IT
HIGH TECH SERVICE: LOW TECH EXPERIENCE
With the BMF, NMBS and many others backing the need for builders’ merchants to embrace digitisation, there’s a growing need for technology to answer that demand, as BMJ finds out.
B
uilders’ merchants have been announcing significant investment into the digital side of business; Selco just spent over £1M on a new website, for example. But as Ten-
25 managing director Ian Oldrey says, the front end can only deliver if the back end can keep up – and to cope with modern market pressures, a new breed of agile, responsive software is needed to maintain the ever-evolving levels of service.
UT400 is the company’s newest offering: 100% cloud-based, it’s a true browser-based system, meaning that it can be accessed anytime, anywhere, from any smart device.
User experience is key
Back in January’s issue of BMJ, Andy Scothern, MD of eCommonSense, shared his 10 point plan for digital success, and Oldrey says he’s confident the system, alongside Ten-25’s unlimited service guarantee, can help merchants tick every one of his points.
“One of the issues with ERP or trading
software has always been the complexity,” he says. “We’re dealing with complicated businesses – multiple product lines, material types, sites, currencies, metrics, plus logistical pressure on variable delivery requirements. To be able to cope with the required level of information, systems have often ended up very technical, clunky, and difficult to learn. We didn’t want that with UT400. It had to be simple, something that works exactly how you’d intuitively expect it to.” In an unusual move, Ten-25 brought in an experienced video game designer during the development process to consult on usability and user experience.
“We’ve essentially gamified the whole interface to make it more fun to use,” says
Oldrey. “It includes really clear, customisable dashboards so people can see their own targets simply – it’s motivating to see how you’re performing, but it’s also genuinely useful for managers to be able to monitor all the measures of success they need, from stock availability to margin maintenance and profitability. It helps everyone feel more in control, which is key to the user experience and boosts engagement and productivity, and really helps to empower people in their roles.”
Challenging the status quo As well as being simple to operate, UT400 includes a range of automation functions to reduce time spent on manual, repetitive tasks. From invoicing to certification matching with different batches of stock, there’s a lot of meaningful time saving to be had. With instant access to customer and supplier trading history, built-in credit controls andmargin protection, and a tiered pricing system that makes it cost effective for everyone from delivery driver to MD to have access, UT400 is challenging the preconceptions around merchant trading software.
“The granularity of detail is vital, but so is the ease of use. You can have all the data in the world at your disposal but if you can’t easily access and understand it, it’s a waste,” he adds. So confident are they, in fact, that they have launched an online demo system so merchants can try before they buy – without any help from the IT team. Oldrey says, “We want merchants to discover for themselves how simple this system is, without one of us hovering over their shoulder to show them how it works.”
Being cloud-based, the implementation side is significantly quicker than traditional systems too, providing a more agile solution with less
Sidebar of system featur es:
• 100% cloud based allowing 24/7 access from ANY smart device
• Customisable dashboards for the most relevant user experience
• Full integration across business areas allows unrivalled, up-to-the-minute accuracy
• Tiered pricing makes it feasible for the whole workforce to use – not just management
• Easily switch between metrics, stock types and unit measures, whether individual or pack
• Instantly see customer and supplier history; quotes, notes and credit history included
• Credit controls built-in for peace of mind • Margin protection limits to ensure profitability while empowering sales teams
• Advanced yet simple analysis for better understanding of operations and finances • Compatible with leading online accountancy packages
• Full training, implementation and onboarding as standard
disruption to the business. And because it’s easy to operate, training (which is provided in full as standard by Ten-25) is quicker too.
“Things have been done a certain way for a long time,” says Oldrey. “But we’re challenging all those preconceptions. This is affordable, modern software that absolutely meets, and surpasses, the current and future needs of builders’ merchants. And because it’s cloud- based, it can evolve really easily to keep pace as our customers continue to grow. We want to give merchants the best tools to get the job done; a system which helps them have the right stock in the right places at the right times, to deliver the best service possible, and to do it profitably and sustainably.”BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2020
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
