Customer Stories

Echo-line Security Equipment Distributors, Namibia

Echo-line is a wholesaler/distributor in the security industry, distributing market leading brands such as Centurion and Nemtek.

Echo-line has traded for over 10 years and is the market leader in its field. Due to its excellent customer relations and superior after sales service, Echo-line is in a strong position. Echo-line is well respected by its customers due to its professional approach to its business.

Situation
In Echo-lines industry, managing serial numbers and customer relations is critical. Echo-line had upgraded to Accpac’s Windows version two years ago, together with sizeable investments in hardware infrastructure, but was looking for a solution that was easier to customise and offered more integration. Echo-line decided to implement HansaWorld after reading about its benefits in a local newspaper in September 2005.

The New System
The key requirements for a new solution were:
• Fully integrated serial number tracking
• Advanced CRM functionality
• Advanced Stock Control
• Advanced Quotations and Sales Management
• Easy and affordable customisation
• Full integration of the Accounting, Service Orders and Contact Management functions in one integrated database.

“We were looking for a value for money system that could offer us superior functionality, especially in CRM. HansaWorld offers many features at the touch of a button, and allowed us to stop using the many Excel spreadsheets and mail merge functions that we had before.”, comments Axel Röder, Managing Member of Echo-line Distributors CC.

HansaWorld was selected above systems such as Accpac and Omni Accounts, because it already offered most of the features that Echo-line desired, but was also easy to customise to offer the exact functionality that was required to leverage Echo-line’s already strong market position.

“We particularly like the fact that it can be customised easily, something that we could not have done with the competing products. Also, customisation is done right here in Windhoek, so turnaround is quick” notes Röder. “More importantly, this gives us the benefit of developing the solution to match the exact needs of our business, rather than be stuck in the rigid environment we had before. It is important for us to have our business software work according to how we would like to run our business. We are not restricted to what the software can do, but can shape the business process to our needs to maximise our competitive edge”.

The Implementation Process
The system was sold and installed by Active Business Solutions CC, the official Namibian HansaWorld Business Partner.
The system was implemented within 2 weeks of the decision to buy it, in September 2005, and by January 2006 the Echo-line team was well settled into the new routines. Any issues that came up were dealt with speedily by the implementation team.

Benefits and Results
Echo-line is already experiencing the benefits of their new system, not only in reduced cost of software, but also in terms of benefits the many integrated features HansaWorld offers. Echo-line saves time in contacting its customers and producing mail-shots, SMS marketing campaigns and labels for its customers – all of these tasks can be carried out in a few clicks. Much of the paperwork has been eliminated, especially with regards to serial number handling and the management of customer information.

Röder comments, “We were surprised by the speed and responsiveness of the application. The speed is definitely in a different league to what we had before. We definitely save a lot of time because we don’t have to wait for the application to respond when opening windows or producing lists. This has lead to a marked decrease in the number of customers waiting to be served at our sales point. The interface is really easy to use and best of all, one quickly feels familiar with all the features HansaWorld offers."

"Also, we now have more detailed information about our stock, which reduces our expenses on warranty claims. Most of all though, we save a lot of time and money managing our customers and contacts. Not only is it easier to manage their information, but it is also much easier to gain meaningful information about the customer status” comments Röder.

“Another key benefit I would like to mention is that we did not need to upgrade our hardware. In fact, HansaWorld is much leaner on system resources than our previous system and allows us to make better use of our existing resources.” remarks Röder.

Amelia Röder, Financial Manager of Echo-line comments, “HansaWorld’s drill-down functionality improves the accounting work phenomenally, as it makes lookups and trouble-shooting so quick and easy. I also value the way that HansaWorld handles corrections on nominal ledger transactions. This is a straightforward feature to use, yet so informative as it allows us to view the original transaction with its correction on one record, ensuring easy audit trails.”

Future Plans
In the future, Echo-line would like to implement the HansaWorld webshop in order to have a fully integrated online presence. Echo-line’s owners will also start to use HansaWorld from home via internet so that they can spend more time with the growing family. Röder also plans to make full use of the built in CRM functionality, to make this a core part of the company culture.

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