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which he means easy third party access in and out of the K8 ERP system. An example would be easily integrating with a courier company, or electronically trading with customers and suppliers exchanging sales and purchase orders.


“The Kerridge Digital Services suite is proving to be extremely popular, with many customers deploying the application programming interface (API) tools. This then gives them the ability to integrate their K8 system electronically with other partners,” said Mr Mitchell. “Go back three years and if a customer wanted to trade with someone else they would come to us and ask for an interface to be written but now the customer’s trading partner can use the API to interact live with their ERP.”


Third party relationships are another key development area for KCS, which has just recruited a third party relationship director. “We already integrate with a lot of third parties but we are ready to bring those relationships more tightly together.” A good example of that, which KCS launched at Christmas, is an interaction with a credit card provider, Paymentsense. Another is with the leading data analytics partner, Phocas, which provides customers with the sophisticated tools they need to transform their ERP data into rich business intelligence. “We will forge more of these strategic partnerships with third parties – particularly in areas where our customers can really benefit from using a specialist tool specifically designed for the job.”


As might be expected in such a dynamic phase of trading, software upgrades have continued apace.


“When many customers had to experience new ways of working due to Covid, we released more mobile solutions, which added to a more flexible way of working,” said Epicor’s Mark Fear. “We also introduced more innovative digital software, such as ‘anywhere’ payments and signatures as a way of adapting our digital offering.” He added that, here again, cloud-based systems have the advantage, with upgrades taking place remotely. “You avoid the complexity of an overly customised system and ensure that you’re always on the latest version, which will include cybersecurity updates to protect you from the latest threats.”


Border Merchant Systems has released two system updates in the last 12 months, with all its users receiving them as part of their support contract.


“The last upgrade contained more than 600 enhancements to the system,” said Mr Davies. “Highlights include work around the auto emailing of delivery notifications and order acknowledgements, a new lost margin review that helps merchants identify where they may be giving away profit.


“Our biggest project at the moment is giving our customers more flexibility in how they run our system, whether it is via a server on site, or in the cloud, running an application on a PC or via a browser. This has been in development for a while and the pandemic has just backed up our decision and rationale for doing this.”


Mr Davies added that updating the core database its system runs on will create “exciting opportunities” on how Border develops and delivers its software. Last year, Ten-25’s upgrade to Merchanter included more functionality, opening it up to more customers, including hardwood merchants and agents. More has been achieved since then, with the company adding to the full contracting functionality so that importing is more capable. “We have also started adding significantly to the milling, value added processing side of the system as well, so there are better tools for moving stock around accurately and re-costing it as processes are being applied to it,” said Mr Oldrey. “Quite a lot of cool stuff.”


Another new element is Stock Confidence, a stock holding rating system (see pp44-45) that has been rolling out with customers since the start of the year.


And the company has recently put in smarter searches so that the exact product – or customer – that is being looked for in the database can be found with fewer key strokes. “Some of the big wins come from little features like this,” he said. KCS’s software is “continually” being


tweaked in line with customer feedback, said Mr Mitchell.


“The ecommerce platform is a true SaaS (software as a service) platform, so every time we make an enhancement, every customer gets that immediately. We have a roadmap and are investing in it every day.” The enhancements, added Tony Pey, KCS’s global business development manager, are all about finding more efficiencies for customers. “Deskilling jobs has become quite important because many businesses have been running on short staff [due to Covid measures] and they need to spread the load more widely,” he said, adding that the KCS software had helped customers achieve that. One example of the enhancements included in the latest update of K8 he picked out is around finance. Manual processing of supplier invoices has become a challenge for time-poor companies and K8 now imports these electronically into the system, even if they come in as a PDF or an email, and auto matches them.


“It only reports exceptions, so it immediately cuts down on all that manual data processing and matching,” said Mr Pey. KCS will shortly be introducing a new suite of apps designed for the warehousing aspect


of the trade, which, it says, will aid the whole movement of goods through the facility. The company is continuing to take the business process away from the PC in the office and out to where the task is actually being performed via a layer of apps that interact with the ERP.


Its electronic point of delivery app – ePOD – has already proved a success. “The workflow is quite straightforward,” said Mr Mitchell. “The drivers download a manifest for what is on their lorry and that goes directly onto the ePOD system, which then gives them their routes and delivery instructions. When they drop off at the customer they can take photographs and ask the customer to sign on the glass and that immediately updates the K8 system.” KCS also has apps for the sales function, enabling salespeople to effectively connect via the internet from a tablet and complete quotes and orders when they are with the customer, rather than having to wait until they return to their office.


And that remote connectivity isn’t just about making the sale then and there, it’s also about empowering sales people by giving them the tools to “mine information”, said Tony Pey. “Importantly, it’s not just about what the customer is buying at present, it’s also about understanding what they aren’t buying and where the opportunities are.” Epicor’s Mark Fear agrees.


“The BisTrack app is widely used by our customers for mobiles and tablets. The app gives flexibility to the salesperson on the road, documenting everything from proof of order to client signatures, to geolocation of deliveries – it’s a pocket-sized window into the digital supply chain.”


He added that, withing the next 12-18 months, Epicor would be sharing full BisTrack functionality through a web browser, too, which, he said, “will be a huge boon in terms of both accessibility and functionality”. Border Merchant Systems is also active on the app front and said its stock check mobile app is proving to be increasingly popular. “We are also developing a mobile proof of delivery app for the next system rollout,” said Mr Davies.


Predictions in the Covid era are difficult, but there are plenty of reasons for optimism. “I think there are tremendous opportunities because merchants are still keen to improve their digital strategy, keen to offer a better service and keen to have a more dynamic and modern system to manage their business,” said Mr Oldrey.


“The challenge and the opportunity is the same: finding a rhythm,” added Mr Fear. “Organisations in every niche of the timber industry can get ahead of the competition by planning for ambiguity, building resilience and future proofing their operational models.” ■


www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2021 | TTJ


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