BES Limited

Powering Everyday Life

Plumbing and heating systems are easy to overlook—until they fail. Behind every functioning home, commercial facility, and industrial site is a network of components that must perform reliably, often under pressure and without interruption.

Companies like BES Limited sit at the centre of this critical ecosystem. As a distributor of plumbing, heating, and gas supplies, BES plays a vital role in keeping essential infrastructures running. With more than 15,000 products stocked in a 77,000-square-foot state-of-the-art warehouse in Birmingham, UK, the company is built for both scale and speed, delivering the parts customers need, exactly when they need them.

That responsibility demands operational precision, real-time coordination, and the ability to respond instantly to changing customer needs. But delivering that level of service becomes increasingly difficult when growth outpaces technology. Years of rapid expansion had exposed the limits of BES’s 20+ year-old ERP system, manual workflows, and paper-heavy processes. Without real-time visibility or scalable systems, even routine tasks required unnecessary effort and risked slowing down the very responsiveness customers depend on.

A Future-Ready Platform

To continue meeting customer expectations and build a foundation for future growth, BES set out to modernise its operations, streamline processes, and gain the visibility needed to move faster and operate smarter. Enter Ben Bispham, Head of IT at BES who has been working to modernise systems and replace the aging ERP system.

Bispham recalled, “Our legacy system was outdated, paper-heavy, and on-prem. We knew we wanted a cloud-deployed, low-maintenance environment with strong integration capabilities and the ability to grow and evolve with the business.” A comprehensive evaluation led by independent ERP consultants AHC created a short list of Epicor Prophet 21, Infor, SAP, and Intact; Epicor emerged as the frontrunner.

Epicor offered the flexibility, integration capabilities, and cloud approach we needed to keep evolving.

“We chose Epicor because we needed a system that would grow with us,” Bispham shared. “Some of the alternatives felt like we’d be back in the same position in a few years. Epicor gave us confidence we wouldn’t. It was about future-proofing the business. Epicor offered the flexibility, integration capabilities, and cloud approach we needed to keep evolving.”

Streamlined Flow

Before implementation, many of BES’s core processes relied heavily on paper, particularly in the warehouse and order management workflows. Even minor issues, such as printer failures, could disrupt operations. With Epicor Prophet 21, BES transitioned to an increasingly paperless environment while integrating existing warehouse technologies, including voice-based picking. “We were able to connect everything without disrupting how the warehouse operates,” Bispham noted.

Epicor Automation Studio played a critical role in this transformation, enabling seamless integration and data exchange between systems and eliminating manual handoffs. Processes that once required multiple steps and interventions are now streamlined and automated. By translating orders into Epicor Prophet 21 via API, it allowed the business to go live without major website changes while preserving familiar workflows for warehouse teams. It also helped enable connectivity with existing hands‑free voice‑picking technology, ensuring operators could continue working as usual while improving productivity and without disruption.

Beyond integration, more granular data insights supports smarter inventory management—leveraging data to optimise warehouse space through identifying slow-moving or seasonal items and driving targeted promotions. With automated pricing updates flowing directly to the website, it creates a more agile, efficient, and data-driven operation end to end. Bispham highlighted, “Automation Studio let us go live without interruption, connecting our website, Epicor Prophet 21, and warehouse systems seamlessly. Our team kept the tools and workflows they knew, while we gained smarter inventory insights, better space utilisation, and the ability to automate promotions and pricing in real time.”

By integrating order and customer data from Prophet 21 with carriers such as Royal Mail and DPD—and automating label generation—BES has significantly reduced manual effort in shipping while improving speed and accuracy.

Real-Time Visibility

One of the most impactful improvements has been immediate visibility into operations.

With dashboards and live data, teams no longer rely on static reports or delayed information. Instead, they can see exactly what is happening across the business at any moment. “The data is in front of you within Prophet 21,” Bispham emphasised. “You can immediately see where the issues are and act on them.”

This visibility has transformed decision-making, enabling BES teams to dynamically reallocate labour based on order volume, identify and resolve bottlenecks before they escalate, and use up-to-date activity data to engage customers proactively. With tight delivery windows, this level of insight is a game-changer. Bispham elaborated, “The accuracy and visibility that Epicor provides will potentially allow us to have even later order cutoff times and faster delivery.”

Smarter Inventory, Fewer Backorders

Inventory management has also seen significant improvements. With better access to usage data and demand trends, BES can now make more informed decisions about purchasing, stock levels, and warehouse organisation. “We can clearly see what’s moving and what isn’t,” Bispham explained.

We’ve seen dramatically reduced customer backorders, better stock availability, and more efficient use of warehouse space, which not only improves operational efficiency but also strengthens customer satisfaction.

The company has also developed custom tools using ERP data to forecast demand more accurately, taking into account usage patterns, supplier lead times, and sourcing constraints. Bispham divulged, “We’ve seen dramatically reduced customer backorders, better stock availability, and more efficient use of warehouse space, which not only improves operational efficiency but also strengthens customer satisfaction.” 

Clarity, Control, Confidence

While resistance to change is human nature, BES users recognised the value of Epicor Prophet 21 after experiencing its intuitive, role-based interface. The new platform is significantly more user-friendly, enabling employees to work more efficiently from day one. “Training time is probably a quarter of what it used to be,” Bispham highlighted, accelerating onboarding, improving productivity, and increasing overall employee satisfaction.

Just as importantly, the system has helped to deliver a new level of confidence across the organisation. The play environment, a replica of the live system, allowed teams to fully test processes ahead of go-live and before any major updates. “Because it’s an exact replica, we know everything will work exactly the same,” Bispham summarised.

This combination of usability and reliability extends into financial operations as well. With all financial data consolidated within the ERP system, BES now has clear visibility into customer accounts, credit limits, and payment behaviour. “We’re much more aware of who is nearing or exceeding their credit limits,” Bispham commented. That insight has enabled stronger enforcement of credit policies, reduced open debt, and improved cash flow, demonstrating how better systems drive both operational and financial efficiency.

Looking ahead, BES is building on this foundation by expanding customer self-service, automating invoice processing, and enhancing analytics and reporting. Underpinning these initiatives is a flexible, modern platform designed to evolve with the business. “The integration capabilities have really opened up what we can do,” Bispham acknowledged. “Improving customer self-serve through our website is a priority and Epicor Prophet 21 allows us to make that happen, as well as to enhance service levels.” With continuous updates and scalable architecture, BES is well-positioned to adapt quickly and confidently to whatever comes next.

A Stronger, More Agile Business

For BES Limited, the move to Epicor has helped to deliver more than a system upgrade. It has enabled a fundamental shift in how the business operates. By eliminating manual processes, improving visibility, and strengthening control across operations and finance, BES has created a more agile and scalable organisation.

In an industry where speed, accuracy, and reliability are critical, that transformation positions the company to meet rising customer expectations—and to grow with confidence in the years ahead.