Distributors of fixings and fastenings know the importance of an efficient workplace in this fast-paced industry. It has become imperative to use an ERP system to manage your business and stay competitive. Modern ERP software such as Intact iQ improves vital efficiency practices in the workplace, gives your sales team access to product and customer data, and allows your management team to keep track of margins; all while improving customer service.
While updating efficiency processes is often a key aspect of an ERP software implementation, there are other benefits that should not be overlooked. For example, it’s important to maintain accuracy across departments and give your team access to up-to-date, real-time information.
With different data stored in different places (for ecommerce, product information, customer history etc) it’s useful to have the right information available to people in various job roles. Ecommerce integration and a fully integrated Electronic Point of Sale (ePOS) will help to reduce errors between systems and maintain a single version of the truth across the business.
Integration
For any modern business, integration between departments is vital for ensuring that teams can communicate effectively. If you run an eCommerce website (which you probably will) it will be a huge advantage if you can create a link between your online shop window and your back office system, so that the software continues to sell the product for you even when the physical store is closed.
For fixings and fastener businesses that operate a trade counter, integration means easy to access data for your sales staff working the front desk. It gives you the ability to search products and provide detailed information in just a few clicks, offering your customer up to date information from the warehouse. These small touches helps your team to provide consistent and excellent customer service.
Stock
For distributors of fixings and fasteners keeping track of your stock is crucial. An ERP system can help you look after your stock by taking trends into account, as well as enabling you to match your products with the products in the system (creating live stock updates). This can help you by making sure you don’t order too much stock on a reorder but can also be relayed to your customers easily so your sales team can advise on product availability.
Stock management is easily handled by the core system, but there are a number of ways which the functionality can be enhanced. Using mobile warehouse devices which update in real time creates an accurate picture of the current situation in your warehouse. Mobile apps can also simplify this process, allowing your sales team to access product information on the go.
Product and customer data
Using a back-office system which includes detailed product information is beneficial for a number of reasons. But what is even more useful, ERP software is able to track the history of particular clients and archive it; making it easy to retrieve details from the system without needing to search for items using specific terms or product codes. This so-called fuzzy searching makes locating product details (or indeed customer details, supplier details etc) much easier and will save your team administration time.
This is just a brief insight into how using an ERP system to run your fixings and fastenings distribution business could transform the way you work by uniting departments, making information easier to access and enabling your team to provide a smoother, more informed service for your customers. For more information contact us today.
