Success Stories

Upgrading to Activant Acclaim Helps Company Save Money and Grow Revenue

For three generations, Perrigo, Inc., of New Haven, CT, has been owned and operated by the Clark family. Founded in 1921, the company started out as a pipe valve fitting/mill house. As the distribution industry changed and Charles Clark took over as president in 1996, Perrigo found a niche selling stainless steal tubing and valving almost exclusively to pharmaceutical businesses. It now sells to customers throughout the world, with most of the company's customers located on the East Coast.

In 1998, Clark made the decision to upgrade Perrigo's Activant system to Acclaim from XL, which Perrigo had been using since the early 1990s. "Activant was the only company I looked at," says Clark. "About a year after Perrigo went live on Activant XL, our building was struck by lightening. Within 12 hours, Activant had couriered a new hard drive to me, put my backup copy on it, and reconstructed my old drive so I didn't lose any data. I was operating by the next business morning. After that, I said I would never go with another software company."

Of course, sentiment aside, it is essential to have a computer system that is reliable and does what you expect it to do. Perrigo found that in Acclaim. Clark appreciates how easy it is to use Acclaim. "With the press of a button, Acclaim prepares our end of the month reports," he explains. "My accountant even likes it when he comes in every quarter to go over things. I don't even have a bookkeeper anymore. Thanks to Acclaim, I was able to eliminate that position and a secretarial position - at a savings of $100,000 annually - because once I set up all my accounts and vendors, all I have to do is enter our payables at the end of the month and Acclaim gives me a report. I found that to be a very valuable tool in handling my business."

Perrigo also uses the cash collection part of Acclaim. Since converting to Acclaim, the company shaved approximately one week off its "days to pay." And that's just turning over the cash. In addition, since Acclaim alerts Clark when a customer has gone over a certain period without paying, he doesn't let his customers' accounts go as long as he used to.

Clark is also enthusiastic about his conversion from XL to Acclaim. "Activant's installation staff is top notch," says Clark. "I worked with them in advance to set up my accounts before they arrived to do the installation. The system was installed in a day and a half and we went live immediately. I instantly discovered Acclaim's strength on the accounting and cash collection side and recently upgraded to Acclaim 12."

Acclaim is now an integral part of how Perrigo does business. Clark sites Acclaim's flexibility and ease of use as being major benefits. "I can't imagine another system being easier to use," says Clark. "Perrigo has been growing at about 20 percent annually and Activant Acclaim has been very valuable in helping us achieve that growth."

Clark has been actively encouraging fellow distributors to convert from XL to Acclaim. "I realize that people are reluctant to try something new when they have something that they can rely on that works," says Clark. "I've spoken with a few distributors who plan to stick with XL because it works for them. The thing about Activant is, by going to Acclaim, you're not jeopardizing what works. It's a solid program without any holes in it, and it's a better program than XL."

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