Kerridge Commercial Systems offers “cutting edge software for the merchant industry”, according to Ian Mitchell at Parker Building Supplies. Ian is Information Systems Manager at the independent and award winning timber and heavyside builders’ merchant.
The company was established in 1984, with its philosophy having always been to offer high quality customer service backed up with good stock availability and an efficient delivery service. Today the company employs 280 people and trades from 25 locations across the South East.
“We have used K8 software since 2004,” said Ian. “At the time we needed to upgrade from our existing system to bring about a change of culture and KCS offered the best solution. Since then it has come on in leaps and bounds and we have continued to upgrade to the latest version each time a new version is cut.”
“The latest upgrade has been very successful. This new version will allow us to move on to another level by adding the enhanced Business Intelligence reporting, KPIs and the ability for our sales representatives to access K8 remotely on their tablets.”
Parker’s will also start to use K8’s Web Builder, the integrated web content management system that supports ecommerce. Initially this will enable it to have a customer portal running so customers can interrogate their accounts and print off invoices, credits and statements. The system will then be developed in the future to offer a Click and Collect service.
Further new functionality being trialled by the Parker’s team includes K8’s new Delivery Management System which means drivers can download manifests to handheld devices and manage discrepancies, confirm drops and capture signatures remotely – with signed PoDs being available via the customer portal.
“We take advice from our KCS account manager who ensures we have the latest version of K8 with the newest functionality” said Ian. “A previous upgrade in April 2015 brought about another major change to our business when we started to use K8’s unified ledgers that are integrated with the trading system, and that put us on another platform for moving forward. The latest upgrade is in line with our commitment towards training and development and is part of our growth strategy correlated with the move to our brand new headquarters.”
All of the modules within K8 have been developed for merchants and other distributive trades. For more information on Kerridge and its software, visit: www.kerridgecs.com
