to help them make money.”

Gains and benefits

• A strong ten year partnership between Howdens and KCS
• Fast order processing and clear visibility of stock
• Seamless integration with Howdens' manufacturing solutions
• A flexible system that suits Howdens' trading style and autonomous depots
• A scaleable solution used effectively across Howdens' 642+ depots

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Plumblink Plumbers & Heating

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Automotive Aftermarket

Customer: Elta Automotive

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.lucaselectrical.co.uk

Challenge

ELTA Automotive is a major component importer and distributor based in the West Midlands and holds the UK licence for the Lucas Electrical brand. Established in 1993, Elta supplies around 2,000 motor factors and accessory shops from its central warehouse in Coleshill.

Stuart recommended K8 to his managing director because, as well as being a system that was fast and easy to use, he liked how Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) was a ‘one product’ company, committed to developing its core K8 solution. He was also reassured by KCS’s automotive heritage and how several large companies in the industry were already using it successfully.

Gains and benefits

• There is now complete visibility of the supply chain.
• Customer service is improved through fast, accurate response to stock enquiries.
• Pick and stock adjustment errors are now minimal.
• Reversing costs when customers return products is easy.
• K8 helps the Elta team work faster and more efficiently.

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Allmakes 4x4  Automotive Aftermarket

Kalundu Trading  Automotive Aftermarket

Automotive Aftermarket

Customer: Amex Auto

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.amexautospares.com

Challenge

The automotive after-market in Kenya is fragmented and competition comes from one-branch businesses. Amex Auto have decided to invest in K8, a sophisticated ERP system, developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). K8 software will deliver the scalable technology they need as they grow from a small, family run business to a multi-branch operation. They are also planning to open 2 distribution centres later this year. The investment they have made in their team will also, they believe, provide a foundation to support their planned growth.

Established in 1988, the privately held company is led by husband and wife team, Sajni Shah and Devesh Patel, who are Co-CEOs. Sajni joined the company in 2013 and saw the potential to take the business to the next level. She moved the company head quarters from the town of Kisumu to the capital Nairobi and expanded to 4 branches. Over the same period of time, the team grew from 4 to 56.

K8 software will deliver the scalable technology they need as they grow from a small, family run business to a multi-branch operation.

Gains and benefits

• Real time access to actual data and performance
• The ability to better monitor the performance of each branch, product line and individual salespeople
• The capability to drill down to gross margins achieved for each product

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Allmakes 4x4  Automotive Aftermarket

Kalundu Trading  Automotive Aftermarket

Builders Merchants

Customer: Parkers Building Supplies

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.helpmebuildit.co.uk

Challenge

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) offers ‘cutting edge software for the merchant industry’, according to Ian Mitchell at Parker Building Supplies. Ian is Information Systems Manager at the leading independent and award winning timber and heavyside builders’ merchant.

The company was established in 1984, since when its philosophy has always been to offer high quality customer service backed up with good stock availability and an efficient delivery service. Today the company employs 280 people and trades from 25 locations across the South East.

“We have used K8 software since 2004,” said Ian. “At the time we needed to upgrade from our existing system to bring about a change of culture and KCS offered the best solution. Since then it has come on in leaps and bounds and we have continued to upgrade to the latest version each time a new version is cut.”

Gains and benefits

• K8 upgrade means sales team can access software remotely on their tablets.
• Web Builder will provide a portal for customers to access their accounts and print off invoices, PoDs etc
• Parker’s now able to plan a ‘click & collect’ service for the future
• An earlier upgrade delivered K8’s General Ledger - integrated with the trading system

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Ark Trading  Builders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Tiles

Customer: Tilespace

What we did: Upgraded K8

Site link: tilespace.co.za

Challenge

Tilespace has been a customer of Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) since 2010. They have two branches. Tilespace offers an unrivalled selection of exclusive, imported brands specialising in tiles, sanitary ware, taps and fittings. They recently upgraded from K8.07 to Babbage.

With an executive board counting on 75 years of collective industry experience and bolstered by dedicated and experienced management and staff, the collaboration has been dynamic earning TILESPACE a highly respected reputation in the marketplace. Management’s daily hands-on approach to the business has resulted in a culture of agility, intimacy and virtuosity breeding trust amongst key suppliers and long standing clients.

Gains and benefits

• The cashbook functionality added benefits
• Real-time posting of transactions allowing up to date account figures
• The new look and feel for the Babbage accounting module was a welcomed change
• Having a web based application where they are able to login to the system and do credit limit overrides on the go
• Data warehouse providing more in depth analysis of data

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Plumblink Plumbers & Heating

Beccles Tile Centre  Tiles

Tiles

Customer: Tileflair

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.tileflair.co.uk

Challenge

Tileflair has grown from a single branch business, established in 1972 and trading from a high street location, to the largest, privately owned wall and floor tile distributor in the South of England. The company operates a flagship store in Bristol plus nine other showrooms and two warehouses across south of England.

Tileflair’s managing director is Matthew Johnson. He said, “Our focus is on service which is reflected in our slogan, ‘Create something beautiful’. We make sure we provide a welcoming environment in all our stores so customers are inspired by our room settings and looked after by our staff who are helpful, knowledgeable and, most importantly, genuinely interested in what the customer wants.”

Matthew said that it’s often his trade customers, the fixers, who send in their clients to choose their tiles. He continued, “We also have to provide our trade customers with a service they can rely on. They need to trust us to get the right tiles to the right place at the right time. And this is where K8 software is really important. It enables us to provide that service.”

K8 was installed at Tileflair in 1998. Today there are 50 users and the system processes more than 300,000 transactions each year and holds nearly 13,000 product files. The initial need was for a system that could handle inter-branch trading and they could add branches to as the company grew. “Another reason we chose K8,” explained Matthew, “was because whatever you are doing on the system, you are always ready for a sale. You can keep the sales screen open and just flip back to it. Complete visibility of stock and the abilty to search for products and add them to an order so quickly and easily were other key benefits. It’s also very easy and intuitive to use.”

Gains and benefits

• Helps Tileflair provide a service that trade customers can rely on
• Handles inter-branch trading with the ability to add new branches as the company grows
• Lets the sales team access K8 on their iPads with customers in the showroom
• Helps the warehouse team plan the most efficient pick routes and measure productivity

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Plumblink Plumbers & Heating

Beccles Tile Centre  Tiles

Builders Merchants

Customer: Lawsons

What we did: Upgraded K8

Site link: www.lawsons.co.uk

Gains and benefits

The Lawsons Group operates 17 branches across London and the South East. The family owned company specialises in the supply of building materials, timber and loft conversion products. Jeremy Norris, Commercial Director, has been with the group for 22 years.

“We strive to provide the best equipment we possibly can for our staff - from the trucks they drive to the IT systems they use,” he explained.

K8 processes around 3,000 transactions each day for Lawsons and manages 8,000 customer accounts. The company was one of the earliest users of the software and switched to the system in 1999 when its previous provider couldn’t guarantee ‘year 2K’ compliance. The initial 40 user system has grown and there are now 190 K8 users across 17 sites. The IT team always upgrades to the latest version of the software as soon as it’s available.

“I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t upgrade.” said Jeremy Norris. “Firstly staff using the system have a level of expectation – they don’t want to work with green screens. Secondly there’s the business need. By upgrading we can always stay at the leading edge and make the most out of any new functionality. The latest version of K8 lets us produce management accounts with critical information - such as how much profit we’re making at each branch on a daily basis - in the fastest way possible.”

The last K8 upgrade also delivered two key features for Jeremy. The first being PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant chip and pin integration that will replace non-integrated PDQ machines. All card transactions can be processed directly in K8 using PODS that read the cards - leading to tighter security of transactions, fewer typing errors and quicker authorisations from the banks.

Another feature is K8’s new transport delivery management system that will deliver significant improvements in the operation of Lawsons’s fleet. Jeremy explained, “With two thirds of our £80M business turnover being delivered, we generate a lot of paperwork with the potential for mistakes. Our drivers will now be able to capture customer signatures on a hand held device and make any adjustments pertaining to the materials delivered, cutting out the paperwork and updating the system instantly with the correct details.”

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JHC Hardware  Builders Merchants

Ark Trading Builders Merchants

Timber Merchants

Customer: Manny's Timber and Hardware

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.mannystrusses.co.za

Using K8 adds real value to the business

Established in 1987, Manny’s Timber and Hardware’s initial focus was in the manufacturing of timber roof trusses. Today, they have grown into a major hardware and building materials supplier.

Manny’s Timber and Hardware has been with Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) for nearly 10 years. KCS South Africa implemented K8 ERP in September of 2006, the implementation decision being driven by the need to streamline manual processing together with the vast number of reports that can be exported or displayed reflecting real-time information.

Over the years Manny’s has found that K8 supported their growth and benefited them by providing them with improved reporting capabilities, management controls, stock management, and flexible sales & delivery methods.

Recently K8 completed the integration with their existing truss manufacturing software, enabling them to avoid recapturing sales orders on K8. Once the requirements and quantities are confirmed in the truss manufacturing software, all the information can be imported into K8 for further optimisation and invoicing.

Jenna Kyriakides, Financial Manager, said “We have a great relationship with Kerridge Commercial Systems, there is so much flexibility within the K8 system and we are always improving our system functionality with the KCS SA Team. We find the diversity of the sales & delivery methods most useful.”

Tiaan Grobbelaar, KCS Sales Manager commented “As we celebrate almost 10 years with Manny’s, we are appreciative of their support for us over the years. The K8 software will keep evolving, providing an even better timber and hardware solution to our customers. We look forward to the next 10 years of a mutually beneficial relationship with Manny’s and K8 supporting their business strategies”.

Company History

Manny’s Timber and Hardware was formed in 1987 and are well known throughout the industry as a leader in maintaining good quality standards. They are also one of the largest truss manufacturers in South Africa and have been voted the best in the industry.

Manny’s Timber & Hardware progressed towards the supply of hardware and building materials and continues to expand their wide variety of building supplies to the contractor as well as Do-It-Yourself. Their service offerings extend even further to include full onsite design and manufacture of kitchens and BICs.

Their professional services range from design estimating to feasibility studies, from small extension work to major contractual projects. Manny’s Timber & Hardware, situated in Brentwood Park, Benoni, is open to the public 7 days a week. Welcome to your one stop shop for all your building needs.

Gains and benefits

• Better Reporting Capabilities
• Better Controls
• Improved Stock Management
• Flexible Sales & Delivery Methods
• Integration with truss manufacturing software

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Howarth Timber Timber Merchants

Lawsons Builders Merchants

Distributors

Customer: Dickson Bearings and Transmissions

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: dicksonbearings.com

90 years in business, 30 years with Kerridge Commercial Systems

Dickson Bearings and Transmissions (Dickson); a third generation company, is one of Ireland’s leading distributors of industrial parts. Based in Dublin, Dickson are particularly proud of their heritage and customer service track record. Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) users since 1986, the company considers K8 an essential business tool; progressively developed and fully supported.

Setting the scene

With an inventory of 150,000 part lines, managing the correct depth and breadth of stock is key to Dickson’s operations. Across Ireland, more than 2,000 businesses rely on Dickson for high quality service, backed by technical expertise and experience. With the majority of customer orders relating to equipment breakdown; time is of the essence to have the correct parts on site without delay and for repairs to be carried out.

K8 working hard

Initiated by the purchase of some second-hand Wang hardware in the mid-1980s, Dickson became a KCS customer by a slightly unorthodox route. Since then, the company has grown considerably in terms of both customer base and product range. In parallel, Dickson has taken its systems forward through major releases; upgrading to K8 in 2007. Joint Managing Director, Ian Dickson, refers to K8’s role in the company: “Without K8, we wouldn’t have a business; the system is reliable, works well and easy to use. Compared with other systems we have seen, being able to navigate quickly between modules and applications is fundamental for us. As a small company, we only have 14 users; it’s vital that our sales staff can create and process orders quickly and seamlessly. Moreover, we appreciate that time is money for our customers and responsiveness is critical. The fact that K8 is used by several major companies in our sector is particularly reassuring.”

Finger on the pulse

In its fast-moving business Dickson uses K8 to keep a close watch on all the key metrics. The system’s dashboard presentation shows the latest sales order situation, revenue and profitability. “K8 holds a wealth of information that we can use to run daily operations and drive the business forward. We can see a snapshot of day-by-day and monthly sales with margin performance at any time - the Advanced Analysis tools are essential to keep us informed. Our field sales team also have access to a web-enabled detail report to keep them in touch with what’s going on. If they are going to see a customer, they are well briefed with the latest information from K8.”

Future plans

Dickson are certainly looking to the future, pushing forward with their use of K8, to improve efficiencies and drive profitable trading. “Our business has grown organically over the years, we manage our stock by adding to existing product and introducing replacements as the demand for older items falls away. K8 supports our purchasing; what we need, manage our pricing structure and although it’s not an exact science, there’s forecasting detail at our fingertips. It’s good to see new K8 developments coming through and that give us confidence for our future,” said Ian.

Highlights

• Essential business tool
• Progressive upgrades
• Proven and reliable software
• Easy to use and navigate
• Supports customer services

Results

• Enables ‘finger on the pulse’
• Tight stock control disciplines
• Aids efficient purchasing
• Effective pricing management
• Powerful advanced analysis
• Accessible dashboard detail
• Platform for development

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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FPS Distribution Distributors

Rock Trading Distributors

Builders Merchants

Customer: Ark Trading

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.facebook.com/ARKTradingNam

Challenge

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) is pleased to announce that Ark Trading Namibia is live on K8. Ark Trading was established in 1980, and is one of the oldest suppliers to the building trade in Windhoek Namibia. Ark Trading stocks everything from the spade to dig the foundation to the rolling ridge for the roof, including the nails and hammer to nail it in. They also supply sand, gravel and cement, doors, window frames, paint, plumbing supplies and sanitary ware.

Paul Koster bought the business in late 2015, and the Namibian Competition Commission awarded a last minute approval to him, to start trading from the 1st January 2016. Paul wished to start trading the new business on a new ERP system. This meant that the KCS team had to work under time constraints to configure the system. They pulled it off however, and the K8 system was live at the first week of trading.

Paul has had some previous experience on the trading side of K8. He contributed by helping his staff with training and supporting them with issues, in order to ensure a smooth go-live with minimal disruption to the business.

Ark Trading is looking forward to continuing to build the business partnership with KCS, and to using K8 to grow Ark Trading.

Tiaan Grobbelaar, Sales Manager at KCS, said “Thank you for entrusting us as the IT partner for your new business, we wish you best of luck with your new venture and we are sure that your business will thrive, and that K8 will support your current and future strategies.”

Risks were mitigated due to Ark Trading:

• Using the standard K8 printing templates, so minimum time was spent on setup and testing
• Allocating a strong internal team designated to the the project
• Having strong internal buy-in, and support from the staff for the new system
• Providing accurate master file and product data, with all relevant required information e.g PAC (product analysis codes), branch files and supplier details

Gains and benefits

As a result of the K8 ERP implementation, Ark Trading will realise the following efficiencies and benefits:

• Elimination of manual stock back-orders, more controlled and automated
• More efficient stock forecasting, improved lead times and estimates
• Able to manage direct deliveries on bulk building materials
• Better Customer service
• Better Stock tracking/management
• Better reporting, managing by exception

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Haldane Fisher  Builders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: Electro Tech

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.electrotechnam.com

In looking to move their business forward, Electro Tech has selected K8, the leading integrated business management solution

Electro Tech has been in operation since 1989, and is a wholesaler of quality electrical products. Their head office is based in Windhoek with branches in Prosperita, and Swakopmund.

Electro tech chose K8 because it was seen as the only system that could cater for all departments within their business. Currently Electro Tech is running three separate systems; A system for their retail department, one for their admin and another for their workshop.

The system will be hosted on premise and comprise of fifteen K8 users. Mr. Hardy Spoerer, Managing Director Says “We currently have to run multiple systems to manage the various aspects of our business. With K8, I can have one version of the truth. We will definitively also be utilizing the e-commerce product as soon as K8 has stabilized throughout the business."

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) will be installing one central consolidated system across all three branches that will help manage sales margin, and improve customer service. The sales staff will be able to view stock in the other locations while dealing with the customer. K8’s central forecasting tool will help Electro Tech stock more effectively, and will reduce stockholding. Buy outs functionality will improve their customer service and management.

The integration between sales and purchase control will ensure that an item is linked to a customer so it can’t end up as dead stock in the back of the warehouse. In addition, K8’s low bandwidth true thin client technology, means that branches in Prosperita and Swakopmund can connect without installing bigger internet connections or 3rd party middleware.

Tiaan Grobbelaar, Sales Manager of KCS South Africa commented: “K8 has had a long history of success in the electrical product distribution market sector. We are confident that Electrotech will thrive on our functionality rich ERP platform. K8 excels at multi-site trading and consolidation, giving customers and decision makers a singular view of stock, sales, financials and purchasing. We welcome Electotech to our ever growing Namibian family.

About Electro Tech

Their products range from low voltage distribution switchgear, motor control products, electronic soft starters, variable speed drives, programmable logic controller to control boards and automation systems.

In addition to their product supply, they also offer the following services; electric network analysing and reporting, UPS maintenance and repair, generator set maintenance and repair, low voltage distribution board design and manufacturing as well as electrical control board design and manufacturing.

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Easby Electronics  Electrical Wholesalers

Norbain Electrical Wholesalers

Builders Merchants

Customer: LSK Supplies

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.lsksupplies.co.uk

Leading Scottish ironmonger prepares for the future with K8

Established in 1999, LSK Supplies is a family-run architectural ironmonger and builders’ merchant. Scotland’s largest independent architectural ironmongers, the company has six branches in west central Scotland and two more branches opening early 2016. Serving both trade and retail customers LSK focusses on delivering a positive customer experience. The company selected K8 to support future growth, opting for a cloud-based solution to minimise IT overheads.

The need for a new system

LSK’s previous system had served the business well - the software managed the core processes for selling, purchasing and stock control. However, LSK had developed and required a system that was more future-proof. The company needed an advanced, fully integrated system to improve the efficiency of its customer contact ‘touch points’ – particularly in managing transactions, invoicing and payment processing. Ryan Cairley, LSK’s Project Manager, said “Being able to take full advantage of new technologies, advanced functionality and having greater depth and breadth of information were the priorities. Financial tools, ease of use and being able to use the company’s existing infrastructure, were also key requirements for the business.”

Choosing K8

LSK Managing Director, Garry Bell, researched a number of alternative systems before choosing K8. The company understood K8’s established reputation, but after talking to businesses with K8 experience, it became clear that the system met the LSK’s requirements. “In terms of reliability, functionality and readiness to support our future growth, K8 was the best system for us. Specifically, its capabilities to present accurate and real time management information - especially sales and purchasing patterns, were significant factors in our decision. We were also impressed with Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) as a progressive company with proven R&D credentials.”

Successful implementation

One particular aspect of K8 that appealed to LSK was its considerable flexibility and adaptability. During the system set-up, Ryan and his colleagues took time to understand how K8 could be fine-tuned to suit the business. Early engagement and commitment certainly paid off; moreover, it gave LSK complete ownership of its new system. Complementing this was the ‘train the trainer’ approach used to introduce the system to the staff; LSK also compiled help sheets to help build user skills and competencies.

“KCS consultants were immensely helpful. They shared their knowledge willingly and guided us through data conversion Talking to us about how we would get the best from our new system, the consultants also gave us confidence to move forward leading to a smooth, successful implementation and well-supported go-live.”

Solid foundation

LSK stated that K8 has now settled in well, with some specific projects to consider in the next year or so. “The system has already done what it said on the tin in terms of improving our customer processes, operationally efficiency and productivity. Digital signature capture, for example, has been a great success with faster invoicing and fewer accounting queries.” LSK is in a particularly competitive industry and appreciates the importance of meeting customer demands. “With K8 we are already one step ahead and have the system behind us to adapt to new demands from new and existing customers,” said Ryan.

LSK implemented K8 with energy and enthusiasm – clearly a company that’s seizing the power of technology for a successful future.

Highlights

• Flexible and adaptable solution
• Strong user engagement
• Successful training programme
• Fully supported go live
• Fewer trading issues
• Development potential

Benefits

• Greater efficiency and productivity
• Improved customer processes and service levels
• Significant gains from digital signature capture
• Real-time management information

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Haldane Fisher  Builders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Plumbers & Heating

Customer: Plumblink

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.plumblink.co.za

Challenge

Plumblink is a leading plumbing products and sanitary ware supplier, servicing the plumbers’ trade and contract markets, as well as the insurance industry.

They have two different branch models; some of the larger stores with showrooms for the general customer, and smaller express stores aimed at the plumbers market. To support the growth, the business also had to adjust and formalise the stock distribution process.

Mr Abrahams, commented: “Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) SA has provided us with an excellent tool to be closer to our value chain. We have grown from nineteen branches in 2010 to sixty-eight in 2015 with the goal to open another twelve to fifteen branches in the next year.”

Seaweed McFarlane, Plumblink CEO said: “I truly believe that we have positioned the company in a well-structured and well governed business. The IT systems we introduced had very positive spin offs and visibility of all operations was enhanced. I consider Plumblink as the industry leader with systems in place to continue seeing and improving on the growth of the past five years.”

Gains and benefits

• Greater supply chain visibility
• Centralised control
• Access to up-to-date management information
• Tighter margin controls
• Ease of opening branches
• Better stock management
• Low cost to support

To find out more about KCS and the products that we offer, please contact us today.

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Express Plumbing Supplies (EPS)  Plumbers & Heating

Abhani Commercial Ltd Retailers

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: BPX

What we did: Implemented Web Builder

Site link: www.bpx.co.uk

Challenge

Established in 1965, Leicester-based BPX is a major distributor of electrical and electronic control and machinery products. The family-owned company has nine branches across the UK and employs over 120 staff. BPX selected and went live with Web Builder, the integrated online trading application, to drive their business growth.

Business need

BPX is particularly proud of providing first class service to its customers - the company offers 60,000+ products from 40 manufacturers and makes use of IT to increase efficiency and improve its customers’ experience. Managing Director, Guy Collins, explained the rationale to offer online trading, “As a starting point, it was less about meeting existing customer expectations, but focussing more on using the technology to attract new customers, in the UK and internationally.”

Web Builder

As a OneOffice user, BPX decided that Web Builder, with integrated SOP, stock and accounting capabilities, was the most effective platform for the project. Given the size of the company’s product range, it was clear that this would be a complex project for BPX. “The first priority was to understand Web Builder and the fine tuning required for our processes. Essential for us was the need to safeguard our customer relationships and therefore, unlike some distributors who use central warehousing, we wanted our system to trade online at local branch level.”

Online catalogue

System infrastructure was a key aspect of the project – a new server investment was required to ensure that the new website, carrying the online store, performed quickly and efficiently. However, the biggest challenge was the creation of the catalogue itself - it amounted to an eight person-year project. “We had to ensure that, insofar as possible, customers could access a consistent level of information across our product range - making their selections without having to phone to check specification detail. The new website went live with 35,000 products ready for our customers to buy.”

A time for change

As a 24/7 ‘shop window’, BPX acknowledges that it represents an immediate opportunity to improve services – recognising that building awareness and transaction levels will take time. Furthermore the company is preparing for some staff to migrate towards a technical advisory role - growing the knowledge base across the company will be a real asset for BPX. “The roll-out was based on introducing the online trading facilities – including back-end processes, at each branch and worked with some of our larger customers to begin with. We wanted everyone to feel confident about the processes, including back-ordering, and the added value to our services. Another key point was to re-assure customers about trading terms and credit account processes,” said Guy.

Impact of online trading

Online trading can have a big impact for a multi-location B2B distributor. Some routines are immediately automated, some job roles become more advisory with fewer repetitive tasks. BPX also believes that its customer service function will be more productive. “Going online means immediately exposing our entire catalogue to the ‘risk of sale’. As a result, we expect our breadth of stockholding to broaden and thereby increasing service levels in this ‘want it now’ era. It’s also an imperative to monitor orders closely - if a customer buys product X, but omits essential product Y, we have to respond accordingly.”

A business milestone

Unquestionably, BPX recognises the value of the opportunities as a result of investing in an online experience and equally, that as the company’s use of IT develops, customer benefits will grow. “In taking an evolutionary approach, we want to build on our reputation and improve services in a controlled manner. Our new website, with Web Builder, is positioned to be a milestone initiative for BPX,” concluded Guy.

Highlights

• Online catalogue of 35,000 products
• Multi-location process capability
• Self-service – task automation
• Improve upselling and related product offer
• Structured introduction for online trading
• Starting point for further online developments

Results

• 24/7 trading facility and global shop window
• Opportunity to extend customer base
• Customer-branch relationships maintained
• Improved customer service experience

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Easby Electronics  Electrical Wholesalers

Eyre and Elliston Electrical Wholesalers

Distributors

Customer: Edgar Brothers

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.edgarbrothers.com

Implementing K8 to support future growth

Established in 1947, Macclesfield-based Edgar Brothers is a leading distributor and retailer of firearms and ammunition. The company is now preparing to implement K8 with a go live scheduled for January 2016. Edgar Brothers’ customers include shooting sports retailers, shooting grounds, police and defence sectors, professional and leisure customers. Company needed to replace their existing OneOffice system. It served the business extremely well since 1998 and supported considerable growth, however K8 had better fit for the family-owned business moving forward.

Forward-thinking company

Emma Burgess, Operations Director said, “Although our OneOffice system has supported our business very well – a six-fold increase in ten years, we were falling behind getting the most from our systems. Workarounds and the use of third party software have become necessary. As a forward-thinking company, this is not how we want to run the business.”

Need for investment

Realising the need for systems investment – Edgar’s staff needed more capable and advanced functionality to do their jobs and to improve business efficiencies in key areas. “With our trusted Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) partnership, we focussed on the business case for K8. We had to address some pressing requirements, notably integrated management information, warehouse management and procurement applications.”

Edgar Brothers has chosen to design a complete new business operation around K8. “The time was right to make a fresh start, revise our ISO9001 Quality Management System and steer towards making the best use of K8’s capabilities.”

Learning about K8’s capabilities

The K8 project began with the Discovery phase - the first part of METIS, the KCS implementation methodology. The KCS team ran several, in depth ‘learning’ workshops focussing on different areas of the system’s business processes and established the basis for the system set-up. “The workshops highlighted K8’s considerable time-saving opportunities and efficiencies especially in procurement and warehousing along with the use of hand-held devices and bar codes.”

A team effort for the best results

Edgar Brothers said that “The whole project is a team effort and everyone is totally committed to achieving the best result. We are fortunate to have like-minded, enthusiastic and ambitious employees, departments are taking responsibility for their own system applications and have their own ‘pot of gold’ to aim for.”

A platform for future growth

Targeting some clear benefits, they Edgar Brothers are confident that the system will meet current needs now and be a platform for future growth. Having robust, effective and efficient systems will enable them to maintain its successful development and provide staff with the means to take the business forward. “Although it may not have been so a few years ago, we now have the capabilities to make K8 work for us.”

Edgar Brother’s K8 project has now passed through the METIS Discovery phase - a learning process that highlighted the system’s time-saving opportunities. Now embarking on a comprehensive staff training programme for the award-winning ERP software Edgar Brothers will use a train the trainer approach to develop the required competencies and system knowledge. K8 will go live in January 2016 to coincide with the company’s financial year end.

Highlights

• Identified as best time for K8 migration
• Learning workshops to build system knowledge
• Comprehensive, structured training programme
• K8 is giving staff the tools they need
• System ‘gain’ objectives for each department

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Alfred Franks and Bartlett Distributors

Ferroli Plumbers & Heating

Timber Merchants

Customer: Nottage Joinery

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.nottagetimber.co.uk

Challenge

A long-established family-run business with over 50 years’ experience, Nottage Joinery has a wealth of knowledge of the timber industry and the manufacture of high class, bespoke joinery. Based in Bridgend, serving South Wales, the company’s customers include contractors, local authorities, trade and the general public.

Prior to implementing K8, Nottage Joinery reached the point where they had outgrown their systems. The controls, the level of integration and functionality required for a developing business were no longer adequate. Moreover, the software lacked the capabilities to handle the complexities of timber purchasing, stock control and customer sale transactions.

The company chose K8 for several reasons: In addition to being able to partner with a systems supplier who understood the timber trade, K8 also had the proven reputation through its use in the timber sector. As a functionally-rich, integrated solution, K8 would enable Nottage Joinery to develop, improve customer services and enhance business management processes in every area. Having considered other systems, the company judged K8 as being the system that met their requirements, would deliver the best results and was ‘on budget’.

Going live in 2009, although there were a few challenges getting used to the system, Nottage Joinery staff put the work in with K8 and the company has moved on. The system has supported sales growth, helped to identify best performing products and enabled the company to maintain a competitive and professional edge. Overall, Nottage Joinery believes that K8 has helped them to become a better company.

Gains and benefits

• More accurate counter transactions
• Professional customer documentation
• Ability for staff ‘to trade’ within set criteria
• Easier purchasing of stock items
• Non-stock purchasing functionality
• Much reduced risks of errors and mistakes
• Detailed customer history and traceability
• Greater financial analysis
• Better business management processes
• Maintain competitive edge

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Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Manny's Timber  Timber Merchants

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: Leamington Electrical Distributors (LED)

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.l-ed.co.uk

K8 enabling growth and development

Opening its doors in September 2014, Leamington Electrical Distributors (LED) launched the business using K8 from day one. Now an established local supplier, serving a growing customer base, K8 has helped LED to become a respected local supplier with a reputation to match. The system has enabled the company to maintain tight control of stock, purchasing and cash flow.

Choosing K8

LED considered it essential to have the right computer system in place - even with low transaction volumes initially. Manual tools, or non-integrated PC –based software, were not the best approach for how a customer-focussed business wanted to get things started.

LED Manager, Jim Knight said: “We looked at a number of systems, but with some previous Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) software experience, we were confident that K8 was the right choice. A system that we could grow into, our K8’s hosted, cloud-based platform meant we could focus on developing the business. We certainly didn’t want to spend time managing our computer system.

Getting started

With no ‘legacy position’ to consider, KCS had something of a ‘blank canvas’ to work with. Setting up the system to suit LED’s fresh new processes and a tailored training programme suitable for a small team were slotted into the company’s opening schedule.

“From first contact, the service from KCS has been attentive and professional. Creating customer, supplier and stock records from our first transactions, processing sales quickly and efficiently have been key component in building the business and service qualities.”

Establishing the business

LED has expanded its customer base significantly since formation, initially the focus was to attract business from local electricians and retail customers, in and around Leamington. “We are now serving larger trade companies further afield; in business sectors that range from distribution warehouses to exhibition companies.

Our supplier base is also much more substantial – we now stock products from many industry leaders.” As with many small companies, space is at a premium for LED, keeping the right breadth and depth of stock is essential. “With K8, we can keep a constant check on our stock levels; the system ordering tools are particularly useful and play a key part in ensuring that customer orders are fulfilled quickly. It’s all about building our reputation.”

Jim also talked about how K8 was used to help prepare the first year’s accounts. “With guidance from the helpdesk, it was straightforward to send the necessary figures to our accountants.”

Moving forward

LED is still a relatively small business and has come to value many of K8’s capabilities; particularly in cash flow management and monitoring profitability. It’s vital that our suppliers are paid on time – without their support our ability to trade would be at risk. It’s easy to compile and print a payment run each month.

"When processing customer orders, K8 will flag up any account that’s close to or exceeding credit terms. All this is extremely helpful in running the business.”

Was K8 the right choice for LED? “Yes absolutely. The system has enabled the business to run smoothly from the outset; K8 is an effective platform to support business development,” said Jim.

Highlights

• Fast transaction processing
• Complementary product sales
• Gross margin notifications
• Cloud hosting and support
• Scalable system to support growth

Results

• Expanded product range
• Tight stock control disciplines
• Efficient purchasing
• Effective cash flow management
• Supports quality customer service
• Smooth year-end processes
• Ensures a ‘finger kept on the pulse’

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Easby Electronics Electrical Wholesalers

Eyre and Elliston Electrical Wholesalers

Tools

Customer: SA Tool (Pty) Ltd

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: satool.co.za

Challenge

Established in 1983 as a power tool repairer, Johannesburg-based SA Tool are agents and distributors for many leading brands of power tools and personal protective equipment. In addition to importing products from international suppliers, the company also has purchasing arrangements with major South African manufacturers. SA Tool holds an extensive range of stock and is proud to offer competitive pricing and deliver a high standard of service to its growing customer base.

Prior to implementing K8, SA Tool had used a number of systems which had been progressively outgrown. The management team realised that a fully integrated ERP solution, better suited to SA Tool’s diverse trading requirements, had become a strategic priority. Better control and visibility over the entire supply chain was increasingly critical, especially with some transactions, such as buy-outs being managed manually. The company chose K8 – which went live in October 2011, because its extensive range of advanced, integrated functionality were a close match for SA Tool’s requirements. The system has enabled accurate traceability across sales, procurement and financial modules which are making a big difference to company operations. K8 is also helping SA Tool to improve customer service levels; through tighter inventory controls and purchase forecasting, the company is able to offer a much enhanced depth and breadth of stock. A recent development for SA Tool has been to move its K8 system to a hosted environment. With the system being supported by Kerridge Commercial Systems and the infrastructure fully managed at the data centre, the company is now able to spend much more time on operational requirements and develop its use of K8.

Gains and benefits

• Improved business control in every area
• Intuitive functionality
• Time savings – resulting in greater efficiency
• Greater supply chain visibility
• Eliminated manual, off-system processes
• Comprehensive transaction traceability
• Profitability and margin monitoring
• Superior stock management
• Purchase forecasting
• Website trading integration
• Integrated BI capabilities
• Fully supported hosted platform
• Future-proofed product development
• Quality partner support

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Lawsons Builders Merchants

Turnbull Builders Merchants

Distributors

Customer: Rock Trading and Distribution

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: rocktrading.co.uk

Challenge

Rock Trading and Distribution supplies engineered wood products, manufactured to customer requirements, insulation and cladding materials. The company is also the exclusive regional distributor for Porotherm blocks.

Owned by Rawle, Gammon and Baker Holdings Ltd (RGB) - a Kerridge Commercial Systems customer for 15 years, Rock required their K8 system to be set up as an independent trading environment, without any direct links to their parent company’s system. This approach would enable the business to trade with RGB, in addition to supplying builders’ merchants and regional developers throughout the West Country.

The K8 implementation involved a challenging schedule - there was less than three months from contract signature to Rock opening for business. In that time, the K8 project had to be scoped and planned, hardware installed and training programmes completed. Teams from both Kerridge CS and Rock worked very closely together throughout, with frequent conference calls and onsite attendance as required. The Kerridge CS METIS project methodology was fully applied from the start and particularly tight control was maintained on the RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies) documentation.

As part of the training process – a key part of the project, Rock staff tested out a range of different trading scenarios to gain familiarity with K8. Quickly embracing the system, the users found it particularly reassuring that their knowledge of the previous generation, text-based Rev7 system used by RGB was transferable. By go live day – the company’s first day of trading, Rock management reckoned that users had about 90% of the knowledge they required to run the business.

With the objective met, Rock was in a position to push K8’s functionality and use the system to help develop a profitable future for the business.

Gains and benefits

• A modern fully integrated system
• Intuitive functionality
• Advanced purchasing and stock control
• Fast, efficient sales order processing
• Flexible financial and reconciliation tools
• Data export for group consolidation
• Scalable to support business development
• Proven and successful partner relationship

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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MKM Building Supplies Builders Merchants

Lawsons Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: MKM Building Supplies

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.mkmbs.co.uk

Challenge

Prior to implementing K8, MKM used a system that had come to the end of its life. The company needed to move to a modern, fully integrated and scalable system that would enable the business to expand and move forwards. MKM sought to partner with a company that understood their sector and who they could engage with for focussed product development.

Based in Hull, MKM Building Supplies is the UK’s largest independent builders’ merchants. Established in 1996, the company, which continues to grow, currently operates 40 branches across the UK, serving in excess of 25,000 customers annually.

David Kilburn, who founded the company, had previously used Kerridge Commercial Systems products, and in 2006, when the need arose to replace MKM’s text-based system, K8 was shortlisted as a prime contender. The system was first configured to run 18 branches and now has around 500 users.

In addition to K8’s established reputation as a class- leading solution for the sector, one of the big plusses in moving to K8 was that MKM could have all the requisite functionality in a standard system without the need for bespoke modifications. Furthermore, as a result of using a hosted platform in place of an in-house server, the MKM IT team have been able to take care of branch-level operator training as well as local application support. It has been an important factor in MKM’s development knowing that the system’s infrastructure is being well looked after 24/7.

K8 has proved itself capable of supporting the company’s principles of delivering high quality customer service. It has meant that the ‘stake-holding’ branch managers can use the system to suit their local requirements, while at the same time maintaining central control. K8, which MKM’s technical team have fine-tuned in a number of key areas, has helped the company to grow so successfully in a short period of time.

Gains and benefits

• Branch roll-out template
• Recommended order facility
• Excellent stock control tools
• Supports customer service goals
• Effective financial controls
• Robust credit chase processes
• Tailored workplace dashboards
• K8 electronic forms and documentation
• Scalable platform for future development

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Voltex Electrical Wholesalers

Haldane Fisher Builders Merchants

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: Voltex

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.voltex.co.za

Challenge

Voltex is a leading stockist and distributor of a vast and comprehensive array of electrical and related materials on the African continent and has 76 strategically located outlets in South Africa, catering to the needs of the electrical industry including general electric products, energy and power services, power distribution, lighting, industry and related activities.

In addition to general outlets, a number of specialised divisions which supplement and enhance, directly and in directly, its reach into the areas in which it operates. These specialised divisions include Voltex Lighting, Waco, Cabstrut, Atlas Cable Supplies, Versalec, LSis and Sanlic.

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Easby Electronics Electrical Wholesalers

Eyre and Elliston Electrical Wholesalers

Distributors

Customer: FPS Distribution

What we did: Upgraded K8

Site link: www.fpsdistribution.com

Challenge

National parts distributor, FPS, delivers goods to 2,500 customers, up to 6 times daily from its National Distribution Centre in Sheffield. Around 40,000 transactions flow through the FPS business on a typical day, so having the right ERP solution in place is critical to the success of the business.

Beyond the standard

With a long reputation for excellent customer service, FPS has been in distribution and wholesaling for over 80 years and boasts a product portfolio that now spans the Automotive, Industrial, Travel & Leisure and Retail sectors. For the past 20 years, Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) technology has supported the flow of FPS’ ‘life-blood’, ensuring its 1,000 strong staff can efficiently and effectively manage the end-to-end processing of all transactions across its network of 22 sites.

The KCS/FPS relationship stretches back to 1992

Following an evolutionary path through KCS’ advancing solutions from Rev.7 through to K8, an integral part of FPS’ strategy has been to keep their ERP system up to date so that the business can achieve operational efficiencies and continue to delight customers with excellent service. In 2015, FPS upgraded to K8 Babbage, complete with additional features and benefits including fewer user exits, new role-based permission facilities, and user-defined table functions.

Finance & IT Director at FPS, Jonathan Eden, explains: “Moving to K8 Babbage means that we can take advantage of Oracle ‘Red Stack’ and the new incremental upgrade architecture – both of which are important to us as we progress the system. In terms of application functionality, improvements such as the enhanced customer returns handling are already proving to be beneficial.”

Planned to perfection

Jonathan Eden knew that to deliver the large and complex upgrade project successfully, working in close collaboration with KCS would prove a critical success factor, along with strong project sponsorship from both companies, exemplary project management, and quality internal communications:

“It was imperative to keep our colleagues across our network fully informed. Telling everyone what we were doing - why, when and how - helped us to maintain strong engagement with the project. Adopting an ‘agile approach’, we carried out practice upgrade runs, timings obtained were fed into go-live planning, and expedient issue resolution helped to keep the project on track.”

A smooth transition

After significant testing from both KCS and FPS, K8 Babbage went live in February 2015. Support from both companies' IT, finance, operations and supply chain staff during the go-live and initial week of usage, resulted in a well-planned and successful transition. Jonathan Eden recaps, “Operational downtime was just 6 hours and the Sunday shift started their work seamlessly on K8 Babbage.”

The system then moved into the Early Life Support phase, which ensured that post go-live issues could be resolved effectively. “Some of our users commented that it was the best planned, communicated and executed upgrade to date.”

‘Keeping the lights on’

Delivering a high-performing, reliable system to maintain ‘customer delight’ and user productivity – or to ‘keep the lights on’ – was a key project objective. The FPS Business Systems team also met the other objectives, which were to provide excellent service to all stakeholders and to add tangible value to the business. “Moving to K8 Babbage not only meant that we stayed on track with these objectives, it was also unquestionably the right strategy for FPS. We are now positioned to take smaller incremental steps with system upgrades – a more efficient process and with a reduced change management effect.”

“With engagement, commitment and great teamwork from all stakeholders, we addressed the challenges and completed the project successfully”, concludes Jonathan Eden.

The road ahead

Following the transition to K8 Babbage, FPS has now loaded their first feature release – a small but important step enabled by the new architecture. Jonathan Eden is also now exploring the possibility of using further modules including KCS’ Delivery Management System, Datawarehousing, CRM, and Business Intelligence to drive even greater operational efficiencies.

View the FPS testimonial video.

Gains and benefits

• Exemplary project management
• New system architecture
• Smooth and seamless transition
• Latest features and functionality
• Enhanced returns handling
• Business Continuity fulfilled
• More efficient upgrade platform
• Oracle ‘Red Stack’ advantages
• Reduced change management risks
• Faster and leaner issue resolution

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Ark Trading  Builders Merchants

Alfred Franks and Bartlett  Distributors

Timber Merchants

Customer: Howarth Timber

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.howarth-timber.co.uk

Challenge

Howarth Timber is a timber and building materials merchant operation. Its 29 sites are spread along the M62, down the A1 corridor as far south as Corby, and within the M25. There are approximately 1000 employees.

Paul Cornford, as Group Information Systems Manager, runs a team that is responsible for the IT infrastructure of the entire Howarth Timber Group, as well as the implementation and development of all the systems used by the merchant part of the business.

Paul was part of the team that chose K8, and the software was installed, branch-by-branch, over several months in 2004. Making the right choice of software to drive a business this size is critical. Paul advised those tasked with a similar project: “Don’t get bogged down in writing a requirements tome. Make a list, keep it simple and then make a judgement. We used the ‘MoSCoW’ principle to categorise our list of must haves, should haves, could haves and would likes. KCS won the business on its ability to supply the must haves more or less immediately and the stability of the company as a long term system provider.”

Gains and benefits

• The introduction of robust and capable financial controls
• A flexible system that supports the trading mechanisms of the group
• Accurate stock figures the sales team can rely on
• A 24/7 operation to support on-line sales
• Stock held at optimum levels to meet demand
• Enhanced business intelligence to enable replication of best practice across the group

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Barlows Timber Merchants

Nottage Joinery Timber Merchants

Plumbers & Heating

Customer: William Wilson

What we did: Implemented Web Builder

Site link: www.williamwilson.co.uk

Challenge

Established in 1900, William Wilson, part of Wolseley UK, is one of Scotland’s largest suppliers of plumbing, heating and bathroom products. Employing more than 250 staff and with 22 locations, the company serves local and regional plumbing and heating contractors, through to large national companies as well as private retail bathroom customers. William Wilson has been a Kerridge Commercial Systems customer since 2000.

Reviewing the future shape of the business, William Wilson recognised the growing importance of internet-based facilities. Although not yet a critical requirement, there was a clear need to offer customers the opportunity to trade online as a convenient alternative to its well-established and growing branch operations. The company looked at a number of software products and chose the Kerridge Commercial Systems Web Builder as the platform for its ‘B2B’ trade customers. In addition to developing the William Wilson trade website to provide customer facilities, the project also required some additional programming work – undertaken by Kerridge Commercial Systems. Specifically: to enable customers to buy from their chosen branch – there’s no central warehouse and also to handle the company’s appropriately comprehensive pricing and discounting structures.

In preparing Web Builder with 15,000 line items to load prior to launch, William Wilson valued the applications’ ability to handle comprehensive product information. It meant that the company is now able to provide its well-informed customers with levels of detail at least equal to that offered by many manufacturers.

Prior to going live, the company offered trade customers the opportunity to test the new online facilities and the feedback was very positive. William Wilson’s staff worked very hard to ensure their new online trading tool would be successful from the start. They are rightly proud of what they have achieved and progressively, more and more customers are appreciating the benefits of ordering online.

Gains and benefits

• Easier for trade customers to transact
• Real time stock detail
• Orders can be placed for out of stock items
• High quality content
• Access to basic account information
• Integration with back office systems
• Extension of existing branch services
• Focus on customer requirements
• Future proofing the business

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Abhani Commercial Ltd Retailers

Express Plumbing Supplies Plumbers & Heating

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: Routeco

What we did: Implemented OneOffice

Site link: www.routeco.com

Challenge

Routeco is an independent, privately-owned company. Formed in 1978, it has established itself as one of the UK`s leading distributors of industrial automation and control products with a nationwide network of sales locations. Employing over 200 staff, the company has expanded by focusing on providing customers with the best choice of products from leading manufacturers from around the world packaged together with value-added services.

As the company had developed into an established industrial automation distributor, Routeco customers were expecting more support and value=added services. Part of the process was to make its MIS system more customer-orientated and flexible for the future. KPMG was employed as consultants during the discussions with the business function areas that would be affected most by a change of system.

Gains and benefits

• Streamlined ordering process, including inter-branch trading – saves time, improves service levels
• Future orders capability – greater control of current and future stock levels
• Part kits functionality simplifies ordering and despatch processes – generates additional business
• Fully integrated accounting – reduces workload and ensures accurate information for management
• Credit control tools have improved cash flow by reducing debtor days, and in turn customer service
• Integration of Austrian subsidiary easy and quick to complete
• Consolidated invoicing saves time and effort

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Electro Tech Electrical Wholesalers

Voltex  Electrical Wholesalers

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: MacLean Electrical

What we did: Implemented OneOffice

Site link: www.maclean-electrical.com

Challenge

MacLean Electrical Group is a privately-owned specialist electrical wholesaler. The company originated by supplying the North Sea oil and gas market and now operates around the world with a network of alliance partners to support its global customer base. Today, MacLean Electrical Group is an International supplier of bulk electrical materials, roadway lighting systems, instrumentation and fibre optic cables for the oil, gas, petrochemical, marine and process industries.

MacLean Electrical Group’s existing IT systems performed well, it was simply that the company had outgrown them. Communication, integration and access to information were critical to maintain success and profitability. The biggest challenge was to ensure that internal systems and infrastructure would not only support the business today, but also underpin the future. The decision was made to explore the market had to offer and issued an RFI (request for information) to supply chain solution providers.

Gains and benefits

• Fully integrated business and supply chain applications – greater efficiency and cost savings
• Process improvements – saving time, effort and resulting in better customer service
• Accurate, real-time information - on demand – faster and more effective decision-making
• Future opportunities to extend system use and value – e.g. introducing ecommerce facilities
• A scalable solution to support future growth

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Voltex Electrical Wholesalers

Eyre and Elliston Electrical Wholesalers

Retailers

Customer: London Transport PASS (Passenger Agents Sales Service)

What we did: Implemented OneOffice

Challenge

PASS (Passenger Agents Sales Service) operates as an independent commercial trading unit within London Transport. A multi-million pound business, PASS supplies daily, weekly and monthly passes, child rate photocards and Travelcards through a network of 2,300 agents. Most agents are small newsagents/tobacconists located throughout the London Transport area covering Greater London and the Home Counties. PASS is also responsible for bulk sales of tickets to local authorities for OAPs and students as well as to large companies for their employees.

When it took over responsibilities for passes and cards, PASS found a significant difference between the physical stock of tickets in its warehouse or with agents and the recorded figures. There are some 200 different types of tickets required to cover every zone, time period and type of traveller. Since records of sales are based on a valid stock reconciliation, PASS had to undertake a full audit and revise all the records. The previous IBM System 36-based accounting system did not have the necessary capabilities and consequently PASS had to find a new system.

Gains and benefits

• Fully integrated accounting - tight financial control of every process – more efficient and effective
• Ticket stocks and allocations now fully controlled – saves time and saves money
• Discrepancy error rates fallen to negligible levels
• Sales forecasting provides management information and agent support
• Field staff use HHDs for stocks movement recording, invoicing and re-ordering
• Field-based operations enables fast payment collection and improved cash flow
• Management accounts produced very soon after month end – improved management processes

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Brookwells  Automotive Aftermarket

Elta Automotive  Automotive Aftermarket

Builders Merchants

Customer: Turnbull Building Supplies

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.turnbullsonline.co.uk

Challenge

Turnbull Building Supplies was established in 1895 as a single branch, family-owned business in Lincolnshire. Now with six branches and following a management buy-out in the 1984, the company offers a comprehensive product range of building materials, kitchens, bathrooms and tiles. The company supplies retail customers through to the national house builders – the majority of its business is with from small to medium-sized builders.

During a previous systems review, Turnbull Building Supplies, considered the Revision 7 product but implemented an alternative solution. Later, with issues such as product development, scalability and functionality becoming a concern, it was time to take another look. Considerations such as capacity, culture, resources, reputation and product roadmap were the priorities. Kerridge Commercial Systems and K8 met the company’s requirements and in March 2003 an order for K8 was placed – the system went live later the same year. Turnbull subsequently upgraded to K8.07.

Gains and benefits

• User Interface quick and easy to navigate
• Sales order processing makes for quick and efficient trading
• KPI facilities enable accurate, regular monitoring of business progress
• Spreadsheet interface – great for managing price updates and stock effectively
• Automatic supplier invoice verification – very efficient and saves time
• Hosted platform means security, scalability with minimal add-on investment
• System hosting means staff can focus attention on the business and customer service
• High levels of customer service achieved using K8, means higher customer retention

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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William Wilson Plumbers & Heating

Tiles

Customer: Tileflair

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.tileflair.co.uk

Challenge

Tileflair is the largest, privately-owned tile distributor in the South of England. It offers an extensive range of high quality tiles - sourced from around the world - and has been supplying the trade, contract and retail sectors since 1972. Tileflair has nine outlets, an online shop and a central warehouse located in Bristol.

Moving with the times

Tileflair’s initial need was for a system to handle inter-branch trading, to replace a previous system where processes were cumbersome. It was also looking for an IT partner that really understood the tile business. It opted for a distribution system, rather than an EPOS product, and Kerridge Commercial Systems was chosen from five short-listed suppliers. The system went live in December 1998 and, in 2007, Tileflair upgraded to K8. Then, in May 2015, it upgraded to the system’s latest version.

“Our aim is to get the best return that we can from K8 - to enhance our efficiency and service. Each branch now has its own dashboard, which provides better insight into the business, not just in terms of sales but also customer trends, margins, stock turnover, etc. The fact that we’ve got access to this information - and can access it from the sales screen – means that we’re always ready for a sale.”

“The data warehouse module is promising too, giving far more information than we’ve been able to access in the past, without having to run multiple reports.”

Resilient, reliable and responsive

“Crucially, K8 has proven to be very resilient; it’s never frozen or locked-up! And, we’re now looking forward to exploring other system features, in addition to the most used ones, so that we can gain full advantage from K8.”

“From a partnership point-of-view, we’re committed to Kerridge and we have a great relationship with them. They are very responsive and are good at seeing things from the customer’s point of view.”

K8 goes mobile - and other efficiencies

Tileflair’s next upgrade will include browser access. iPads have become key selling tools for its sales team and it will enable them to access the system in a truly mobile sense, rather than steering customers back to the counter to check stock, etc.

“Having browser access will enhance the whole customer experience. And, we’re now also trialing the delivery management system and will be testing the warehouse management system from January 2016. Our aim is to continue to enhance our internal productivity, to really understand our customers’ needs and to continue to work closely with Kerridge to make our business as efficient as it can be.”

Gains and benefits

• Complete reliability and enhanced efficiency.
• Intuitive, menu-led processes that can be instantly accessed from the sales screen. Easy to use – more time can be dedicated to the customer.
• Flexible sales order processing, accessible from one screen.
• Inter-branch trading capability – better stock utilisation, improved customer service.
• Accurate reporting and management information – effective decision making.
• Forecasting tools invaluable – improved ordering, saves time, more effective use of working capital.
• Quick and efficient automated processes – smoother, controlled and more efficient operation.
• A platform for expansion of branch network – minimal IT investment impact.
• Online support calls via secure extranet – issues recorded without delay, saves time.

K8 is a fully integrated Trading and Business Management solution for distributors, wholesalers, merchants and retailers. Combining a suite of modules, it helps you source effectively, stock efficiently, sell profitably and service competitively.

K8 is designed to help you get closer to your customers, build profits, and manage your margins. From your sales team, to your back office, K8 has been developed by distributive trades experts to improve the day-to-day performance of your team.

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Beccles Tile Centre  Tiles

Builders Merchants

Customer: RGB Building Supplies

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.rgbltd.co.uk

Challenge

Established in 1850, Rawle Gammon & Baker initially traded as a timber importing business and now, with 15 sites, is one of the largest builders merchant in the South West, employing over 200 staff. The company attributes its success to its people and providing exceptional customer service.

RGB knew that they had to overhaul their IT infrastructure, only by doing so would they be able to create operational efficiencies, unavailable within their incumbent system. A fully integrated solution would improve business processes – not least of which in sales order processing, stock control and provide an comprehensive accounting system with management information tools. Scalability for growth were also important considerations. After examining various systems, Kerridge Commercial Systems was the clear winner.

Gains and benefits

• An excellent, close working partnership
• Tight control from fully integrated processes – saves time, saves money
• Information at the fingertips – no time wasted looking up from other sources
• Full stock visibility and optimisation, easily facilitated inter-branch trading
• Functionally-rich, sales order processing – resulting in improved customer service
• Opportunities to improve profitability from both revenue generation and cost savings
• A scalable solution which allows the company to grow and develop

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Haldane Fisher  Builders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Home & Garden

Customer: Liffey Distributors

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.liffeyd.com

Challenge

Liffey Distributors is Ireland’s leading distributor of forest, garden and leisure equipment tools including Husqvarna, Oregon, McCulloch and Flymo products. The company maintains a philosophy of providing customers with high standards of support and service - an approach that has ensured successful growth since its formation in 1970.

The company’s previous system was operating at its limits. It was not scalable and development plans did not meet Liffey Distributors’ requirements. The situation was likely to worsen with further growth and the company began the search and evaluation of alternative systems. Liffey Distributors needed a ‘best of breed’, fully integrated and functionally comprehensive distribution system. A product development roadmap, system support and supplier security were also priority requirements. K8 and Kerridge Commercial Systems ‘ticked all the boxes’ and the decision was made.

Gains and benefits

• Sales order processing – smooth and fast
• Information at the fingertips – no delay searching and the information is accurate
• Full supply chain visibility – purchasing, orders and sales – the value of an integrated system
• Automated processes for sales back orders – maintains control – supports customer service
• Perpetual inventory stock checking – saves time and money, any issues quickly identified
• Greater financial control from integrated accounting – benefits include improved cash flow
• Staff freed up to work on core activities – a benefit of controlled, automated processes
• Improved management information at all levels – effective, informed decision making

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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Manny's Timber Timber Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: Lawsons

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.lawsons.co.uk

Challenge

Lawson and Son Timber Merchant began trading in 1921. Over the years, the company has progressively developed its product range to match market needs and customer demands – loft conversion being one particular speciality. With more than 90 years of successful trading and growth , award winning Lawsons now operates thirteen branches in and around London – a number of which supply a full range of building materials in addition to timber and fencing.

Following successful business growth, system reviews and an evaluation of other ERP solutions, the company chose to stay with Kerridge Commercial Systems and migrate from the well-established Revision 7 platform to K8. Confidence in the system and fully supported by the Kerridge Commercial Systems team, K8 was implemented at all branches in a ‘big bang’ approach.

Gains and benefits

• Easy to use, convenient solution
• Inter-branch trading capacity
• Accurate reporting and management information
• Quick and efficient automated processes
• Presents a more proffesional image to customers
• Installation is straightforward, minimal user training

To find out more about the solutions that we offer, please contact us today.

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