Technology For Increased Efficiencies

The hunt is on to find the perfect software that does it all.

PEI members who have been hunting for the perfect software solution may feel like they are playing a leading role in an Indiana Jones movie, hunting for the treasure that is sure to be around the next corner, only to face more obstacles that are seemingly insurmountable. Those who give in and settle for an off-the-shelf solution that is really not the solution still dream of finding the genie in the bottle capable of granting them their three wishes. That said, the editors of The PEI Journal spoke with over three dozen members to uncover the software solutions that were meeting their needs and to find out what needs are still going unmet despite their sometimes expensive efforts to uncover the Holy Grail.

“Having someone in-house who can update software is both good and bad. Thereís no need to contact a service desk, and I have exactly what I want and need. On the other hand, when he goes down, so do I.” — Gary Estes, Estes Equipment Company

Custom vs. Off the Shelf
PEI members are finding off-the-shelf products that meet some of their business needs. In some cases, those off-the shelf software solutions are tweaked and made to more specifically meet those needs. When it comes to customized products, the ability to fully integrate all aspects of our business operations would be a definite touchdown!

QuickBooks, an accounting program that requires little or no accounting experience, is popular among both small and larger business owners. Versions are available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Gary Estes, president, Estes Equipment Company (Chattanooga, TN), is using QuickBooks supplemented by an in-house written program. He says, “With the modifications made by one of my employees, I can do exactly everything I want to do with it and not have to rely on additional support.” Off-site salespeople utilize the system to bid jobs by cost and sales price, by vendor, by the particular phase of a job, printing out the data, and separately breaking out costs for equipment and installation.

“Although we budget for it as a cost of doing business, itís still shocking that every four or five years we have to do either a major overhaul or replacement of the IT system.” — Bob Nemeth, Stanwade Metal Products

Todd Byars, sales manager and director of operations, Goodson Service Company (Midland, TX), uses a mix of QuickBooks for accounting and inventory control support (which is updated at least annually), an Excel spreadsheet for job costing and TurboCad, part of a family of precision design application products. Byars says, “These are the products that we started out with and as weíve grown, we've been able to continue to use them. TurboCad remains very versatile, user-friendly.”

A customized open system lets Bob Nemeth, executive vice president, Stanwade Metal Products (Hartford, OH), maintain inventory as well as provide quotes, all while fully integrated with the company's cash and receivables functions. During the past 14 years, Nemeth has upgraded his system every five or six years. His latest upgrade provided some challenges which he says his company is working through. The customized system provides general ledger and payable reports as well as detailed sales reports. Says Nemeth, “It's working great! We customize petroleum equipment kits that combine various items. The package has one part number, but that number may include five or six sub-categories of various parts. We also customized our inventory reports and accounts payables and receivables aging reports. We can e-mail and fax quotes to our customers from the program.”

“Distribution software doesnít lend itself to general contracting. Service and labor is a business unto itself, as is the car wash division.” —Phillip Farrell, Double Check Company

Phil Farrell, president, Double Check Company (Kansas City, MO), spent more than a year researching software and evaluating each package's strengths, weaknesses and costs. He believes that one ideal software to serve all of his company's needs does not exist. “The only way to find one system that addresses each facet of a typical PEI member's business is to customize the program.” Farrellís choice: Microsoft Dynamics NAV, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software intended to assist small and mid-sized businesses. The software is said to be easier than many to customize. Farrell explains, “Navison is primarily a distribution package for handling parts and backorders, tracking and splitting shipments and transfers from a truck (or a warehouse) to a branch.” The Navison product is also capable of supporting Farrell's car wash division. To support his company's construction operations, he integrated Microsoft's Project Pro that is used for job costing and estimating.

Sue Neal, senior vice president, Palmetto Oil Equipment Co. (Columbia, SC), has been using a fellow PEI memberís product for the past four years. The software Neal purchased from Vertical Marketing Systems includes some customized features. She says, “It has a lot of features that will give us what we like, including tracking the performance of our service technicians. We are trying to fine-tune the job-costing aspects which we have not used that much.”

At one time, Michael Farmer, president, Farmer Co. (South Williamsport, PA), used customized software. For the past three years, though, he has been utilizing Peachtree Accounting software for accounting, inventory, job costing, all general bookkeeping and service dispatching support, and he has no complaints. He urges others to make sure that their potential need for service support is in balance with the service capabilities of the software provider when selecting a new software system.

“With equipment costs changing so often, it would be helpful if vendors could download automatic updates so we wouldnít have to enter them manually.” — Rick Rollins, Excell Fueling Systems

Several years ago, Dan Ripley, general manager, Quality Nozzle Company (Bethel, CT), invested in a customized software product, hoping to utilize a fully integrated software system. Today, he has the benefit of a world-class customized dispatching software and relies on Peachtree Quantum for accounting software. Ripley says that the Peachtree Quantum product is ideal for the company whose sales are less than $10 million. He explains, “As your sales grow, but are still below $10 million, finding affordable software can be more difficult. Just as important, when we first chose the Peachtree product, we chose it because it supported six different price levels.”

Ron Ritchey, general manager, Innovative Petroleum Equipment (Syracuse, NY), has utilized off-the-shelf POS software since the companyís 2006 inception to support inventory, billing, receivables and payables requirements. Its only challenge, says Ritchey, is that the software company is based in Seattle, Washington. “If we need support, we need to wait until noon to contact them.”

George Thompson, manager, Callis-Thompson (Harrington, DE), has used Activant's Profit 21 since the late 1970s. He says, “The software continues to meet all of our needs. It may even provide for more than we need.”

“The experienced employees understand the industry and our challenges. Their knowledge is critical in implementing a new system for the future and the next generation of employees.” — Craig Hoyer, Kubat Equipment Service Co.

The Need to Upgrade
Upgrades are needed without fail at least every few years, although some members have skated by with nary an update for ten years. The key to any upgrade or change in software provider is to thoroughly research the software provider and to balance that provider's support capabilities with the need for support that your company may require in the future.

When smaller business owners are faced with the need to shop for upgrades and an opportunity to meet an individual customerís need or the need to address a critical immediate issue, shopping for an upgrade will always be put on the back burner.

The dominant spreadsheet application, Microsoft Office Excel, includes calculation, pivot tables and graphing tools, and is most often bundled with Microsoft Office. Rick Rollins, president, Excell Fueling Systems (Texarkana, TX), says it is time to update some of his Excel files. “Right now, using the spreadsheets for bidding works so it has not been a top priority. But as price increases become more frequent, we need to be able to utilize automatic updates for vendor pricing, which requires additional software.”

“We put a five year clock on our technology. In year six, we look for the direction to go, come to a short list of 3-4 vendors, and then by year seven, we implement.” — Don Jones, Jones Brothers Co.

The best testimonial a software provider can receive is when its customer selects an upgrade within that family of products. Craig Hoyer, president, Kubat Equipment & Service Co. (Denver, CO), did just that when he purchased a new Prophet 21 System to better manage his inventory control requirements. A customer for ten years, he says, “The new Prophet 21 software, I hope, is a better tool and will facilitate our growth in the future. I want to purchase scanners for my service vehicles to do remote credit card processing. This software will support that.” Hoyer offers advice to other PEI members who are contemplating an upgrade. “The time to implement an upgrade is when you have a team of people who truly understand your business and our industry. They will understand the challenges and what your business really needs.”

After using three different, very expensive customized software packages over a period of 12-13 years, Don Jones, president, Jones Brothers Company (Bossier City, LA), settled on QuickBooks, and adapts it as needed. “The cost of maintaining the custom programs was outrageous,” says Jones. “There were constant, necessary, required updates. We made a decision to keep our software system simple. And that was to find a canned software package that was adaptable.” Jones has been keeping it simple (and less costly) with QuickBooks for the past three years. When adapting software to his company's needs, Jones says, “The key is to keep it as low cost as possible when going in, because you will be forced to make various adaptations as time goes on. It's also important to purchase a system that will support the add-ons without getting too slow.” Jones believes that it is just a standard for all businesses to expect to re-do one's entire system every five to seven years.

“Many customers on the petroleum side prefer to speak to somebody when placing an order, rather than placing an online order. But they are not hesitant to go to our Web site to check the status of their order, and they do so frequently.” —Charlie Tew, CEO, Southern Pump & Tank Company (Charlotte, NC)

Cory Yundt, executive vice president, Waleco Inc. (Mississauga, ON, Canada), is expecting to replace his accounting package, Simply Accounting Pro Version 9. The Canadian software system is designed to support the sales and accounting functions of smaller businesses. Yundt says, “It works fine, but it doesn't offer the powerful tools that some other products offer. We are looking for a package that has more flexibility in customized price lists and customer discounts.”

PEI Members Shop for Solutions
Never underestimate the importance of surveying various providers to determine if they can meet your company's needs. It may take up to a full year to determine who your companyís new provider should be, and another year to be up and running with the new program.

The SAP Business Suite originated as an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing, but is now better known as a bundle of business applications that provide integration of information and processes, collaboration, industry-specific functionality and scalability. After unsuccessfully using a customized product, Charlie Tew, CEO, Southern Pump & Tank Company (Charlotte, NC), found an off-the-shelf, one-stop solution in SAP. His company has relied on the system to manage his inventory control and accounting functions since 1999. When shopping for a solution, he sent questionnaires to some 80 software providers. Based on responses, his list was whittled down to three providers. A group of salespeople, service managers and office managers heard presentations and voted on which of the three programs best met their needs. Twenty-eight of the 30 employees participating in the selection process chose SAP. Says Tew, “Information is stored in a warehouse format, allowing us to pull real-time sales, inventory, accounting and service data when we need it. Even more important, the system is online and allows customers to electronically place their orders and track their status.”

“Most companies that deal with electrical, plumbing or HVAC go to a local supply house and pick up their parts. We canít do that since manufacturers are building to order.” — Derrick Biermann, Biermann Services

What Works and What Doesn't
No software package is perfect. Thatís the purpose of a Wish List. And it's often why customizing a software system may be the best choice. One of the key benefits of PEI membership is the opportunity each member has to network with other members and to share valuable information regarding the software solutions that best meet their needs.

Sage MAS 90 primarily targets the wholesale distribution industry and, to date, most of its updates are focused around the distribution and warehouse management niche. Michael Shelby, president, The Southern Co. of North Little Rock (North Little Rock, AR), says, “The software is great for accounting purposes and pretty good when it comes to job costing. It is not suitable for inventory management, which explains why most larger distributors operate two different software systems.”

Platinum Software (now known as EpiCor Software) has been the product of choice for Suzi Hill, president, The Hill Co. (Fort Worth, TX). Having used the job-costing product since 1984, Hill points to its lack of user-friendliness as a motivating factor in her desire to find a different system.

Some Things Never Change
No matter how grand the technology, there are times when errors are simply the result of the mistakes we humans make. Some things just never change.

Michael Webb, president, Duke Hicks Plumbing & Petroleum (Chattanooga, TN), has relied on Maxwell Systems Colonial software to support his sales, service orders and inventory management for the past 18 years. Purchased originally off the shelf, Webb has customized it over the years to meet his company's needs, upgrading the system twice a year. In fact, the company often serves as a beta test site for Colonial's new upgrades. Still, Webb says, “When we have challenges, it is usually the result of human error.”

John LoRusso, president, Barlo Equipment Company (Hicksville, NY), was working in our industry before there were computers. And, according to LoRusso, he still can work without a computer. He says, “Others in my company are more heavily impacted by technology and software issues. I've been around long enough to know that most mistakes that take place, regardless of the software program, are because of human error. Garbage in, garbage out.” What We Want! We want our systems to be faster, more user-friendly, able to track cores, be integrated with the rest of our system, maintain real-time inventory, customize database reports, access state sales tax, include photos in the database, be multilingual, and eliminate update glitches.

Wish List
It is clear that no one software package, and in some cases, not even customization, will result in the perfect system to run your business. Is it out there? No one seems to have found it, the software that will do it all. But there is hope. Technology changes quickly in this digital age, and users are king.

So here it is, direct from the mouths of PEI members... the Technology Wish List...that will make our companies more efficient... Software that fully integrates accounting, inventory and service. More reporting functionality for sales data which will support better forecasting capabilities. A price standard that would automatically update prices on our computers when manufacturers raise their prices. The integration of GPS already in place with software that remotely tracks service hours and parts by the service technician. The ability to upgrade without losing 20 years of history currently stored on a legacy system. Software that could detail the number of man-hours utilized to better gauge profitability. Dynamic software that allows us to mine data, tied to a GPS system enabling the mobile service tech to upload and download service orders. A system that has a good Bill of Mate rials integrated with the ability to create drawings, make take-offs easier, and better work through various assemblies. A universally acceptable format so that everyone can get on the same page. Customer service software that links offices into one location/phone call. Software that makes the tracking of sales commissions less complcated. Cores! Cores! Cores! A good way, any way, to handle them.

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The PEI Journal • Third Quarter 2008 • Volume 2, No. 3 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.