Success Stories

Activant Acclaim Allows Georgia-based Plumbing and Electrical Distributor to Allocate More Resources to Sales

A willingness to embrace new technology has helped City Plumbing and Electric's six branches, five showrooms, and 110 employees flourish despite an increasingly competitive market.

"Ten years ago, customers would be a lot more accepting, if we didn't immediately have what they needed," asserts David McClure, operating manager at Northeast Georgia's largest distributor of plumbing and electrical supplies. "Now, they want it when they want it and they want it now."

Technology - namely, Activant Acclaim - has helped City Plumbing and Electric deliver what customers want, when they want it. One feature that has helped the company stay competitive and retain customers is Acclaim's streamlined workflows.

"If one of our branches runs out of something or has a big order, a workflow is set up and it e-mails the guys in the warehouse," McClure says. "We put it on a truck, and that same day, within minutes, possibly, it's moving from one store to another."

"Before we had workflows and e-mail, we had to run some kind of report to find gaps and holes in our inventory," McClure adds.

Doing More with Less

Technology has also helped the company cut administrative costs while increasing sales, McClure says. Administrative tasks that were once handled by staffers are now managed by Acclaim.

"We operate with less administrative people now than we did five years ago," reveals McClure. "We put more people in sales and they, of course, generate more dollars."

An Impressive Support System

Roger Moore, systems manger at City Plumbing and Electric, admits that with new technology and new systems come inevitable questions and occasional issues. But, what impresses him the most about Activant is its extensive support program. He especially likes the Web-based support, in which he and other users are able to place cases online "rather than having to make phone calls and hold and leave voicemails back and forth. It streamlines things," he says.

McClure admits that it's hard to put into words how important technology is to City Plumbing and Electric. However, he says that current technology allows company officials the invaluable opportunity of having instant access to information.

And, everything the company invests in now is a "backbone" for the future, Moore asserts.

"Who knows how technology is going to change 10 or 15 years down the road?" Moore asks. "Our main goal is to put technology in place that will help us do business better, which in turn helps us serve our customers better."

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