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Date: 17 Jun 2008TL Thomas take the long view with bisTrack“Implementing bisTrack is probably the best change we’ve ever made to our business — and we’ve done it at just the right time.” This is the view of Gerwyn Thomas, a partner at Carmarthenshire-based builders’ merchants, TL Thomas & Son, just two months after going live with bisTrack. Before bisTrack was installed, TL Thomas ran a totally manual sales, invoicing and stock control system, with Sage managing the back office accounts. Stock-takes took several weeks and the business had no effective system of analysing or controlling stock movement. Immediate benefits for the sales staff included the ability to find related documentation when customers return products. “No one ever brings any paperwork back with them in this part of the world”, explained Anwen, “but the related documents feature means it’s easy for us to see when a product was bought, how much the customer paid and the discount we gave. The system has enabled all the office and counter staff to work in a totally different way now and much more quickly. Everything used to be so time consuming.” Discount structures for different categories of account customer are being set up. Gerwyn said, “We’d done this before of course but the information was all just in our heads! Now everyone will use the same structure.” Price lists are also being produced directly from bisTrack for individual categories, which are automatically updated when prices change in bisTrack.” Overall Gerwyn says he feels he has a much better grasp on the business since bisTrack was installed. “bisTrack’s dashboard view is a big plus as it lets me keep a ‘minute by minute’ eye on the company’s performance. I also like the warnings you get if something is sold below margin, and how I can quickly see why it’s happened. The pop-up messages, alerting you when back-to-back orders have come in so you can let your customer know, are also excellent. "I like to look at performance on a monthly basis, comparing it with last month and tracking sales throughout the year. It’s also a big plus being able to produce a stock valuation report instantly and now, for the first time, reports can highlight my ‘dead stock’ so I know what I need to put on offer to make room for things we can turn round. |
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Testimonials
"We were drowning in paper and, as a business turning over £2.2 million, the time had come for us to invest in business management software."
David Biddle, MD, Huntingdon Timber & Roofing"The time was right for a change of software at Alsford's and we selected bisTrack from a shortlist of three. The key criteria was 'business fit'. We wanted a Microsoft Windows, intuitive solution which would best serve our claim to be 'The Timber Experts' in all our 20 branches."
Neil Fuller, MD, Alsford Timber"We have a responsibility to the environment. That’s why we’re trying to lower our carbon footprint. We introduced e-commerce, cut down on paper receipts & are introducing electronic billing for customers."
Director, building materials supplier"We were drowning in paper and, as a business turning over £2.2 million, the time had come for us to invest in business management software."
David Biddle, MD, Huntingdon Timber & Roofing"Our staff have margin figures right in front of them now, so they're much more aware of the profit they are making."
Robert Blumsom, Blumsom Fine Timber"Performance across the system is continuously enhanced too. Since our last release, finding products is now significantly faster ...by up to 30%."
Gary Brookshaw, Product Director, Progressive Solutions"I can export information into Excel by right-clicking and manipulate it to my heart's content."
"The people at Progressive Solutions are likeable, straight-talking individuals who have a commitment to continuously develop and push the software forward."
Joe Tipper, Walter Tippers Ltd"Stock counting is one of the best facilities in bisTrack ever. Stock counting across multiple locations is effortless with multiple entries of the same product. Entering a count is even easier. Counting 10,000 lines used to take two of us 4 days. This time it was 8 hours."
"It was obvious the company was being held back by the limitations of the old system."
Operations Director, CF Anderson“Hargeaves are ideally placed to take advantage of the offer – whilst we plan to continue using e-Xact to update our product file we also want much better control over special product sales and purchases."
Gordon Rothwell, James Hargreaves MD“A member of our buying group told us about bisTrack, although we looked at four or five other software packages. Key factors in the eventual selection of bisTrack were its SQL platform and our confidence in the people we dealt with.”
Gordon Rothwell, James Hargreaves (Plumbers Merch)“A member of our buying group told us about bisTrack, although we looked at four or five other software packages. Key factors in the eventual selection of bisTrack were its SQL platform and our confidence in the people we dealt with.”
Gordon Rothwell, James Hargreaves (Plumbers Merch)"The great thing is we can always export information to Excel and produce any report we need — such as aged debt by sales rep, or a bespoke exposure report, which assesses potential credit risk & protects us."
Damien Cosgrove, Credit Control Mgr, Noyeks Newmans“Hargeaves are ideally placed to take advantage of the offer – whilst we plan to continue using e-Xact to update our product file we also want much better control over special product sales and purchases."
Gordon Rothwell, James Hargreaves MD"bisTrack is a terrific system and its potential is incredibly exciting. I have absolutely no regrets over choosing bisTrack and great confidence that we have something we can build on."
David Bryan, Director, Ridgeons"I can export information into Excel by right-clicking and manipulate it to my heart's content."
"Our staff have margin figures right in front of them now, so they're much more aware of the profit they are making."
Robert Blumsom, Blumsom Fine Timber"It's a very nicely laid out system with easy to follow structural menus and taskpads which, even if I haven't used a particular function before, I find relatively simple to complete."
Chris Pratt, Pratts Timber and Builders Merchants Ltd“There are other systems of course, but none have had the development time that’s behind bisTrack. I can’t believe there’s a better system out there. I’m convinced there’s nothing that can deliver better what we need.”
Peter Buttle, md, Buttle plc"I'm convinced there's no other system that can deliver better what we need. Apart from its Windows architecture and its powerful functionality, it now has ten years of development behind it."
Peter Buttle, Buttle plc
