case studies

Background Information

Brian and David Currie, the Joint Managing Directors of Currie (Business Services) Ltd, have been operating in the Office Products industry for over thirty years and took over the existing business in 1991. Serving the business community of Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales, Currie (Business Services) Ltd. has long been recognised for the quality of its sales and service organisation

Like a number of Office Products companies, Currie (Business Services) Ltd. are diversified into stationery, furniture and sales and service of business machines. The companys turnover is split almost 50-50 between stationery and furniture products and business machines.

A one time OSTA member, Currie (Business Services) Ltd. have been going it alone since 1999 with an individually negotiated deal with Kingfield Heath, their primary wholesaler.

As a long time user of Ledgerdemain, Currie (Business Services) Ltd. had no thoughts of changing their system until Integrity abruptly announced the end of support. Along with many other office dealers in the same predicament, Brian Currie looked around for help and advice and found it in the shape of Kingfield Heath. Their IT experts provided Brian with information on the companies supplying IT to the Office Products industry including a new entrant to the market Prima Business Control Software.

Requirements

Currie (Business Services) Ltd. requirements from a new system were straightforward in that they had to replace Ledgerdemain, their needs included:

1. Accounts
2. Customer records
3. Sales Order Processing
4. Purchase Order Processing
5. Stock Control
6. Electronic links to Kingfield Heath

When they looked at Prima, they discovered that there was a significant additional benefit in Prima. Uniquely amongst the companies Currie (Business Services) Ltd. looked at, Prima also provided for the Business Machines element of the business within the same package. This meant that they could have one system that provided a single view of the entire business.

Benefits to Currie (Business Services) Ltd.

1. Improved margins Prima has allowed Currie (Business Services) Ltd. to improve margins in both the stationery and business machines elements of their business.
2. Increased turnover by having a single view of all their customers Currie (Business Services) Ltds have been able to target customers who use some but not all of the services they offer.
3. Single system for all aspects of the business both sides of the business have benefited from a single view of customer records etc.
4. Easy to use windows interface Ledgerdemain was restricted to certain trained users, in contrast Prima is used by every member of staff and new staff have quickly picked up on how to use it.
5. Greater visibility of sales, purchases and profitability with everybody using Prima low margin sales and high cost purchases are readily visible

Summary

Prima has completely replaced Currie (Business Services) Ltd. Ledgerdemain system and has added a new dimension to how the business operates. Increased turnover and improved margins means that the system will have paid for itself within twelve months. Currie (Business Services) Ltds next step is to look at Primas Internet functionality to allow customers to order directly over the web.