Priding itself on unparalleled service, Georgia-based Mid-State Lumber has grown significantly since its founding in 1976, adding multiple locations and expanding into new territories. As their operation grew, the company knew it needed to deliver the same service quality, so in 2005, they implemented Agility.
Agility inventory and accounting software allowed Mid-State Lumber to maintain accuracy, efficiency, and quality of service as they scaled up their operations. Designed for the building materials industry, Agility contains features tailored to the unique needs of businesses such as Mid-State Lumber. It centralizes key business processes so sales, accounting, purchasing and dispatch transactions are created and managed from one place. Any changes made in Agility happen in real time and are reflected across the entire system. This is critical for companies like Mid-State Lumber where purchasing, sales, and dispatch may operate from separate branches.
“I have worked in every department in the company, and I find that Agility is helpful in every area,” said Maria Hall, Mid-State Lumber’s primary system manager. “Anything that you want to do from quoting, automated processing, reporting, to viewers…Agility does it all.”
Agility allows Mid-State Lumber’s departments to coordinate effectively. Because Agility provides real-time data, everyone sees current information. There’s no need for departments to update each other over the phone or email.
“If I change anything, the sales agents and the shipping department see it right away,” said Hall. “If I get a call telling me a customer won’t be ready for their order until next Wednesday, I can just open my viewer, change the day and the shipping department automatically sees that it’s done.”
Real-time data makes it easier for the Mid-State Lumber team to provide excellent service. Employees in every area of operation know information in Agility is current and accurate. There’s no need to double-check that a product is available before placing an order or scheduling a delivery.
“You can be confident in what you are looking at,” said Hall. “If you see that you have 8,044 feet of item A, that’s what’s in the warehouse. The same thing in accounts receivable.”
Real Time
Agility allows Mid-State Lumber to be extremely responsive to customers’ needs. Credit manager Anita Toupin appreciates that results are instant.
“As soon as a guy enters an order, I have receivables change. If a customer is past due and on credit hold, as soon as we get checks and apply them, it frees up their account.”
Agility has also helped reduce the paper trail common in many offices. Agility’s reports and queries pull up all the data she needs in one screen. For instance, she can run a report to find all invoices past due by a certain number of days. Or she can use the A/R Credit Details screen to view an account’s credit information across all branches.
“They have come up with a lot of new things for us that have helped us keep our receivables in a good standing,” says Toupin. “I’ve been with the company for 30 years. We used to work off a weekly aging report, posting by hand, blue sheets, etc. Now, it’s simplified. The mounds of paperwork we had are gone. We have come a long, long way.”
The DMSi team worked closely with Mid-State Lumber and developed solid relationships with their counterparts. As a veteran employee of a service-based company, Toupin is keenly aware of the impact those relationships can have: “DMSi is like a family. It really is. They treat their customers the same way, and that’s a positive thing.”
Cabinet and countertop company Plunkett Distributing was handling hundreds of custom orders every month using a time-intensive, multi-step process.
One employee would create the sales order in the branch’s system. Then, a second employee would re-enter the details from a fax to create the bill of materials (BOM) and work order. It was time-intensive, with an ever-present risk of data-entry error. The company wanted a more efficient way to handle custom orders.
Plunkett Distributing implemented the Agility ERP system and immediately began using the branch transfer functionality, which makes it easy to coordinate remanufacturing processes across multiple locations. Once a rep enters a sales order at his branch, Agility automatically creates the related bill of materials and work order at the production facility. It also queues up shipping and receiving transactions for the final product.
It has been an extremely positive experience for us,” says owner Don Plunkett. “The rep enters the sales order, and then the bill of materials and the work order show up on the screen at our other facility across town. It’s been a huge help.”
Plunkett also leverages Agility’s reporting tools via sales dashboards that make it easy to monitor his team’s performance: “We have better visibility into things like market costs and gross margin violations. We can pull out data that we never could before. I’m able to see things as they are trending instead of hearing about it after something goes wrong. It’s had an enormous impact on our bottom line.”
Don says he’s excited about the future and sees more opportunities for improving operations and expanding the business: “There are things within Agility that are making us better than we ever were before. We’re ready to take another step forward.”
Concannon Lumber Company, which trades, manufactures, and maintains inventories of lumber, plywood, and specialty forest products worldwide, had a problem. Despite using Agility inventory and accounting software for a decade, they felt like they could be doing more with it.
“Our users became complacent,” said Jane Ryan, Controller. “Nobody wanted to change what they were doing, so they weren’t paying attention to new features.”
Cindy McCarville, Senior Account Manager at DMSi, understood their situation.
“If your current processes work and nothing feels broken, people forget to ask how to do it better. There’s so much untapped potential in Agility.”
Concannon’s leadership decided to bring in McCarville to evaluate and improve their current processes. She spent two days with the staff in their Portland, OR office to observe processes and learn about their goals.
“Cindy took the time to really understand the nuances of our business,” said Ryan. “For instance, our export and internal domestic sales teams need totally different information. Also, one of our owners prefers detailed reports, but the other prefers seeing the big picture.”
After her visit, McCarville created a report outlining steps Concannon Lumber Company’s team could take to leverage Agility more effectively. She followed up with several phone calls to Ryan to discuss the recommendations and strategies for implementing the changes.
Things happened quickly after that, with results soon following.
“We’re now using all sorts of functions,” says Ryan. “Automated processing. Amazing. That whole system has completely changed the way we run our weekly reports.”
By automating manual tasks, Ryan has more time to focus on higher-value activities. Instead of going in early every Monday to run the daily balancing reports, they now run automatically on Sunday nights. A task that used to take an hour and a half now took five minutes.
Another major win for Concannon is journal entry import. Previously, the accounting staff would manually update recurring entries each month.
“Cindy showed us how to do the journal entry import. We quit using recurring entries because now, everything is on import. It’s such an amazing tool.”
In addition to recommending specific Agility functions, McCarville’s report also covered best practices for things like dashboards and user interfaces. “Even little tricks like customizing the order entry screen made a huge difference,” said Ryan. “We set up different headers for the export and domestic sales teams so people don’t have to look at information they don’t need. Setting those up the right way really improved people’s efficiency.”
“Now people are looking for new things on their own,” said Ryan. “It’s changed people’s mindset altogether.”
Pro dealers Kelly-Fradet Lumber, serving professional contractors across Connecticut and Massachusetts, had a very specific challenge: Customers sometimes wanted an exact copy of a custom item ordered months or even years ago.
Custom items are a key part of their business, many of which have hundreds of configurable options. To further complicate things, Kelly-Fradet’s customers frequently do business at different branches. They may place the original order at one branch, but then reorder it at a different location.
To improve their service across their locations, Kelly-Fradet decided to implement the Agility ERP system.
“We made the move to DMSi several years ago after experiencing serious growing pains with our previous software,” says Dan Sullivan, Kelly-Fradet’s General Manager.
From sales and accounting to purchasing, Agility handles every aspect of Kelly-Fradet’s operation.
“Agility integrates all our information into a very efficient system,” says Sullivan. “With just a few clicks, you have everything you need to handle inventory management and fulfillment quickly and accurately.”
Agility streamlines custom orders from entry to fulfillment. From the customizable Point of Sale screen, Kelly-Fradet’s team can easily search a customer’s order history across branches to find a specific custom item. The sales rep can then add the item to the current sales order with a few clicks.
“Finding customer information is infinitely easier,” says Rick Barrows, outside sales rep. “Even if a customer isn’t sure about a previous order, we can look up their past orders and re-create the item.”
Another way Agility streamlines the custom item order process is through interfaces with vendors such as Andersen Windows. Once the sales rep creates the original order, Agility pushes details to the interface and submits the order to Andersen. There’s no need for the rep to re-key the order themselves. This not only saves time; it also dramatically reduces the risk of error.
“The Andersen IQ windows interface lets our staff quickly and accurately complete non-stock quotes and orders from their POS computers,” says Ron Reid, manager for Kelly-Fradet’s East Longmeadow branch. “We can quickly get our customers satisfied and back in the field working,”
When it comes to order fulfillment, Agility turns Kelly-Fradet’s multi-branch setup into an asset. Customers can place an order in any of Kelly-Fradet’s branches. The shipping department can then assign it to ship from the location or stocking branch closest to the customer’s job site. If the materials aren’t currently in stock at the desired shipping location, Agility ensures the product is available at the correct branch by the scheduled delivery date.
“Agility saves so much time and research,” says Sullivan. “There is no more guessing. The data that Agility provides allows quicker and better decisions regarding inventory, payables, receivables, and purchasing. Every day, I’m able to accomplish much more and do so more accurately. DMSi has been a key factor in our company’s growth and success.”
Brockway-Smith Company (BROSCO) is the leading distributor of quality doors, windows, and millwork products in the Northeast. Custom orders are a key part of BROSCO’s business, and they run like clockwork thanks to Agility software’s production and order management capabilities.
Agility manages every stage of production, auto-transfers required materials from other branches, and provides accurate delivery dates on every custom job.
Western Materials has been serving general and specialty contractors across the Pacific Northwest for over 50 years. The company provides specialty and general contractors with the best quality products available and exceptional service.
As a multi-location dealer with a large catalog and multiple locations, Western Materials uses Agility’s centralized purchasing features to save time and make more effective buys.
In addition, Agility’s reporting features empower Western Materials to provide their customers with information to help their own businesses.
Beisser Lumber is a full-service dealer serving builders and contractors across Iowa for over 60 years. When the company needed to replace their antiquated point of sale system, Beisser wanted to find a good partner as well as good software. They selected DMSi due to DMSi’s exclusive focus on the building materials industry and commitment to customer success. Watch the video to learn more about Beisser Lumber’s partnership with DMSi, and their experience with Agility software.
Imagine the following scenario: your town is hit by a serious storm. Your equipment is damaged, roads are closed, and local authorities still haven’t restored power. As if that weren’t bad enough, you have customers 20 miles away who want to know where their deliveries are and why nobody is answering the phone.
The hours and days after an emergency are make-or-break moments for a business. Everything hinges on continuity: how quickly the operation resumes critical services. Crisis or no crisis, customers need to run their businesses. Late deliveries and missing orders are heavy blows to a vendor’s credibility.
Most businesses worry about how a disaster might damage their physical assets. But they’re overlooking the most vulnerable part of their operation: data. Buildings can be repaired, equipment can be replaced. But if sales and inventory records disappear, everything comes to a screeching halt.
Think this doesn’t apply to you? Go through the following scenarios and think about how long it would take your business to resume operations:
1. A fire destroys your office, including your server, computers, and paper files. You have no information about open orders, including the ones that need to be delivered in the next few days.
2. Heavy flooding closes all the roads for several days. Local customers are calling their reps, wanting to put deliveries on hold. Customers outside the area need to be notified about the delays. But because nobody can get to the building, there’s no way to access open order records or find out which customers need a call.
3. A hacker pretends to be a customer and emails Accounting with a question about the attached “invoice.” When an employee opens the attachment, it unleashes a virus that tears through your system. All your sales, inventory, purchasing, and accounting records are hopelessly scrambled.
Maybe you’re shrugging off these specific examples: you don’t need to worry about fires, floods, or email viruses. The point is business data can be damaged or lost, just like your other assets. And losing that information is devastating to an operation.
Fortunately, there are steps businesses can take to protect their records. One of the best ways to reduce risk is to move data from a private server to the cloud.
Here’s how cloud-based solutions work: businesses rent space on a giant server in a remote location. They save their business data here and access it through the internet. So when a rep creates a sales order or an accounting clerk prints an invoice, those records are saved on the remote server.
When it comes to business continuity after a crisis, cloud solutions provide several advantages.
1. Your system is safe even when your hardware isn’t.
Let’s revisit the fire scenario. If all your sales information was saved on the office computers, those records are gone and operations stop. On the other hand, if your software platform is in the cloud, it doesn’t matter what happens to the office computers. Your system is unaffected, safe on those remote servers. As soon as you plug in a new computer and connect to the internet, you’re back up and running.
2. Businesses can access their data almost anywhere.
Many private networks can only be accessed locally. In other words, if all your data is on the company server, you need a computer at the office to access it. Data in the cloud, on the other hand, isn’t tied to a local network. In fact, it can be accessed from any computer connected to the internet. So if roads are closed and you can’t get to your building, employees can set up shop in a warehouse or even log in from home.
3. Data in the cloud is much, much safer from cyber-criminals.
Some people have a hard time believing this. Using someone else’s hardware over the internet feels risky to them. In reality, private networks are much more vulnerable to attacks. Let me explain why.
Most businesses only use one tool to protect their networks: a firewall. Essentially, they put a big lock on the front door and call it good. But the door can be unlocked if employees do things such as open infected emails. Once a hacker sneaks inside, he has access to everything on the network.
Cloud-based solutions have giant locks on the front door and all the internal ones as well. In addition to firewalls and anti-virus software, they have cyber-security professionals constantly monitoring for threats. So even if a hacker sneaks through the front door, he has several more layers of security to get through.
Going Forward
When you are aware of your vulnerabilities, you can come up with strategies to mitigate them. Too many businesses ignore the importance of and risks to their data. If you are unsure of how quickly you could resume operation after a disaster, it’s time for a serious talk with your management team. You may never face this worst-case scenario, but you’ll sleep better at night knowing your business is prepared.
This article originally appeared in National Hardwood Magazine.
Customer surveys are a great way to get closer to your customers. If you know what their priorities are and take steps to answer their needs, you can out-serve the competition.
Like any tool, however, surveys can be misused. Poorly designed questions and methods yield misleading information which is then used to justify bad strategies.
Here are a few tips to ensure your surveys deliver valuable, accurate feedback.
DO
Build a list. Instead of giving surveys to all your customers, focus on those you’d like to build long-term relationships with. (This may be based on revenue, cost to serve, payment history, types of products purchased, etc.) Even if these aren’t currently your biggest accounts, you’ll get more value by prioritizing their needs.
Keep it simple. The longer your survey gets, the less likely people are to complete it. Avoid the temptation to ask about anything and everything. Your goal should be to find out one or two key issues.
Collect both quantitative and qualitative information. Quantitative answers (e.g. rating scales) are easier to analyze and let you see trends across the group. Qualitative answers can give context and insight into those trends. Here’s a basic example:
1) When it comes to choosing a vendor, what are your top 3 most important criteria?
__ Products are high-quality and in-stock
__ Orders are filled quickly and delivered on-time
__ Sales/service staff are knowledgeable and helpful
__ Back office services are accurate and efficient (invoices, returns, etc.)
__ Prices are low
__ Other:
2) As your vendor, how could we help your business be more successful?
These are fairly generic prompts. You may want to adjust the questions and answer options based on your customers and business.
DON’T
Accept a low response-rate. Say you survey 400 customers but only 10 people respond. It’s risky to assume that those 10 people have the same ideas and opinions of the other 390. Before you send out your survey, decide how many responses you’ll need to feel confident about the results. If you don’t hit this number the first time, then make a second or third effort at collecting that feedback.
Ask complicated, leading questions. Avoid confusing your audience or putting words in their mouth. You will not get useful information from a question like, “Explain how we deliver the best service of any other vendor similar to our size and market.” Again, keep your questions and answer options simple.
Rush to judgement. It’s easy to misinterpret survey results. For instance, say your customers rate you low on “service quality.” You may assume this is a complaint about your sales staff. Your customers, however, are just irritated about all the late deliveries. Consider all the possible meanings of your results before taking any course of action.
Whatever your results, remember they only represent one piece of data. The more you know about what your customers value, the more you can align your business with theirs. If you can deliver on the elements they care about most, you’ll have a major competitive advantage.
