Two years ago, Amax, the office products division of Stanley Black & Decker, decided to spin off as a separate company. This successful distribution company chose a hosted “cloud” Microsoft Dynamics GP core financial/ERP system with .
SalesPad has proved to be a key to the success of their new system. Amax uses SalesPad to access Dynamics GP data to give increased functionality to sales and customer service users – such as single screen visibility to orders, inventory and customer status. The Amax executive team made these comments on the top benefits of using SalesPad with Dynamics GP:
1) Access Information: “With SalesPad the sheer amount of information you can show on one screen is so helpful. When you are on the phone with a customer you can answer questions quickly without switching screens or calling other departments. For customer service it is very easy to enter orders, move info around, and find customer info.”
2) Monitor Inventory: “It is very easy to search for items, see what we have on hand, what is coming in, what is on order and where inventory is allocated. Backorders and other issues are easy to solve. Everyone can see new purchase orders and when shipments are due in their warehouse.”
3) Analyze Realtime Data: “With very little customization we have detailed reports we never had before, and in realtime. We can quickly look up sales data, inventory and business metrics to see how new products are performing and follow trends to make better business decisions. We trust the system and the data that is in there. It’s a stark contrast to when we were a division of Stanley Black and Decker, where we commonly had to access four systems to get a complete picture of what was going on.”
4) Calculate True Costs: “Using GP and SalesPad we can control erosion of our margins because we know our true inventory cost. By making this visible to the whole organization we can make precise pricing decisions with a customer because we know we are working with accurate data. This is something other distribution companies struggle with.”
5) Process More Orders: “Sales Pad allows the order processors to process multiple orders quickly. Now they are able to monitor and process EDI orders while taking fax orders and phone orders all at the same time.”
6) Communicate Across Departments: “Information is no longer locked within separate departments. For example, our AR clerk using the collections module can write notes in the system and the sales team can see if the customer account is on hold, slow pay history, what the customer bought and when.”
7) Inspire Customers: “Our sales team can quickly prep for meetings without wasting time. They can show a customer, ‘this is where your business was an hour ago’. We have real-time analysis to support our sales propositions, whether it is a new promotion, product mix suggestions, or our position in pricing negotiations. Often we can get our customers better data about their business than they can. They have confidence that we are on top of what is happening in the marketplace and in their business and this makes us a better partner. That is pretty impressive and a lot of our competitors simply don’t have access to that type of data.”
Read more about the Amax story:
CAL Case Study:
Microsoft Case Study:
If you are a Connecticut or New England distribution company, contact CAL Business Solutions to determine if is the right ERP system for your needs. CAL Business Solutions is one of the leading SalesPad implementation partners in the USA.
By CAL Business Solutions,
