Kerridge CS - Our Blog

CRM or Customer Relationship Management is the term used to describe the data and systems a company uses to track and monitor the interaction you have with your clients, and their purchasing practices. This data is designed to enable you to target more effectively the brand experience and messages you send to your customers with a view to establishing and maintaining a positive rapport with your clients.

In any given day your workforce is engaging with customers, new, old or potential. Being able to tailor your message or give an answer to your clients is of great importance to ensure your marketing spend is put to its optimum use. So how do you know what is the right message to send to your clients? By analysing the figures you can identify accurate purchasing trends and what works on the day to day front line of your own business and making sure that the results of the analysis can make a real and positive difference to streamlining the efficiencies of the business.

It is essential that the focus of the business shifts from product to purchaser.  Maximising the potential in any business opportunity comes down to understanding what makes your customer want or need to buy your product or service and to this end CRM software can quantify the knowledge you have harboured in more general terms regarding what gets your target audience to commit to purchase and moreover to repeat the transaction. CRM Software plays an intrinsic part in efficiently engaging with the target market and ensuring contact can be made when you have a message to impart.

CRM can also help you with future forecasting. Staying that one step ahead of your customers’ evolving needs is essential. With Customer relationship management software such as the K8 modular system you will be able to read the purchasing patterns of your customers and ensure supply chain is in a position to deliver more of what your customers want in the future.

It’s particularly important to engage your customers with excellent service which is fast, secure and convenient to ensure a positive experience and increase the possibility of recommendation and repeat purchasing behaviours. Working SMART becomes infinitely easier by identifying what you need to support your key functions. A CRM modular system such as the Kerridge CS K8 can provide timely and usable data allowing insights into improved customer service by improved customer profiling and targeting, adding cross-sell and upsell opportunities, reducing costs, and increasing share of customer and overall profitability amongst many other things.

What are the benefits of switching to the cloud?

Cloud computing is fast becoming the technology of choice for many businesses, of every shape and size, and across every sector. Replacing the traditional, in-house or on premise server approach, cloud or hosted systems are being recognised as a more cost-effective, highly secure and resilient alternative. Although some large businesses prefer to manage their own system infrastructures, there are significant operational benefits by making the switch at any level. For one thing, the need to focus more on core business priorities, and much less on IT issues, is not just highly desirable but increasingly important. Put simply, in these ever more competitive times, it’s a choice between having the responsibilities of running your own IT ‘generators’ or plugging into a secure, fully supported, ‘national grid’. Which, given that communications and network capabilities have become much faster and more reliable, strengthens the case for cloud computing.

Making the switch

No one would suggest replacing a perfectly good server and infrastructure that’s performing well - the business case would be hard to prove. But when an upgrade or system replacement is planned, perhaps with business development or capacity issues on the horizon, then that’s probably the best time to review the use of the ‘cloud’. Evaluate what the business needs, understand the options and then be ready to make an informed decision.

Security is everything, always

First and foremost, it’s understandable that running a system through the cloud may give rise to concerns of unauthorised access to data. For Kerridge CS, safeguarding customers’ systems is the number one priority. A combination of advanced security controls, coupled with extensive knowledge and experience, ensure that the risks to data are minimal. Data protection may well be as good, if not considerably better than in a non-hosted environment; particularly in terms of recovery from a major outage or system failure – more about that later.

Financial matters

Evaluating the costs and pure financial benefits of a cloud solution versus an on- premise server is certainly not an ‘apples v apples’ exercise. Besides, it’s virtually impossible to put a price tag on some of the components and that’s before factoring in short, medium and long term considerations. For the basics, switching to a per user/month cost base means there’s no server to buy, maintain and support, nor capacity/upgrade issues either as business needs evolve. Furthermore, the buying power of hosting centres equates to economies of scale in hardware purchasing terms which influence the cost base and hence competitive user pricing. There’s no slack tied up in case it’s required in the future which may well be the case when investing in a new on premise server. In short, with a hosted cloud solution you only pay for the resources you need, when you need them.

In many ways, it’s probably best to regard the move to cloud as one that presents great opportunities and many hidden savings along the way. Just how big those savings are will often depend on how the business wants to manage its IT now, and into the future.

Performance essentials

System performance may be a concern in switching to cloud and certainly some parts of the UK yet to have access to reliable high speed networks. Fortunately, the situation is constantly improving; Kerridge CS’s partner OCSL for example, has more than 9,500kms of private network connecting major towns and cities. With K8 - the company’s flagship system being designed specifically to operate over minimal bandwidth, users should not experience any reductions compared with an on-premise configuration.

Full service solution

Choosing a hosted cloud system means that a business gains the advantage of having a full service solution; a much smoother and streamlined IT experience. Simplistically, there’s less risk and less downtime. With the growth in extended opening hours and online trading, having 24/7 access to a team of multi-skilled and experienced IT professionals is more important than ever. Such facilities would be hard to match by all but the very largest in-house IT department. Given a choice, it’s likely that many IT managers would probably prefer to focus their time and energies on servicing strategic requirements. Working on more challenging tasks is surely more interesting than caring for servers and networks.

Kerridge CS partners operate Tier 3 data centres – a standard that exceeds the provisions that are usually made for on-premise servers. Tier 3 means strictly-controlled environments; offering multiple redundancy provisions for power and connectivity, fire suppression and substantial physical security facilities. Systems are always on, monitored 24/7, backed up daily and data copies are kept off securely off site. It’s also worth noting that data centres also invest in keeping their staff up to date with the latest server and communications technologies – another important comfort benefit factor that’s difficult to put a value on.

Meeting business needs

In addition to providing substantial ‘peace of mind’ value, cloud systems are also immensely flexible; both in terms of growing to suit changing business needs, but can also be rapidly deployed into new locations or business moves. Issues about server and network capacities along with the cost and inconvenience of hardware upgrades do not arise.

Eliminating risks

The vital role now played by integrated business systems means that the need to safeguard trading operations has, to all intents, become an imperative that cannot be sidelined. The impact of a system outage is felt immediately and many processes simply stop with little or no fall back position. System failures or worse still, a major disaster, are comparatively rare, but the risks of exposure should now be as close to zero as possible.

Simplistically, running an on-premise server generally means a single point of failure. If a board or disk fails, it could easily take several days to recover the system and resume normal service. Older servers can easily have component supply issues and other complications in a re-build are not uncommon. In the meantime, trading will have suffered; customers may have gone elsewhere and the financial hit not inconsiderable. Even before re-keying transactions and catch-up work is factored in.

When the cloud system is in  a secure hosted environment, there are in effect no concerns at all by comparison and the reassurance that the system is being well looked after can be experienced by every user. Even at the most basic Silver level offered by Kerridge CS, SLA states 99.5% system availability and less than 24 hours restoration time should the worst happen. Opting for top level Platinum cover, with its dual data centre provision and Oracle Dataguard, it will take just 30 minutes to recover from a failure. With an SLA stated system availability of 99.99% - that’s less than an hour’s down time per annum.

There are other considerations: the mid-level Gold cover provides for an annual ‘disaster recovery’ test, while Platinum enables a customer to have a quarterly, on-demand recovery test, completed in 30 minutes. Gold and Platinum levels offer customers real-time network performance dashboards. Even then, the data centre staff may well be reacting to an issue before it’s even noticed by the customer.

Vital choices

While some of the largest multi-site operations may continue to favour their own in-house configurations, a growing number of companies are opting for the cloud. SMEs in particular, who are looking to maximise their IT capabilities, have everything to gain by taking a closer look at the cloud computing offerings. With reliable high speed network and communications, along with comprehensive secure data centre services, any concerns of moving to a fully managed service are fast dissipating. The benefits are certainly becoming more transparent and substantial.

In order to serve its customers and meet their wide-ranging business requirements, Kerridge CS continues to invest in providing a choice of robust, high performance system platforms. Serving its customers which range from a handful of users to several hundred or more, and across different industry sectors, the company recognises that one-size-fits-all solutions are rarely successful. On-premise server, private cloud or secure browser access, Kerridge CS fervently believes that businesses must have the freedom to choose what best suits their needs.

Quite simply, Kerridge CS believes that helping its customers to make good technology decisions is a fundamental part of building successful, enduring partnerships. Although striving for product excellence and delivering first class support services are uppermost customer-driven priorities, IT investment value is certainly influenced by choosing the most appropriate infrastructure platform. For many, that future will be in the cloud. 

Fully integrated systems have become the norm for many builders’ merchants, especially with applications such as CRM, warehouse and electronic trading coming on stream. Integrated functionality has also made it possible to manage complex branch, location and company structures more successfully when using the builders’ merchants software. In short with or without some sort of interface, stand-alone alternatives for accounts, stock control and marketing, do not address merchants’ needs particularly successfully.

Bespoke applications have also become increasingly less appealing and practical. More and more merchants have appreciated the value of transactional data being recorded once at the point of entry, then flowing automatically through to the accounting functions and other system modules. No re-keying, the risk of errors much reduced and improved operational efficiency being the obvious benefits.

Why are integrated systems so significant?

There are good reasons why integrated systems are so significant in today’s competitive, technology-driven marketplace. To begin with, it’s worth removing a few misconceptions. Firstly, choosing a fully integrated trading, warehousing and financial system from a single supplier doesn’t mean that you won’t have flexibility and choice. Integrated systems, such as K8, are highly configurable for applications to be fine-tuned to suit business preferences. Secondly, you don’t have to be a large, multi-site national chain of builder’s merchants to justify an integrated system; smaller businesses can find that integrated modules also deliver very worthwhile time and efficiency savings. Finally, when you factor in support services and development roadmaps, fully integrated systems generally represent a much more secure, easily maintained, long term investment.

For builders’ merchants, looking to grow, having all information and data in one place, and accessible to everyone, has moved from the ‘nice to have’ to the almost essential camp. Customers don’t want to be kept waiting for their enquiry to be dealt with. In this want-it now era, customers and suppliers increasingly expect to help themselves and access the information they need. Fully integrated systems can also contribute to having a more competitive level playing field between larger, multi-site operations and the ‘owner-driver’ merchants. Although there may not be a need to use all the available functionality, K8, for example, is a system that users can grow into without major re-investment.

Keeping the finger on the pulse is the key for builders' merchants

If a fully integrated system is a ‘must have’ for day to day business operations, its contribution as a management tool is just as significant. Running a builder’s merchant of any shape and size, having complete control of every area and keeping the finger on the pulse is key. Driven by the system’s integrated processes, information is primed ready for effective decision-making. For merchants with just a handful of users, similar facilities can help manage the basics. Everything is clearly visible or just a click away.

The case for integrated systems has some other factors in its favour. For one thing, a single system platform means one primary IT partner with which to foster a long term relationship and have a free flow exchange of ideas, wants and wishes. Business processes frequently impact on several areas of operation and hence it’s likely to be much easier and more successful to work with an IT partner that has a wider, multi-discipline pool of experience to call upon.

Evolutionary and forward thinking development

No one would dispute that an IT investment, whether it’s for a 5, 50 or 500 user system is a long term commitment – a journey that will be full of uncertainties. Future-proofing is a key and desirable objective, especially as technology continues to advance at a rapid rate - cloud, web-enabled functions, external data feeds and more will become increasingly prevalent. All of which means, that by choosing a fully integrated system, with an evolutionary, forward-thinking development programme, builders’ merchants will be able to stack their IT cards in their favour. And with the right provider, it makes for a proven and powerful combination.

Primarily, for Kerridge Commercial Systems and its K8 solution, the goal is to help builder’s merchants be more successful and profitable in the long term. In summing up, developing and nurturing business partner relationships is an integral part of delivering ever more capable builders’ merchant software.

'Enterprise Resource Planning’ is a term that was coined in the 1960’s but the software that we know today really only developed in the 1990’s. Essentially the concept resolves around the requirement for real time information and the streamlining of business processes, particularly as enterprises grow.

Initially when a business has seen some expansion it is run using disparate systems governing finance, HR, and stock control. This is ok in a small business but can very quickly become over-stretched and cumbersome as the business grows.

ERP Software is revolutionary

The way that ERP software revolutionises business processes can be seen throughout the various departments in any given business.With the business management system software, each of the business units - from HR through procurement, finance to delivery - is integrated, providing distribution information as part of the core business model. This ensures accurate and real time information around stock, cost, scheduling; all the way through to the shipping schedules in the route to market. For the majority of enterprises this streamlines working practices on the floor as much as the information flow to management.

With separate spreadsheets and standalone applications there is a great deal of re-keying required to provide reports on capacity, stock management and sales data, but with ERP these are all integrated into a system that talks to each business unit and the information can be pulled into reports encompassing many aspects of business.

The uses of this kind of streamlining process are plain to see for those at the top of the chain. Providing real-time information makes any inefficiencies glaringly obvious and makes dealing with these issues a more efficient and timely operation. Whether it is a distribution issue or procurement, the information provided by the integrated systems will flag both under-utilisation and lack of capacity. It will also highlight overspend in any area of the business so that decisions to reallocate budget is more clear cut.

How much will an ERP Solution cost your business?

Historically, the cost of implementing such business software has been a barrier to growth for some businesses. This barrier has now lessened as the variety of options has grown. Modular provisions are ideal to tailor the software to you individual business model, but still provides clear automated core business operation processes.

The bottom line for your business is your customers’ satisfaction, and ERP Software will contribute to ensuring your customers continue to purchase from you. By making your processes smoother, and fulfilment of orders more streamlined, any issue with distribution will be highlighted in advance, giving you time to align expectation or relocate stock to fulfil orders. Good communication with your customers and the end user is imperative to maintaining a positive brand image in these days of social marketing.

In summary, although there is a significant outlay involved in buying into the ERP software solution for your growing business, the returns you will reap will ensure it is of significant value for the future of the business. Management and employees can make better decisions faster and streamline your efficiencies for an advantage in the marketplace.

They say that knowledge is power, but at a time when panic is beginning to strike some sectors, that old adage can often be jettisoned in favour of poorly informed, ‘snap’ decisions. Of course, dynamic distributive businesses, in common with those in other areas of the economy, are sometimes forced to make quick decisions, but those should not be made without the context and raw data that the K8 demand forecasting software of Kerridge Commercial Systems provides. 

Kerridge Commercial Systems specialises in stock management software that allows companies in the distributive trades to control their margins more tightly, efficiently managing their stock so that they can optimise cash while in no way compromising customer availability. Such software allows organisations to keep truly tight control over such elements as stock, purchases, sales, movements and replenishments, also making it easy for them to access vital information on stock levels that can then be interpreted and utilised. 

Those K8 solutions have been designed by seasoned experts in the sector who know how vital it is to have the right stock in the right place, at any one time, and it is to equip distributive organisations to make their own informed decisions that such professionals have also overseen the creation of suitable forecasting software. This solution makes it easier for distributive organisations to better manage customer demand, working capital and margins, providing an accurate demand profile that assists organisations’ use of K8’s existing stock management and supply chain management software.

In an ever-changing and increasingly muddled marketplace, business leaders want to at least have the stability of solid data when they are making delicate capital investment decisions, not least when any mistakes can end up crippling the business. That is why it is so important for them to have access to a detailed profile of demand across their business, which gives them a more accurate idea of future stock requirements and helps them to ensure a good match between supply and demand, time after time.

By using Kerridge Commercial Systems’ forecasting solutions, distributive businesses can therefore maintain optimal inventory levels and reduce costs in a manner that is as safe as possible. Don’t be reduced to gut instinct and random guesses in the running of your distributive business, when you can combine them with cold, hard knowledge of your company’s present demand levels.

Modern ERP software for forward thinking businesses

K8, the flagship product from Kerridge Commercial Systems, provides integrated software solutions for trade and retail merchants, wholesalers and distributors. K8 is highly advanced while being easy to use and helps businesses save time and money while providing outstanding customer service. K8 is a comprehensive business support system, but here we specifically look at how K8 provides superior order, point of sale and stock management.

Effective Stock Control

Order management and stock management are vital processes for any company. Without a smooth purchase order control system and stock management process, businesses run the risk of not being able to fulfill orders correctly, or indeed at all, or of holding excessive stock. Accurate stock control enables a business, whether trade or retail to the public, to react nimbly to purchase orders; to speedily fill that order and replace that stock. Get this side of the business right and you not only drive sales, you offer an enhanced customer experience, encouraging repeat business. When it comes to purchase order control, the K8 system really does provide complete control over orders, movement and stock, even having the ability to fully automate the purchase order system if required. K8 is a fully scalable product, making it just as ideal for a small business as it is for a multi-branch organisation. The stock and order management function is also completely integrated into K8’s accounts function. Considering the potential loss of revenue in the inability to fulfill orders, as well as the huge cost of stock holding, order and stock management is one of the K8 system’s most important functions for any business.

Faster Sales Order Proccessing

Sales order processing is at the ‘coalface’ of any business because the point of sale (whether over the counter or over the telephone) is one of the main points of direct contact with the customer. Speed, accuracy and professionalism are essential, all areas where the K8 point of sale software excels. EPOS, or electronic point of sale software, assists businesses by speeding up the sales process while ensuring complete accuracy. With the K8 system, identifying the right product is quick and simple using a number of different search methods, cash sales can be processed in just a couple of key strokes and account customers are speedily and accurately identified. The K8 Sales order processing screen brings a wealth of information to users’ fingertips, enabling them to perform the sales order process with unmatched speed, accuracy and efficiency.

As Kerridge Commercial Systems highly advanced and adaptable K8 software solution supports the distributive trades in a myriad of ways. Here, the professional IT software and services company looks at the financial management solutions provided by the K8 system.

While keeping a tight control on finances is essential for companies in any sector, those in the distribution industry have a particular need to find effective financial management solutions. Doing so ensures that distributive trades can keep abreast of their competitors and maintain customer satisfaction in a fast-moving arena. K8 Financials is the ideal solution for this sector, placing fiscal control firmly in the hands of the distribution company.

K8 is fully integrated financial management software which is customised for each individual distribution business. While there are of course similarities across the sector, the needs and values of customers will vary from company to company. K8 Financials allows for this with complete flexibility. Being able to fully understand one’s clients creates key opportunities, something which K8 facilitates by performing as business intelligence software.

K8 Financials simultaneously reduces costs, by maximising the efficiency of transaction processing, and reduces business risk, by allowing tighter supply and stock management. Meanwhile, assisting companies in the provision of more competitive sales and enhanced customer service significantly improves profits. Tight financial management also allows for more effective fiscal planning, another area in which K8 Financials can help, by providing accurate and reliable forecasting solutions.

The K8 software that is offered by Kerridge Commercial Systems has long proved integral in revolutionising the operation of many different kinds of businesses, including plumbers, industrial merchants, builders and small companies. However, it is in many ways the stock management applications of the K8 small business software that have truly won it renown amongst organisations large and small.

The distributive trades depend heavily on high levels of efficiency, not least given the currently challenging economic conditions and heightened market competitiveness, not to mention the difficult logistics that have always been present. Smooth operations are a must, and the distribution sector is one of the most complicated of all. In the search for such efficiency, it is improvements in a firm’s stock and warehouse management that often seem to bring the best results.

In order to appreciate precisely why this is the case, one must appreciate the perennial tightrope act that is stock control. The process of evaluating how much stock has been used and when more must be ordered is one that depends on accurate stock taking, and customers will not be happy unless the products that they demand at a given time will always be available. However, it is equally vital to avoid causing cash-flow problems by buying in too much stock. Getting the process right can ensure a company’s sound financial health, as characterised by safe, continuous growth.

Stock management software helps a company to maintain the right balance by continually and instantly calculating its stock levels, removing the need for it to manually find and count stock. If employees need to find a particular product, they can simply use the software to look up where it is stored, which streamlines the whole stock and warehouse management process. The K8 software allows businesses to control and manage stock at central, regional and branch levels, as well as for the movement of stock through the warehouse to be captured at every stage.

The K8 software not only saves time in such a manner, but also money, enabling stock to be rationalised so that costs are reduced and profits increased. The ability that it gives firms to easily review their entire stock, in real time, means that more informed decisions can be made on the basis of which items are popular and profitable, and which aren’t. As a result, companies can avoid the problem of product lines that are difficult to sell without being heavily discounted, while also making life easier for their warehouse operatives and projecting an efficient, professional and dependable image to customers.

Making it easy for customers to buy

What are the key things you need to do in order to take advantage of those customers that not only shop via mobile, but also swap between devices?

94% of marketers say that customer experience is the number one priority, and 40% of retail and trade supplies customers start and end their purchases on different devices.

The good news is that this doesn’t have to be an operational headache. Following the steps below will get you ahead of the competition and give you competitive strength.

1. Comprehensive – but simple. Don’t view mobile as a “lite” version of your e-commerce, make sure your customers can access the same features and item information, as well as the order process, on mobile. Accessing their account information should be as comprehensive as the desktop experience, but the number of clicks should be reduced and screen layouts simplified.

2. Remember. Your customers are always on the go, on site, in the car, running around from one place to the other. You can make their lives easier by making sure your system remembers what’s in their basket across multiple devices and sessions. You should also plan to promote products they have purchased before to increase basket size and to add value to the customer.

3. Real time availability. Providing that comprehensive picture means real time availability is crucial, your customers are making promises to their customers, and you don’t want to be the reason they let them down. It is essential to make sure you have what they need, when they need it.

4. One touch payments. Your customers are likely to be in a hurry, providing access to one touch payments, such as PayPal, makes it easy and fast for them to place the order.

Powerful Business Intelligence

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential metrics for evaluating employee, branch or regional performance, but they also apply to stock and warehouse levels, sales orders commitments and a whole host of other operational areas. Assessing KPIs has never been easier thanks to the K8 business intelligence software from Kerridge Commercial Systems (http://www.kerridgecs.com), and its multiple admission levels provide it with even greater functionality.

For KPIs to be useful they have to be accurate, consistent and ongoing metric comparisons based on the most in-depth data available. The K8 software system makes all of this simple with its KPI business intelligence workplace. A vast wealth of information is easily accessible, whether the company is a single branch or a multi national. All of this valuable KPI data can be accessed in the same format, something which is essential for larger companies with multiple locations, and is invaluable in making data-led decisions on a daily basis.

The multiple admission levels of the K8 KPI workplace gives it even more advanced capabilities. The priority controlled level of visibility allows for an entire organisation’s vital KPI data to be held within one software platform and in one format while restricting access on an admission level basis. The following summarises the main view types and capabilities within the K8 business intelligence and KPI platform:

Managing Director View

Managing Directors gain a holistic view of performance across multiple departments, while also being able to drill down into detailed data. This provides an invaluable overview of operations while the reporting functions enable analysis of sales, order book and stock information. The view can be changed to display sales figures, margin and refund/credit information along with warehouse sales and stock data.

Management View

The Management View allows for KPIs to be displayed at various company structure levels, making it easy for Managers to quickly compare and assess performance standards. The view can be switched between Sales, Stock and Supplier, giving easy access to sales figures, stock levels, and supplier performance information.

Finance Director View

The Finance Director can view Company Performance data including sales versus budget, margin versus budget and cash levels across multiple accounts. The Creditors view enables data analysis of creditor value and purchase order commitment levels, as well as the latest Top 5 creditors based on spend. The Debtors view provides similar information on debtors as well as important data on cash collection, invoice credits and credit notes. As with all other access levels, all data is easily converted into business intelligence reporting, thanks to the enhanced functionality of the K8 system.