Distribution
Wood Enterprises
Brisbane, Australia
Wood Enterprises is an electrical industry manufacturer’s agent. Begun around 40 years ago by Robert Wood, the 22-employee strong company now sells air conditioners, brown goods, white goods, features a commercial range and recently added the Queensland servicing division for sought after brand “Smeg” to their list of accomplishments.
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Background
Known in the industry for their service, integrity, client commitment and diversity – “if you don’t know where to go; call Wood” – when the business began to change and the accounting and IT systems were struggling, owner Malcolm Gray could see an update was required if they were to maintain their excellent reputation.
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A combination of planned expansion and capitalising on opportunities presented saw Wood Enterprises selling an ever-growing number of brands, and an expanded range of products from within those brands. This required much more product to be warehoused – with all of the inherent movement, tracking and tracing – and with the addition of the servicing division of Smeg, and rapid growth in all areas of the business, says Samantha Wood (Administration) “our systems were simply no longer adequate.”
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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions and MYOB Account Right and Ostendo
Wood Enterprises knew they were unhappy with their current systems – they were inflexible, not user friendly and the reporting function was difficult to negotiate. They knew they needed a system with a high degree of flexibility, the capacity for sales history reporting with many different variables, customisable reporting and an ‘end to end’ solution for streamlining inventory, warehousing, invoicing, deliveries and quoting. Ostendo had been recommended by a number of their brands due to its high degree of flexibility and seamless integration into MYOB Account Right.
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Says Samantha, “we were looking at Ostendo and MYOB Account Right and came across ABC Business Solutions on the web. The service offered, price, and Carol’s vast knowledge base gave the impression that ABC was very proficient and could really see what I was looking for.”
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In terms of installation, Samantha notes “they made installing MYOB Account Right and Ostendo sound like it was easy and it was. The process was very simple – the technology was installed and it worked. Anything that needed adaptation was fixed almost immediately. ABC was readily available and all the staff there were terrific. They get back to you when they say they will; and for me, that’s a big thing.”
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Samantha was pleased to find that MYOB Account Right and Ostendo were so user friendly and easily navigated that within a couple of hours, she and her team were using the new system with confidence. She notes the installation and support “all just happened seamlessly.”
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ABC Business Solutions performed extensive customisation for Wood Enterprises – the entirety of Wood’s invoicing is unique to them in setup and appearance, and ABC customised forms and reports for stock levels and stock codes, set up all end users and installed both the MYOB Account Right and Ostendo systems remotely. When asked if distance was an issue, Samantha notes “if we needed something we’d send an email, come back the next day and it was there. You can’t ask for more than that.”
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“ABC Business Solutions don’t confuse you with technical jargon, they use real terms. Their follow through and follow up is really good, which is an area that can be lacking in other technical consultants, and if you have an issue they will answer back straight away.”
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Future Directions
Wood Enterprises plan to meet the future still thriving and growing. In order to achieve this, as well as maintaining their reputation for service excellence, they are diversifying further into the project aspect of their business- supplying developers with products to kit out entire residential apartment blocks. Wood Enterprises are continually seeking out new architects and property developers, strengthening their ties with the building industry and always seeking new brands to feature.
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Retaining ABC Business Solutions has set Wood Enterprises in the optimal place to meet their goals. MYOB Account Right and Ostendo have allowed warehousing to be centralised into the one department, enhancing load share. Wood have been able to employ additional data entry staff due to the simplified data entry process and additional security controls, which give Management confidence that allowing a wider range of staff access to the programme won’t result in issues downstream. These changes have freed up key staff members to focus on higher responsibilities within the business.
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ABC Business Solutions continues to assist Wood Enterprises through ongoing support, further software customisation and troubleshooting. “We see the relationship with ABC as a business partnership – that, into the future, they will be there beside us, helping us to meet our goals.” Samantha Wood, (Administration)
BRISBANE REFINISH SUPPLIES PTY LTD
Archerfield, Brisbane, Australia
Brisbane Refinish Supplies is one of Australia’s largest independent distributors of automotive refinish products in the collision repair market. The business originally commenced in 1981 as Bryant Byrt Ford and then the move was made in 1987 to become a separate entity as Bryant Byrt Ford Refinish. In 1991 Brisbane Refinish Supplies commenced. Throughout this time, Brisbane Refinish Supplies has continually strived to be a market leader through a proactive approach to business.
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Brisbane Refinish Supplies are proud suppliers of top quality automotive refinish. Outstanding relations with the world’s best manufacturer ensure customers’ needs and requirements are met exactly.
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Currently, Brisbane Refinish Supplies has three distribution outlets (Archerfield, Virginia and Kunda Park) that service South East Queensland Brisbane Refinish Supplies has resurfaced after the 2010-2011 floods after a lot of hard work; they are now bigger and better.
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Background
When the software program they were using stopped being supported Gordon needed to look for an alternative and asked Carol Roberts for recommendations for software that would suit the business. Their requirements covered general accounting, stock control, point of sale and wages across the three sites. They were looking for simplicity in a program that could provide good stock control and reporting. Brisbane Refinish Supplies now uses two programs, MYOB Exo Business and Wage Easy Payroll.
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Gordon said “the business must be able to adapt as changes happen quickly and issues such as the GFC have a knock on effect. Changes must be made or you don’t stay in business”.
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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions and MYOB EXO Business and Wage Easy
Gordon had worked with Carol for a number of years in a previous business when she set up his first MYOB file in the 90’s and knew her knowledge and understanding of accounting and business procedures would provide the best outcomes.
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Once it was decided which direction to go in with the software Gordon said “both Carol and ABC were able to understand the requirements and idiosyncrasies of the company and now have an understanding of our needs and get on the right page. We left the accounting to ABC so we can concentrate on what we do best.”
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“ABC continues to visit monthly to do our BAS, we keep a list of queries to go through at her visit.”
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“ABC has customised reports including the, Stock Min/Max and written some very challenging reports for us in particular Stock by Weight.”
“When training commences there is a huge amount of information to contend with so the business can get up and running. This then needs to be broken up into smaller portions and done over a number of weeks so it can be absorbed properly followed by a lot of questions.”
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Future Directions
Brisbane Refinish Supplies set short and long term goals which keep updating and evolving. In the last few years they have expanded into the fields of aviation, agriculture, industrial and mining, and keep looking for other areas to get into. Gordon says “we will get bigger and our marketing is done primarily by our sales reps”.
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New software helps with the business and when asked about their relationship developing with ABC he said “how long is a piece of string.” Gordon Barclay, Business Owner, Brisbane Refinish Supplies
