VIEWPOINT


SHORT-TERM GAIN, OR LONG-TERM


INEFFICIENCY? Andy Scothern, founder of eCommonSense, an ECI Software Solutions company.


WITH GLOBAL SUPPLY chain issues continuing to impact the construction sector, merchants are facing increasingly tight margins. While it’s tempting to seek quick fixes to these problems, over time this can impact overall business efficiency. Being able to widen your gaze, and see the bigger picture, is critical for managing every aspect of the business, whether it be finance, operations, health and safety or sales. Before making any knee-jerk decisions, you need insights from across the business, delivered in real-time. This is where centralised digital systems can help.


Breaking down the silos


Data spread across different parts of the business has always been a problem for builders merchants. Without giving staff access to information across departments an organisation will struggle to grow, hiding insights that, if put to good use, could accelerate growth. Ongoing supply chain disruption and delays, the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and now the war in Ukraine, means the construction sector is facing uncertain times. Everything from the management and cost of raw materials to quoting for jobs and agreeing contracts is dependent on numerous external factors. While your buyers will know about materials costs as they rise daily, your sales team will understand the demand – by combining this knowledge, and backing it up with data, it’s possible to make better decisions and plan for the long-term.


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Business management software, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, can support communication across the business. However, the key to finding one that works is building a relationship with a partner whose solution was built with collaboration in mind, even beyond internal teams. This was a key factor for us, and the driving force behind our supplier- merchant database product.


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Three important steps If you do decide to invest in a digital business management system, it’s important to find a solution that will fix all your inefficiencies and won’t replace one for another. There are a number of steps you can take to improve efficiency.


Streamline costs to impact your bottom line


There’s no room for wastage in today’s competitive market. Use the data collated in your dashboard to improve your decision-making. While some investments might have paid off in the long-term, others could prove to have been ineffective. A digital system can display trend-based data so it’s easy to visualise when KPIs have been hit, and where improvements need to be made, rather than making business-changing decisions based on guesswork.


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Empower your employees with more control


Every savvy business owner now understands that the days of micromanagement are over, yet some managers are still nervous


about handing over decision- making to employees. However, convincing your workforce to take this next step might be hard with a system that is clunky and slow. With business management technology, staff can access real- time data that can be used to add insight to everything they do. Tasks such as ordering, invoicing and more are becoming a lot easier as the whole process is streamlined, meaning employees can spend more time in areas that need it. As well as being more productive, every department should see better decisions and increased productivity.


Use less, benefit more In the current construction landscape, it’s never been more important to drive efficiency. If your sights are set on business growth, it could be tempting to quickly purchase another unit or more on-trend products, only to then find out that the costs are too high to upkeep, or demand for that material soon falls. The same is true of software. You might choose a system quickly to solve one problem, only to find that it lacks in other areas. An advantage of a cloud-based system is that it has the option to add various features that support your team and business with growth. It saves the hassle of building a website from scratch and builders merchants can easily integrate eCommerce to their ERP that automatically syncs product data.


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Like any other business investment, seeking advice from an experienced partner is the best way to ensure that you choose


Being able to widen your gaze, and see the bigger


picture, is critical for managing every aspect of the business, whether it be finance, operations, health and safety or sales.


the right system for your needs. They’ll also help to ensure the insight gained from data will help you peer into the future using information from the past - an essential part of every long- term strategy. As long as the technology can grow with your business, it’ll deliver value for many years to come. BMJ


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2022


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