Running a Building Materials Distributors’ means wearing many hats, Executives need to manage the company finances, ensure top notch customer service, and deliver products on time. Traditionally, they performed these functions with Old School technology, like spreadsheets and paper and pen. Nowadays with margins shrinking and competition increasing, they must modernize their operations. Adopting a cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution eliminates duplication, boosts productivity, and enables real-time decision-making.
Historically, Building Materials Distributor created business information haphazardly. They had spreadsheets tracking product inventory; customer information housed in stand-alone databases, and financial data residing in accounts payable applications. Common data, like a product order, was entered inconsistently and stored in multiple places, creating numerous inefficiencies. A Cloud ERP system, like Acumatica’s Distribution Edition, provides a more cohesive, stronger, more flexible technology foundation, one that strengthens their business in several areas.
Demand Forecasting
Distribution businesses are built on understanding how much product each customer needs. The old way was tracking information with Excel spreadsheets, an approach that has become less and less effective. Employees had limited to no visibility into what was on hand, what was moving out the door, and what interested customers.
A cloud ERP provides more transparency. Employees, partners, and customers see how much product is available, how quickly inventory is diminishing, and which items are starting to run low. Consequently, they can forecast demand more accurately and response to market changes more proactively.
Siloed Data
The traditional approach meant that important information, like customer contact data, was not shared. As a result, inconsistencies arose. The financial department looked at data that told them one tale, and the finance department information told them another. Confusion and frustration arise as clients interact with the firm.
A cloud ERP breaks down data barriers. Customer information is stored in one location and used by all applications. As a result, customer service becomes more consistent, and customer satisfaction rises.
Improve Inventory Management
Building Product Distributors typically deal with a wide range of products and materials. Construction is a volatile market. An interest rate change by the Federal Reserve sends demand up or down, creating a quick uptick or downtick in the need for building materials.
With traditional systems, companies were often managing from behind. They needed to collect information from multiple systems, consolidate it, put it into new formats, and then generate reports finding out after the fact what had happened.
A cloud ERP inventory management system automates the monitoring of what items are coming in and going out of the business. Consequently, reconciliation takes less time, and Building Materials Distributors work with real-time data. Therefore, they find it easier to ensure optimal inventory levels are maintained, reduce the risk of overstocking or stockouts during market fluctuations, and optimize replenishment processes. These features ensure that products are readily available and minimize stockouts and excess items sitting on shelves and wasting money.
Streamline Supply Chain Management
Building product distribution involves managing complex supply chains with multiple suppliers and delivery channels. Companies need to prepare for what customers need next as soon as they load items onto delivery trucks. Historically, material information was stored in distinct applications used by different departments. They were unable to understand what is where.
A cloud ERP system, like Acumatica provides visibility into the entire supply chain, from procurement to distribution, enabling better coordination and decision-making. It helps optimize sourcing, transportation, and warehousing activities to minimize costs and lead times
Support for Multiple Devices
Heterogeneity is the norm today in terms of the systems that users rely on. Some employees work with desktops; others prefer laptops, and smartphones are becoming a very important productivity tool. Legacy systems struggled to support different systems. Each time a new device was introduced, or an existing system upgraded, they needed to tweak the application infrastructure, a process that not only took time but was also prone to human data entry errors.
Cloud minimizes and, in some cases, eliminates such problems. Its modular design makes adding or upgrading devices a simple process. Often the user enters the device information themselves, offloading the task from overworked IT personnel. These systems seamlessly support any device, from anywhere and at any time.
Automate Financial Processing
Money flows in and out of a Building Materials Distributor business on a continual basis. Traditionally, much of the information was manually input and checked to ensure accuracy. The approach was time-consuming and inefficient. Companies had trouble tracking who paid what and when. Accounting teams spent much of their day collecting, inputting, and verifying financial data and less on managing the financial assets.
A cloud ERP includes intelligent digital automation features. The system streamlines the order-to-cash process, from receiving orders to invoicing customers. It automates order entry, verifies product availability, calculates pricing, and generates invoices. This functionality reduces manual errors, speeds up order fulfillment, and improves customer satisfaction.
Take Advantage of Advanced Analytics
With hundreds of products and thousands or more data points, companies often struggle to gain a clear picture of how well their business is operating. Many Building Materials Distributors find themselves drowning in data. They have lots of it but cannot quickly and easily use it to determine how well the company is functioning.
Modern ERPs provide comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that help businesses gain deep insights into their operations, sales patterns, and market trends. These tools allow for the analysis of historical data to identify seasonal patterns and forecast future demands. They provide features, like replenishment recommendations based on forecasting, seasonal trends, and sales history.
Strengthen System Security
Distributors’ financial data is constantly under attack. Consequently, many of these firms struggle to keep information secure because they work with tools from yesteryear that cannot thwart today’s sophisticated attacks.
They need a sophisticated system, one that delivers high level, enterprise level security. A cloud ERP helps by enforcing standard processes, tracking regulatory changes, and maintaining audit trails. It also identifies potential risks and implements controls to mitigate them.
Serve Customers More Effectively
Legacy systems were part of one application. As a result, Building Materials Distributors had limited ability to understand the customer journey, when, where, and how they began interaction with your company and where they were now.
Integrating EPM applications with Customer Relationship Management solutions enables these firms to track customer interactions, sales trends, and buying patterns. This data is vital for predicting customer behavior as market conditions change so Building Materials Distributors adjust their approach accordingly.
Scale Gracefully
Legacy systems were constrained by the hardware on-site. They had to put a lot of time and effort into maintaining the physical technology infrastructure, and upgrades were time consuming and required a lot of manual input.
With an ERP system, corporations dial up new resources quickly whenever they are needed. They often add needed resources with just a few swipes. Consequently, these companies are better able to tweak their technology infrastructure whenever business conditions require it.
Customize Business Applications
Corporations have a large and growing volume of applications that enable them to serve their customers. Information needs to flow seamlessly from one solution to another. Making the connections with traditional systems was challenging because the software interfaces supported so many capabilities.
Vendors design modern ERP systems from the ground up in a modular fashion. They include simple-to-use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that offer plug-and-play capabilities. The Acumatica ERP solution uses standard web technologies and development languages, so businesses can easily modify software logic to better support construction, commerce, and field service applications. Consequently, customers can add functionality needed to connect people, information, processes, and equipment.
Examine Your Options
Building Materials Distributors have plenty of choices when examining ERP systems. Many of these products offer generic capabilities for all businesses instead of industry-specific features. A cloud ERP system includes advanced financial features for deferred and recurring revenue, project accounting, contract management, billing, policy management, asset deprecation, and payroll.
Find the Right ERP Implementation Partner
Identifying the right system is only one piece in a successful deployment. Building Materials Distributors need to hire a third-party expert that can help them install the system. Which one? The Value-Added Resellers should have a track record of success with similar installations. i-Tech is a Gold Certified Acumatica ERP partner and stands by you from the start of a project throughout its lifecycle.
The partner’s expertise needs to extend from the theoretical to the practical. They have satisfied customers willing to talk about their experiences, just like Eagle Fence Distributing and its experience with i-Tech. In order to thrive in today’s highly competitive and dynamic market, Building Materials Distributors need a solid technology foundation. They cannot be encumbered by the baggage that legacy systems carry. They need a modern, digital solution, like Acumatica’s Distribution Edition. The full-suite, one-stop- solution provides real-time insights and application integration that drive business growth. Let i-Tech help you leverage your technology, so you grow your business and reach your potential.
