Feeling that its Advantage system had not kept pace with technology, Handy Andy investigated business management systems available for the lumber and building materials industry alternatives. “We researched a half-dozen computer systems. Epicor BisTrack suited our needs best,” recalls Bell.
Live data on dashboards 24x7
Epicor BisTrack was selected because of “the way the system works,” according to Bell. “The technology Epicor BisTrack uses means we can keep our system live 24 hours a day, and our outside sales people can use tablets to do what they need to do anytime, anywhere.”
Jeff Edwards, CFO at Handy Andy, concurs: “Epicor BisTrack is a phenomenal system. It's Windows-based and easy to use as a basic counter sales package. But you can add onto it as your volume increases or your needs change.”
Edwards continues, “Epicor BisTrack has a lot of neat features. The dashboards are phenomenal. The store managers can see real-time sales information on their dashboards. It's a plus to be able to tailor them to our needs.”
Inventory integration helps financial visibility
The Epicor BisTrack platform helps Handy Andy consolidate and coordinate operations at its seven locations, resulting in heightened business intelligence, more efficient processes and better customer service. Edwards comments, “In this system, you can get almost any information you want.”
“Our top priority was inventory control,” Edwards recalls. “With BisTrack we are able to integrate our inventories and buy better to control our inventory dollars. Each branch does its own purchasing, but they're able to look into other branch inventory and decide whether to buy or truck between locations.”
“From a financial standpoint, we can now correctly account for our inventory with accurate valuation,” says Edwards. “The ease of transferring GL data to our financial package, and then being able to see our financial data in real-time for all of our locations-it's just phenomenal compared to what we had to do before.”
Upside for continuous improvement
“BisTrack has functionality and options the other products don't,” says Edwards. “For example, the Mobile Delivery app, with capability for delivery drivers to take a photo and attach it to an invoice, allows our customers to see the load on their yard. That's the best, because theft is becoming more of an issue on job sites.”
Employee focus and continuous development
Bell was also impressed by the Epicor BisTrack team, whose supportive approach leading up to the implementation helped to prepare and train Handy Andy's employees. “The training to prepare my people is something that we hadn't been exposed to before. It was very informative,” Bell recalls, adding that there are also opportunities for continuous training at the user meetings and a “supportive user community.”
Handy Andy has Epicor host their system at the Epicor Hosting data center. “I'm saving by not having a dedicated IT person,” says Edwards. “It's a tremendous relief not to have to worry about a server any more, and know that dedicated IT personnel are keeping my system up and running.”
He concludes: “We feel good about the support and the service. And we feel good about Epicor BisTrack being here in 10 years and beyond.”