May 2011
Professional Builders Supply considers Agility SaaS 'mission critical'
One of DMSi’s longest running Agility customers, Professional Builders Supply, utilizes DMSi’s best practices and Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery to provide excellent customer service to contractors in North Carolina. Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, PBS supplies custom home builders with lumber, windows, exterior and interior doors, mouldings and other building products. PBS embraces technology and uses DMSi’s cloud based Agility SaaS platform to build on their reputation of dependability, honesty and integrity. “Agility is one of two mission critical systems for us, the other being e-mail, and it runs everything from sales order entry through delivery and back office invoicing and accounting — every facet of our business is run with Agility,” PBS’s Vice President of Finance & Administration, Steve Lochbaum explained. “What is great about SaaS is it's reliable, and anywhere I can get an internet connection, I can run Agility.”
Because SaaS allows Agility to be accessed from anywhere, it gives them a back-up plan in case of power outages. “It is nice because even if we lose power at the store, we can get into Agility and continue to function,” PBS’s Vice President of Operations, Matt Vordermark added. “Even if we can’t print a delivery ticket because power to the printers is off, we can plug-in a hand-held printer and get a pre-printed laser delivery ticket.”
Agility supports PBS’s fundamental focus on customer service in everyday situations. “It is fast and easy to find and enter information,” Vordermark described. “The orders are correct and we have a lot of flexibility to get a customer in and out of our yard very quickly.”
Agility’s functionality for non-stock items is also a significant feature for PBS. “As long as you take advantage of how Agility works, you are going to know where everything is at any given time,” Vordermark said. “Our business is 50 percent non-stock items. Being able to have a screw or hanger or door sweep in the system and then walk right to the spot where it's located and physically touch it makes our life so much easier. It is very accurate.”
Using SaaS, PBS discovered the ease of expanding when they decided to open a second location in 2009. “There was no additional hardware or software to purchase and the software made it easy to add another branch,” Lochbaum added. “Within several hours, under the guidance of our DMSi implementation experts, we were entering orders and doing business as PBS – Wilmington. This was especially important because our expansion was decided and executed on in a matter of days. I'm not sure if any other system, especially an in-house run one, could have handled this.”
DMSi takes care of server maintenance and backups for SaaS, so PBS and other Agility customers using the platform can operate leaner and more efficiently. “When you are a business our size, the IT function is me. That’s it,” Lochbaum explained. “But, with the support I have from DMSi, I see no strategic reason to bring anyone else on to help with Agility.”
About DMSi Software
DMSi Software is a privately held company providing software to nearly 400 building materials companies in North America. Since 1976, DMSi Software has consistently empowered its users to become more productive, competitive and efficient. For more information on DMSi Software, please call 800-347-6720 or visit dmsi.com.
Press Contacts
DMSi Software
402.330.6620
dmsi@dmsi.com
