Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Construction Company Builds Customer Satisfaction, Boosts Business Efficiencies
Overview
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Construction and Manufacturing
Customer Profile
Mr. ShowerDoor builds and installs high-end, custom shower door enclosures for customers on the East Coast. Started in 1981, this growing company boasts a customer list of over 25,000.
Business Situation
Mr. ShowerDoor’s PeachTree accounting program could no longer accommodate the company’s business growth. In addition, the company wanted to automate its order and inventory tracking processes.
Solution
The company implemented the Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® software, Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003, and other Microsoft technologies as a comprehensive business management infrastructure.
Benefits
n Technological basis for profitable business growth
n Fast, responsive customer service
n Automated, cost-effective inventory management
n Extensible, dependable technology for best productivity / “We review customer and transaction histories confidently at any time we like, and we have the reporting tools that help us understand how the business performs and what action might be needed.”
Robin Morvay, Manager of Finance and Administration, Mr. ShowerDoor
Mr. ShowerDoor provides high-quality shower enclosures to a large number of customers, many of whom generate repeat business for the company. When the customer base grew to almost 25,000, the company’s PeachTree accounting software and manual business processes were not efficient and reliable enough to direct growth and provide excellent customer service. Teaming with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner CAL Business Solutions Inc., Mr. ShowerDoor implemented a business management infrastructure with Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains® software, Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003, and other Microsoft technologies. Now the company can respond to customer needs rapidly; practice automated, cost-effective inventory management; have the financial control and insight to profitably steer the business; and enjoy increased efficiency throughout the organization.
“It used to take up to 15 minutes to answer a customer’s question. Now we can respond immediately. And the information is complete, current, and dependable.”
Robin Morvay, Manager of Finance and Administration, Mr. ShowerDoor
Situation
Since 1981, Mr. ShowerDoor combines meticulous craftsmanship and the best quality materials to deliver the finest shower enclosure products possible. The company has succeeded as a growing business, building a customer base of approximately 25,000. Mr. ShowerDoor is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, and has showrooms in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania.
After many years of consistent growth, it became clear that Mr. ShowerDoor’s business management technology was not enhancing the company’s ability to take its business to the next step. The company used PeachTree software for accounting purposes, but the database could no longer accommodate the growing number of customer accounts—evidenced by a 30-day period during which the system did not function at all. Besides such performance and reliability issues, Mr. ShowerDoor found it difficult to answer customers’ questions because the system couldn’t maintain account histories in a single location. In addition, while the company could create basic financial reports, it wanted to be able to perform more in-depth, customized reporting, especially regarding financial performance.
Mr. ShowerDoor also wanted to consider technology solutions to make its business processes more efficient. For example, the company only tracked its inventory manually. As a result, customer orders were sometimes delayed because the right parts were not in stock. To arrive at more reliable inventory counts, Mr. ShowerDoor would take an annual inventory outside of regular business hours. Up to four employees would come in on a Saturday, working expensive overtime, to take stock. In addition, managers had to check inventory regularly in an effort to keep stock levels replenished.
To further complicate operations, the company had a 14-step process to track customer orders, again a series of manual, paper-based procedures. Customer service and sales employees found it most difficult to answer customer questions in a timely manner because it was never easy to find the right information when it was needed. In addition, much of the business data was at risk because the paper-based processes did not have a backup system of any kind.
“We wanted a comprehensive business management system that would help us to streamline our processes, would provide a single location for order information, could scale to accommodate our growing business, and help us to provide the best customer service possible,” explains Robin Morvay, Manager of Finance and Administration for Mr. ShowerDoor.
Solution
To help find a solution to its business and technical challenges, Mr. ShowerDoor enlisted the help of Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner CAL Business Solutions Inc., formerly known as IntelliBridge LLC. Based in Connecticut, CAL Business Solutions Inc. has a team of dedicated experts who provide Microsoft technology solutions with a high business value to companies in all industries. Originally, team members from Mr. ShowerDoor and CAL Business Solutions Inc. met at a seminar featuring Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains® 7.5 software, which is now part of Microsoft Dynamics™. The full solution now in place at Mr. ShowerDoor integrates Microsoft Great Plains, other Microsoft technologies, and a third-party solution.
Implementing Microsoft Great Plains
Mr. ShowerDoor replaced its basic PeachTree system with Microsoft Great Plains. The company implemented several financial modules, including Payables Management and Receivables Management. To improve its supply chain management processes, the company also implemented Purchase Order Processing, Inventory Management, and Sales Order Processing. To accommodate its reporting and forecasting needs, Mr. ShowerDoor rolled out Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics–FRx® software. In addition, the company implemented QuicTrac/GP, a third-party solution designed by Schedeler Solutions for Microsoft Great Plains. QuicTrac/GP enables bar code capabilities; inventory managers at Mr. ShowerDoor use the solution to record the inventory’s bar code information, track inventory movement usage, and complete physical inventories. The current inventory information is immediately reflected in Microsoft Great Plains.
Building a Full Business Management Infrastructure
Subsequently, CAL Business Solutions Inc. implemented a complete, unified business management infrastructure for Mr. ShowerDoor. One key component of the infrastructure is the Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition operating system, a full-featured server and network solution for smaller companies. Small Business Server 2003 includes Microsoft Windows SharePoint® Services to create internal team Web sites for sharing documents, calendars, and tasks; Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 for management of electronic communications; and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 as the business database.
The solution runs on the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system. Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition with Service Pack 2 is the operating system for all desktop computers. Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003 provides employees with the business productivity tools they need in order to perform word processing, spreadsheet calculations, and other tasks. All desktops also feature the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client for the management and organization of e-mail messages, contacts, schedules, and related information.
Mr. ShowerDoor began to see positive results from the technology soon after implementation. With assistance from CAL, the company continues to add capabilities to the solution and fine-tune its functioning. Mr. ShowerDoor will soon replace its proprietary customer service application with one that can integrate with the Microsoft technologies now in use. The company will also integrate Microsoft Great Plains and Windows SharePoint Services to make executive dashboard and customer information readily available. In addition, Mr. ShowerDoor is going to streamline the order process by using efficient forms created and managed in the Microsoft Office InfoPath® 2003 information gathering program.
Benefits
With a new business management infrastructure, Mr. ShowerDoor provides better customer service, operates more efficiently, and can manage its business better for growth. Says Morvay, “Definitely, the customers are happier because we serve them more efficiently—and, after all, that’s what drives our business forward.”
Technological Basis for Profitable Business Growth
Company managers found it difficult to assess business performance or report on the criteria they wanted to see to be able to take the company in the best direction for growth and profitability. Although highly interested in pursuing the custom business, the company could not do so easily, given the constraints of its previous software tools. With extensive reporting and analytical capabilities available in the integrated business management solution, Mr. ShowerDoor now can efficiently assess its business performance and plan executive action. “We review customer and transaction histories confidently at any time we like, and we have the reporting tools that help us understand how the business performs and what action might be needed,” says Morvay.
Examples of business reports that have become easy to produce and can be presented in a short, concise format are customer activity detail, revenue by individual sales associates, additional sales by installers, commissions based on sales results, and installer productivity by number and description of jobs installed. In addition to Microsoft Great Plains, Mr. ShowerDoor credits Microsoft FRx and the helpful smart tags in the Office 2003 programs with facilitating reports and business insight.
Fast, Responsive Customer Service
“It used to take up to 15 minutes to answer a customer’s question. Now we can respond immediately,” says Morvay. “And the information is complete, current, and dependable.”
Before, when customer service representatives needed to answer a customer’s question, they would need to put the customer on hold, locate the appropriate documents, and review all paperwork for the information they sought. Alternatively, they would call customers back after researching their queries. Customers would not always wait patiently, and some would become upset.
Today, current billing and financial information is available from Microsoft Great Plains, with pertinent business documents residing in centralized folders on Windows SharePoint Services. Morvay explains, “Using Microsoft Great Plains together with Windows SharePoint Services as a document management tool has dramatically improved the order process and positively impacted our customer service quality.”
At Mr. ShowerDoor’s main office, service representatives and estimators generate approximately 100 proposals for new customers every week, in addition to responding to inquiries from existing customers. With a high call volume at all times, the ability to handle customer interactions efficiently is critical to the company’s ability to deliver consistent, excellent service to growing numbers of customers. Adds Morvay, “Being able to assist—effectively—all customers calling us also contributes to the positive visibility of the company.”
Automated, Cost-Effective Inventory Management
With the bar coding system, Mr. ShowerDoor’s inventory managers track stock and inventory movement easily and quickly. If inventory levels fall below certain critical values, Microsoft Great Plains alerts the purchasing manager. Buying additional stock can happen in a timely manner, without having to pay rush-shipping fees or other extra costs. The company also avoids tying up funds in needlessly high inventory levels just to avoid outages.
In addition to helping the company’s cost control, efficient inventory keeping helps increase customer satisfaction. “For us, good inventory management also means that we don’t have to ask customers to wait for their projects to be installed and possibly risk losing their business,” Morvay says.
Extensible, Dependable Technology for Best Productivity
Mr. ShowerDoor does not have an IT department. The company runs the integrated Microsoft Great Plains, Windows Small Business Server, and other technologies with its own resources, and continues to engage with CAL on enhancement projects. Mr. ShowerDoor enjoys doing business speedily, without interruptions resulting from technological limitations. Says Morvay, “We don’t have any downtime, and the solution runs much faster than what we had before. It really increases and accelerates the entire company’s productivity.”
In recent years, Mr. ShowerDoor has added staff to manage its growing business. The Microsoft solution does not slow down, even if all team members work with it simultaneously, and it can accommodate additional users with ease. The previous business system would exhaust its capacity and force employees to wait or work late to perform their tasks, incurring additional costs and heightening frustration. Now the company’s business can move forward, unhampered by such problems.
Microsoft Business Solutions
Microsoft Business Solutions offer integrated business applications and services that allow small and midsize organizations and divisions of large enterprises to connect employees, customers, and suppliers for improved efficiency. The financial management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and analytics applications work with other Microsoft software, including the Microsoft Office System and the Windows operating system, to streamline processes across an entire organization. This gives businesses insight to respond rapidly, plan strategically, and execute quickly. Microsoft Business Solutions are delivered through a worldwide network of channel partners that provide specialized services and local support tailored to a company’s needs.
For more information about Microsoft Business Solutions, go to:
www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions