Service Electric Supply Improves Pricing Process With Savance

Service Electric Supply, Inc. is an electrical distributor that has been servicing southeast Michigan since 1990. They carry a large variety of inventory in their 60,000 sq. ft warehouses, and work with everything from independent contractors to large industrials.

 Ken O'Dell, VP of Service Electric Supply had this to say about the company's decision to impement Savance Enterprise. "We had been looking for a solution to our quoting issues for quite a while. We had a unique scenario where we needed to prepare quotes for commodities as well as large project quotes such as lighting. The biggest problem that we had was consistency and communications. If you did not do the quotation, your only option was to contact the person that prepared the quotation."

"Then there was the dilemma of finding a quote that you had done for a customer. Some used Microsoft Word, some used Microsoft Excel, some marked up the requests with pen, and some just jotted down prices on an order pad. Even if the quote was located, the sales person would then have to re-key the entire order into the business system."

"Savance Enterprise solved these problems by allowing my staff access to everyone else's quotes. In addition, we could now search for any part of the part number, which made locating items much faster. The system also allows us to set reminders for quotes, which encouraged proactive follow up. This is something that we had always encouraged from a management level but never really provided the necessary tool until Savance Enterprise. The system can automatically require some users to enter a lost order reason for quotes that do not get converted to an order which helps us understand how to increase our quote to order ratio."

"In addition to Savance's application for our staff, we also opted to implement their Internet customer web site. This gives our customers a way to look up pricing, check our stock, build quotes, approve quotes, and follow the status of their order."

"We have received great feedback from staff and our customers on our new professional-looking quotes, improved response times, and our state-of-the-art online system. Above everything else that Savance has done for us, we are most impressed with their approach to business as a partner rather than a vendor/customer.I would recommend them as a vendor and wholeheartedly recommend their product to anyone in the distribution industry."

Learn more on the Savance website.

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Developed through a partnership with Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

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Wagner Machine Co. Grows Business With ECi's M1

Wagner Machine Company in Champaign, Illinois, was founded in 1982 as a precision machine shop. Today, Wagner operates out of a 30,000 square foot plant that houses more than 20 CNC mills and 20 CNC lathes. Over the past 30-plus years, it has seen steady growth, but sometimes, growth can also bring problems. As the company grew, management found the largely home-grown systems that were being used to run the business simply unable to keep up.


“Before we brought in ECi's M1, we were using six different software programs to run the company,” Wagner recalls. “None of them actually spoke to each other and one of our key programs was crashing frequently because the database could not handle the volume and complexity of the business we were processing.”


Fast forward to today—with the company now using M1 to steer the ship—and those six different programs have been replaced by a single system that seamlessly integrates all the company’s critical management and data functions, providing the kind of efficiency and productivity the Wagner team needs to maintain its solid growth pattern.


Wagner points to several features that made M1 the right choice for the company. “I really like the way M1 gives you the ability to have multiple modules open at the same time,” she says. “Switching back and forth from Estimating and Quoting to Purchasing, for example, is seamless with M1. You don’t need to close out one window before switching to another and you certainly don’t need to open up a second instance of the program and use up a second license,” she points out.


M1’s ability to provide quick and easy access to critical business information also earns high marks. “M1’s search functionality is incredibly robust,” says Wagner. “I can modify M1’s search grids however I want and then save my preferences in the system so they’re there when I need them again—that’s a huge plus for just about any aspect of our operations.”


But even with all that growth, the basic philosophy the Wagners put in place continues to drive the company, due, in no small part, to the power and flexibility M1 has provided. That’s good news by any measure. And what’s even better is that regardless of where future growth may take the company, M1 will be more than able to help keep it healthy and profitable.


To learn more, visit the ECi Newsroom.


New Software Research Guides Available
Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software? Want to know how the software's features and functions can assist you? Please contact sjay@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.


For 2018 Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2018_Distribution_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2018DSG


For 2018 Manufacturing Software Guide:
http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2018_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2018MFG


Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

Also, read our 2018 Mid-Year Supplements http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2018_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2018Supp
Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.





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The Value Of The Digital Distributor Quoting Platform

In today’s transactional world, it is easy to focus solely on availability and timely delivery of needed parts as a measurement of distribution platform effectiveness. While it makes sense that timely delivery is the ultimate performance metric, it is not the only one that you should be tracking. In other words, the story does not stop there.




When you look at the features of a Distributor Quoting Platform, you need to look beyond functionality to determine what it contributes in the way of bottom-line savings. For example, being able to streamline the procurement process through a match of line item requirements and identified supplier capabilities, significantly reduces the time it takes to source parts. This capability as well as others within the platform will, in turn, free up valuable resources to focus on managing sourcing and delivery exceptions or take on more clients within your existing resource infrastructure. For each organization, the calculation of the benefit will be different, but meaningful.




Another area of impact to consider is the ability to apply cost drivers to supplier pricing for logistics, customs or other added elements to ensure that you are analyzing supplier responses on a level playing field basis. These are just two examples of what you should consider when assessing the overall effectiveness of your Distributor Quoting Platform, especially from a sourcing standpoint.




Unpacking the hidden value does not mean that you lose sight of the primary objective which is having the right parts in the right place at the right time to meet your client demands. What it does mean is that you should also look at the individual functional elements from the standpoint of increased efficiency and lowered costs.




To learn more about the QSTRAT and the QLM Distributor Quoting system, visit their Newsroom.


New Software Research Guides Available
Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software? Want to know how the software's features and functions can assist you? Please contact sjay@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.


For 2018 Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2018_Distribution_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2018DSG


For 2018 Manufacturing Software Guide:
http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2018_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2018MFG


Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

Also, read our 2018 Mid-Year Supplements http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2018_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2018Supp
Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.







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Why You Need a Quotation Management System

Question: “I’ve already got an ERP system, why do we also need a Quotation Lifecycle Management (QLM) system?
Answer:  A good Quotation Management system complements your ERP. ERP “quoting modules” are typically quote “forms” that can be sent to customers and turned into orders if the business is won. Quotation Lifecycle Management covers a complex and collaborative process gathering inputs and approvals from all areas of your organization, with the objective of winning more business based on submissions that are high quality, complete and delivered on time.


A QLM system provides access to quote related master data information outside the confines of the ERP and requires only minutes to setup and use. Business users from Engineering and Sales will be able to leverage a system that works without the restrictions of ERP but still provide the database support, work-flow control and accountability that quickly and accurately allows development of a superior response to your customer’s request.


A good QLM allows for development and use of customer specific quoting templates, process and output definition and will also provide the analysis tools and what-if comparisons built around key quote elements, such as production and sourcing location, volume scenarios and sales forecasts or other non-standard cost drivers. These “price development” tools and techniques are not a normal part of an ERP system.


QSTRAT has been providing Global Sourcing, Quoting and Costing Software Solutions for more than 15 years to Manufacturing and Distribution customers in North America, Europe and Asia.


Learn more at the QSTRAT Newsroom.




New Software Research Guides Available

Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?
Want to know how the software's features and functions can assist you?
Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

For 2017 Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2017_Distribution_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2017DSG 

For 2017 Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2017_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2017MFG 

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services<http://www.software4distributors.com/> and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard<http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx>.

 

Also, read our 2017 Mid-Year Supplements. http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2017_Mid_Year_Supplement.pdf. 

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.