Success Stories

Activant Acclaim and Professional Servies Set Technology-Savvy Distributor Apart

R.L. Brews Ltd., a leading supplier of electrical equipment and supplies headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was founded in 1927 by the grandfather of current company president, Bob Brews. From two locations, one in Calgary and the other in Edmonton, R.L. Brews represents more than 100 suppliers of electrical products. The company's main focus is on products for the electric power utility market, industrial, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers.

One Small Step for Technology

The company's use of technology can be traced to Brews' father, who had a great interest in statistical forecasting. He began Brews' foray into technology in the 1960's by designing a basic inventory control system, and implementing his design on a Hewlett Packard programmable calculator.

From a hand-held calculator to the installation and operation of an early Honeywell platform, the company moved quickly to embrace the efficiencies technology provided, even writing software to meet their specific needs. They created a transaction-based program, with emphasis on inventory control and order entry. Years later, they moved to a commercial system, and after three years of attempting to resolve on-going problems, a visit to a local users group proved cathartic. According to Bob Brews, "nobody had a system that worked properly," so they decided to look for a better solution elsewhere.

The Search for a Solution

In the fall of 1995, after a thorough appraisal of potential suppliers, their search brought them to Activant and the purchase of XL. At the time, they knew Activant Acclaim was on the horizon and made arrangements to upgrade as soon as the product was available.

In selecting Activant, Bob Brews notes, "...most systems were accounting based...and I guess one of the things that really appeals to me about Activant is that [Acclaim] is focused on what drives our business. Accounting is a thing you have to do...it's not what our business is about. Inventory control and order processing is what our business is about. And I have not seen anything that does it as well as Activant!"

Brews goes on to say that most of his cost efficiencies and savings can be realized on the "order processing side of things. And, if that works well, that's where you can save costs. And Acclaim does a really good job of order processing. It's fast, and it supplies good information."

Looking forward, Brews believes that competition will lead to even greater demands on distributors to supply more products at an ever-decreasing cost. So, according to Brews, it becomes even more essential that distributors take advantage of every opportunity to improve their cost structure, while constantly striving for better ways to meet the service needs of their customers. Brews thinks he's found that in Activant.

Training is Important

When hiring additional staff, Bob Brews looks for recent graduates with a technical background. As part of their learning experience, new employees are expected to complete Activant Educational Services's Computer-Based Training series for Acclaim. Within six weeks, according to Brews, they should be productive. Brews doesn't think the same possibility exists with competitors using other systems.

Web-based support is another area of Activant services that appeals to Brews. Because they "tend to push the system" to exploit the many facets that Acclaim offers, Brews and his employees often find they need to learn more about specific features. Since moving to the Acclaim solution, Brews reports, "We have doubled our sales, but we've only required a staff increase of about 20 percent."

Web-Based Customer Service and Support

As might be expected of a company with an early commitment to utilize technology to improve operating efficiencies and service, customers can find what they need any time of day or night by visiting www.rlbrews.com on the Web. The company's objective is to be "the service provider in our marketplace" Their e-commerce strategy is, "it's not the hub, it's just one more spoke in the wheel."

Opportunities to Learn More

Brews also appreciates the diverse range of customers who attend Summit conferences each year. He cites the information gained through the exchange of ideas with others as extremely beneficial.

Although the "local" users group is relatively far away in the Washington-Oregon region, Brews has also attended a few meetings, and found them quite useful. Again, he appreciates the wide-ranging and diverse interests of the people who attend these gatherings, and the problem solving information gained through years of actual operating experience.

Like most business leaders, Brews has noted a considerable increase in pricing pressure during the last five years. This pressure has made it necessary for companies to adopt measures to reduce their own costs. The move to technology has been pronounced. Service has also become increasingly important, with "the bar always rising."

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For more information on Activant's enterprise software solutions, please fill out our Web Contact Form.

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