Manufacturer uses practical Business Intelligence tools to drive up sales and profitability

Colchester, UK - 22nd April 2005 - Small metal and thermoplastic accessory manufacturer, Homalocks UK, is using Access Business Intelligence tools to maximise its order book, increase profitability and compete with larger rivals.

Homalocks first implemented an Access Accounts solution back in 1999. Then, as now, the primary objective was to reduce unnecessary administration. Managing Director, Paul Gillingwater, explains: "It was essential for the system to increase our efficiency, by automating as many processes as possible. And Access immediately did what we needed it to."

But the demands of the manufacturing sector never abate and by 2004 Mr Gillingwater was looking for additional savings - and greater responsiveness across his entire operation.

Automating High-Quality Management Information

The answer was Executive Desktop, a business intelligence module that linked in seamlessly with his existing Access solution.

Executive Desktop takes live accounts information and transforms it into business summaries - interactive reports, pre-configured with graphs, trends and statistics. These summaries are prepared, personalised and delivered automatically, to every authorised user; eliminating the need for manual intervention and greatly speeding the decision-making process.

For Homalocks, the impact of Executive Desktop has been huge.

Maximising Sales and Profitability

Executive Desktop connects Homalocks staff to the information they need in order to work more effectively. For instance, sales staff receive five real-time reports each morning: customer sales by period and year to date; a debtors list; a summary of prospective new customers; a copy of the current order book; and details of recent stock movements.

The outcome is a sales team that understands purchasing trends, monitors how sales are progressing and focuses on selling to people who pay on time.

Mr Gillingwater confirms: "The customer sales overview is particularly useful. Knowing what we are selling to each customer enables us to address the question of what we are not selling. Executive Desktop gives us the information we need. We can get an excellent feel for the whole potential product base for each customer - quickly and effortlessly."

Improving Customer Service

In a similar way, warehouse staff rely on the order book summary, as Mr Gillingwater explains: "Executive Desktop allows us to identify new instructions, see which orders are still pending and consolidate deliveries. This increases our efficiency and improves our customer service. Aside from which, savings on delivery costs quickly add up."

Understanding Trends - Good and Bad

"Access Accounts has given us greater ability to look inwards," says Mr Gillingwater. "It shows us the trends we must react to, and sets alarm bells ringing if things begin to go wrong.

We can keep in touch with company-wide activity, every second of the day. With the current state of the manufacturing sector, the ability to adapt quickly, innovate and use technology to our advantage is essential. Access Business Intelligence makes this possible."

Executive Desktop is priced at the same level as standard Access modules. This means a medium-sized company can get up to the minute management information to every member of staff, from as little as £10 per person, per annum.

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Access.220405.NO.BI