Offering around 1500 products which are all bought from UK suppliers, Custom Technology Solutions sell a wide range of CCTV cameras, intruder alarms and other essential security equipment. On average, Custom Technology Solutions will receive approximately 2000 orders a month through their eCommerce website and over the phone. Employing 20 staff, Custom Technology Solutions introduced OrderWise into the business mid-way through 2014.
We spoke to Andy Marston, Director of Custom Technology Solutions, who took the time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about their experience implementing OrderWise and explain how it has helped to revolutionise the day-to-day running of their operations.
Custom Technology Solutions had been using Sage 50 for a number of years and it provided them with a good management system in the early days of their business. However, as the business began to grow, Sage 50 was no longer able to provide a suitable solution for what they required.
“Sage 50 did a job for us when there was only a few of us in the office but when we started to expand things became difficult for us to manage and we needed a better control over our stock.”
Andy explained that because Sage 50 had worked so well for them, their first port of call for a new software system was Sage 200. However, Custom Technology Solutions had grown to such a size that even Sage 200 was not comprehensive enough for what Andy and his team required.
“We got about three quarters of the way through the migration from Sage 50 to Sage 200 but then we realised it didn’t do what we wanted it to do – it wasn’t powerful enough, we needed something with more control over stock movements and better business reporting.”
With Sage unable to provide Custom Technology Solutions with the level of stock control their business required, the decision was made to look elsewhere for a new software system.
Andy went straight on to Google and did a search for stock control software, which brought OrderWise up as the top result. Once he had found OrderWise, Andy explained that he knew very quickly that it was the right software to take the business forward.
“We made one phone call, booked a demonstration and I think within 48 hours we decided to go ahead with OrderWise, it just worked – it did exactly what we wanted it to do and it just turned out to be a perfect fit.”
With Custom Technology Solutions putting their faith in OrderWise, implementation got under way and Andy was really impressed with the efficiency and simplicity of the whole process.
Following their straight forward implementation, Custom Technology Solutions officially went live with OrderWise in May 2014.
“It was dead easy – OrderWise had a copy of our Sage 50 data, did some magic, sent it back and hey presto we were ready to go live!”
Custom Technology Solutions introduced OrderWise because the business had outgrown Sage 50 and required more substantial software to take the business forward. Andy explained that having used OrderWise since 2014, he has seen first-hand how it has massively benefitted the business.
“It’s done a cracking job, I’m really impressed – the business is now a lot easier to manage, things are much more structured and OrderWise directs us through each of the processes logically.”
Before introducing OrderWise, Andy and his team were struggling to gain adequate control over their extensive stock range. The question is, since using OrderWise have Custom Technology Solutions managed to solve the issues they were facing?
“Definitely, OrderWise has helped us put in some proper processes, everybody knows where the stock is, how many we’ve got, how many we’ve sold, how many we need to sell – it’s basically just given us full control.”
Custom Technology Solutions has also added a number of additional modules to their OrderWise software solution since going live in May 2014, which Andy explained has really helped push the overall visibility and efficiency within the business forward.
“We’ve got Postcode and Courier Integration which makes life so easy for us, we’ve also just added the KPI Dashboards which will help give us a real insight into how well we’re doing as a company – they’re all marvellous!”
Andy was also quick to mention how impressed he’s been with the OrderWise Support Team, knowing that should the team at Custom Technology Solutions ever have any questions or issues, they are on hand to help.
“The support is absolutely great, with them just a phone call away we have no problems at all!”
So, with Custom Technology Solutions able to experience a stress-free implementation, gain the necessary control over their stock that they needed, as well as improve day-to-day operations with the help of additional modules and structured processing, the big question is what’s next for OrderWise and Custom Technology Solutions?
“We have an eCommerce website that we are looking to integrate with OrderWise in the future, that will really make managing our web shop easier – we are also looking at the Business Intelligence module to go with our Dashboards which will really help us to see in depth what is happening in the business and where there is an opportunity for more money to be made.”
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