Financial Director
Securikey
Securikey is a leading stockist and supplier of safes, key cabinets, padlocks and other security products.
Established in 1973 and based in Aldershot, the team supply a comprehensive range of innovative security and safety products to a wide range of sectors including retailers, mail order and e-commerce businesses as well as the NHS, schools, local and central government and multinational businesses purchasing for their own use.
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When Securikey came to OGL in 2011 looking for an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system to manage their processes they had a number of issues that they wanted it to resolve.
Securikey's Financial Director took time out of her busy schedule to explain what those issues were, how OGL Software resolved them and how it has come to be "invaluable" to the day-to-day running of the company.
Prior to the decision to invest in OGL Software, Securikey were using two systems; one to manage their customer database and one to manage their accounts. They did not integrate with each other and were not particularly sophisticated.
"By 2011 we had roughly 1,700 stock items and 1,800 customers on our database and the systems we were using were not effective at handling that level of data and offered no automated processes. Everything had to be dealt with manually which resulted in lots of duplication of work and the re-keying of quotes, orders and purchase orders."
Securikey's situation was not uncommon to OGL. It is the case that many companies, understandably, start out with simple systems and manual processes and, as they grow and gain success, those simple systems become insufficient and the manual processes become too time intensive. It can become the case that something has to change for the business to be able to move forward and remain competitive, profitable and efficient. OGL Software is a complete business management software suite that offers just that: competitive advantage, increased profitability and improved efficiency. Securikey was the perfect fit for OGL Software which is designed for stockists, distributors and wholesalers.
The software brings together supply chains, stock management, distribution processes, customer relationship management (CRM), accounts and business intelligence into one central system, as well as much more.
Securikey commented: "We had read all about [OGL Software] and were impressed. We had four key requirements for the new system which were to provide an efficient way of dealing with our diverse pricing structures, a CRM system that was integrated with all other functions, a less onerous way of dealing with assembled stock items and a way of handling transactions in multiple currencies. We have been delighted with the way these requirements have been met by [OGL Software]."
Within OGL Software complex pricing structures, customer discounts, special offers, price breaks and promotional prices are all handled with ease which ensures staff are quoting and selling at current prices with correct discounts applied. The unique ‘haggle' facility even shows order profitability so a salesperson can negotiate on price and ensure company guidelines on profit margins are adhered to.
"For Securikey these functions have allowed us to offer targeted discounts and promotions to specific customers for the first time in order to maintain our competitiveness."
The CRM module within OGL Software records all communication to and from the customer in a single clear screen, automatically combining information on sales enquiries, sales order processing and the sales ledger, reducing double entry of data and increasing efficiency. This allows for intelligent customer profiling and targeting to achieve stronger and more profitable customer relationships.
"Introducing an integrated CRM system to Securikey has been brilliant. It saves time, reduces errors and enables us to react quickly and accurately to customers' requests."
OGL Software streamlines the process of stock assembly by displaying information which details the components that make up the complete assembled item. For example, warehouse staff will be supplied with picking notes that show all the components that are to be picked to assemble the complete item ready for dispatch.
"[OGL Software] has certainly improved our stock control and purchase ordering processes, including for those items made up of multiple components which before had been very time-consuming.
"Overall, we have significantly reduced our stock holding by allowing [OGL Software] to work out our optimum stock levels for each product so that we perfectly balance customer requirement with efficient stock management."
OGL Software has a special feature which allows the exchange rate at the time of purchasing or selling stock (if a company deals with foreign suppliers or customers) to be input into the system and accurate sterling value calculated. Sterling values are displayed against products to ensure businesses are always working profitably, avoiding the problem of making ‘best guesses' as to a product's sterling value.
"This is another function that [OGL Software] handles impeccably," commented Securikey
At OGL we are delighted to hear of a system's successful integration into a business and the numerous business benefits realised.
When we asked the Finance Director what she considered the biggest single improvement brought about by OGL Software she said: "[OGL Software] has become such an important part of running our business that it is difficult to pick out a single area as it is the interaction of the various modules that make [OGL Software] so invaluable. I guess what makes us most comfortable is the knowledge that [OGL Software] ‘just works' and if there is a hiccup or we have enquiry we know that OGL are there for us and won't pass the buck to some distant software author. Keep up the good work!"
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