Success Stories

Activant Consultant Helps Distributor Think Outside of the Box and Dramatically Increase Solution Utilization

Experts agree: Most distributors use only about 30 percent of the functionality available in their enterprise software solutions -- and many use far less.

Scott Giering, controller and system administrator at Banner Supply, can attest to this. Before his arrival at Banner, employees at the Florida-based distributor of building materials only used a fraction of their Activant solution's capabilities.

Because Banner measures inventory differently than most distributors, employees had difficulty utilizing that functionality. When Giering came on board, the company was using its Activant solution only for invoicing.

One of Giering's initial assignments was to solve the inventory issue so Banner could fully utilize the solution's capabilities. "My task was to bring inventory online and gain a return on investment from the software we purchased," he remembers.

To accomplish his mission, Giering enlisted the help of a Activant Consultant. Activant Consultants help distributors learn more about the nuances of their solutions while streamlining processes, reducing costs, and gaining insight into new business strategies.

"If it wasn't for the consultant's help, we might still just be using our Activant solution as an invoicing machine," Giering says. "Now, we're getting so much more out of it."

Out of the Box

One of the greatest benefits the Activant Consultant offered was his depth of knowledge of both the solution and the industry -- and his ability to help Giering think outside of the box. "Since we equate inventory by square feet, we had to change the way the system handled unit sizes, and the way we entered the information into the system," he says. "The people who were here before me were locked in a box -- and they couldn't see anything beyond that box. Essentially, our consultant helped us out."

He continues: "The consultant really worked with us. He understood the mathematics happening inside of our processes, and knew how every part of the solution related to every other part. If we had tried to do this alone, things wouldn't work as seamlessly across every area of the system like they do now."

Since Giering settled the unit size issue, and because the company now uses the solution to track stock levels more accurately, Giering expects to see at least a 7 percent decrease in inventory over the next year -- going directly to the company's bottom line.

"We've seen a huge return from our investment in consulting," concludes Giering, "and because we're now using our solution properly, we're seeing a bigger return on our software investment, too."

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