Success Stories

Activant Prophet 21 Takes a Small Distributor to the National Marketplace

In 1984, Scott and Craig Jacobs began running Interstate Connecting Components (ICC) - a distributor of electronic connectors - out of their apartment. The Company, which currently serves a largely defense-subcontractor customer base, originally used paper forms to track inventory, shipping, and accounts. But as business grew, ICC moved its operations to a warehouse and business processes became more difficult to maintain.

Scott Jacobs, ICC vice president, purchased a Macintosh computer and set up databases to manage the business. As ICC's revenues grew at a rate of about $1 million per year, the legacy system grew in size and complexity and was unable to handle the load efficiently. The company was in danger of being swamped by its own success.

Replacing an Out-Dated Legacy System

Many of the business system's 50 databases linked together, but the critical shipping database was not and therefore required an inefficient, separate re-keying of information. Shipping continually fell behind schedule. Another problem was inventory replenishment. ICC would often be overstocked on certain products while completely sold out of others. Forecasting was not a capability of the legacy system and neither was profitability reporting. ICC had an accounting staff of four people that worked overtime just to keep data current. ICC realized that to maintain its current growth curve they had to upgrade in the company's information technology capabilities.

Scott Jacobs began looking for the best solution for ICC, regardless of its operating platform. After months of considering the capabilities of many competing systems, he chose Activant Prophet 21 as the most robust solution to handle ICC's business information. His research showed that Prophet 21 had the best all-around functionality for managing inventory, printing reports, and handling all aspects of a distribution-centric business; plus, he quickly realized the value of its SQL Server database. SQL Server makes the business data available to many other powerful analytical and e-commerce applications.

Prophet 21 to the Rescue

ICC went live with Prophet 21 in May 1999. It immediately gave their business a shot in the arm. Inventory fell by 20 percent - a considerable savings. With Prophet 21, ICC could now share data with suppliers, which made updating prices much easier. They could also create kits for their customers, simplifying the purchase process by grouping several related items under a single product number.

Furthermore, the company trimmed its accounting department by two full-time employees, yet the remaining staff now had more freedom to manage real business initiatives instead of simply treading water. SQL Server made reports easier to print and facilitated both customers' and employees' access to business information.

With SQL Server, ICC made some information, such as purchase orders and shipping updates, accessible through their web site www.connecticc.com, dramatically improving customer service.

With the help of Prophet 21, ICC opened an autonomous western office in Denver, CO - a key to competing on a national scale. "All of our competitors have offices throughout the United States," says Scott Jacobs. "Only after implementing Prophet 21 did we have the technological capability to maintain an independent office in Denver and compete in certain markets. Now, our growth continues to accelerate."

Westward Bound

With Activant technology, ICC has grown from a small, single-location business to one that now looks westward for untapped business. The Company has adeptly negotiated the defense subcontractor market space - filled with names like Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon and Boeing - and now seeks to expand into other arenas as well.

In the future, the company looks to move into the audio, video, broadcasting, and mixing equipment markets. ICC sees an opportunity for their business to serve these other industries that also rely heavily on electronic connecting components. With Prophet 21, ICC knows the information technology aspect of their business has been settled. Management can focus on bringing in more revenue without the fear of it strangling the rest of their business.

ICC realizes what a powerful commerce channel the Internet is and plans to increase the level of its Internet play. "We know that this is the next leap forward and we want to do it correctly," says Scott Jacobs. With Activant as a technology partner and Prophet 21 as its business system, ICC is certain to handle this challenge as it has others in the past: with a careful assessment of their technology needs and an eye to their future growth.

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