Distributors & Jobbers Service Market Manufacturers

Bert Williams Slashes Costs with Document Imaging

From Chaos to Order

“Our back office used to be hectic and loud — piled with paperwork, the phone ringing nonstop, faxes coming in, and the staff scrambling to get our statements out—but it’s very peaceful now,” says Karen Rubio, CFO and IT Manager of BertWilliams & Sons. “We have much less office work to do.”

Did sales slow down or did the office staff suddenly become less productive? No way! Bert Williams & Sons, an industry-leading Napa, California-based distributor, is doing more business than ever. So how did Karen attain this state of tranquility in the thriving company’s back office?

“Activant Document Imaging has completely transformed our operations,” she says. “We’re running a paperless office now. Our customers love clicking to our Website to get access to their invoices and statements any time instead of phoning us. And when they do call, our staff can quickly click to any information they need instead of chasing a paper trail. Everything we do is more efficient.”

Document Imaging (DI) is a digital document storage solution that reduces the need for storage space, paper products and postage. It provides instant access to any document for vast improvements in productivity and superior customer service.

“With Document Imaging, the productivity gains are so phenomenal that we have been able to shrink our office staff considerably,” Karen says. “Previously, we had five full-time employees in the backoffice. Now we have two full-time and one part-time. That’s a huge cost savings in salaries and benefits.”

Choosing Superior Next-GenTechnology

Bert Williams & Sons started as a one-man machine shop and garage in 1939. Over the years, the business expanded into a flourishing enterprise that distributes auto parts and heavy-duty truck parts to a large customer base. To stay competitive against national chains and OEM dealers, decision-makers at the company researched ways to reduce operating expenses by streamlining processes.

“We need to stay competitive with our pricing, so reducing our overhead is a good way to increase margins,” Karen says. “We had a huge expense in time and personnel for our Accounts Receivable, statement runs, and invoice backups for nearly 1,000 customer statements each month.We knew we needed to modernize the backoffice.”

Company officers examined other paperless solutions, including Autolog. But after careful consideration, they chose Activant Document Imaging because of its projected short-term and long-term value, ease of use, and ability to seamlessly integrate with Activant Prism™.

“The estimated savings were instantly identifiable,” Karen explains. “Solutions from other vendors were inadequate. They couldn’t integrate with our existing systems, so their value was limited.”

Deployment was quick, with very little learning curve. “DI is incredibly easy to use,” she says. “We started streaming live data in mid-August of 2007, and we were using it for our month-end statements two weeks later.”

Customer Information in a Click

The paperless office quickly became a reality at Bert Williams & Sons. Signed copies of orders, invoices, bids, notes, and any document needed to run the business are scanned and automatically stored in electronic file cabinets that users can name and organize in whatever way best suits their workflow.

“Our office is incredibly well-organized now,” Karen says. “We can locate a document in a matter of seconds, searching by customer number, date range, key word or other fields. When we scan a document, the customer number is automatically captured with a single click and linked to that customer’s account records.”

Previously if a customer telephoned with a question about their account, it set in motion a series of cumbersome manual tasks. “It was very time-consuming,” Karen admits. “We would need to do an audit of their account, pull up a big folder, make copies of statements, and hopefully be able to call them back with an answer in a reasonable amount of time.”

Now personnel can answer questions immediately. “With Document Imaging, there’s no time spent doing research because all the information we need is right there on our screens,” Karen continues. “Our customers are happier because they get prompt and efficient service in one phone call.”

Shredding Costs with a Paperless Office

DI drastically reduces the resources the company expends. Karen says the month-end statement run is a compelling example. “Previously, our entire office had to shut down their workstations and help with the process,” she explains. “Five of us would work from seven o’clock in the morning until one o’clock in the afternoon to get the statements out. That’s 30 staff-hours. With Document Imaging, one person can accomplish the same task in 45 minutes. That has enabled us to significantly reduce costs by trimming down the workforce.”

The company’s clients have responded very positively to the new system, with 80% now getting their statements electronically. Karen’s staff now mails a very minimal amount, saving manual labor, paper and postage. And with WebAccess, customers can check the details of their accounts online without having to wait for an e-mail or faxed statement.

Users at BertWilliams & Sons are finding DI to be so flexible and effective that they’re using it for much more than accounts receivable. “Document Imaging and Activant Prism work beautifully together,” Karen says. “But DI is not limited to just the information and documents that Prism handles. We use it for payroll, time sheets, quarterly files, W2’s and even personal files.”

“It’s simply phenomenal,” she says in conclusion. “Our customers are happier because we can deliver better service.”