Success Stories

Automotive Aftermarket

Farm & Home

Hardware & Home Centers

Lawn, Garden & Nursery

Lumber & Building Materials

Office Products

Painting & Decorating

Pharmacy Retail

Specialty Retail

Wholesale Distribution

Dennis Company

PDF

Video

Activant Eagle for Windows Fuels Business Growth for Dennis Company

This regional chain credits it’s Activant Eagle™ for Windows system with improving its cash-flow, resulting in more funds to re-invest. Decisions are made on accurate, timely information. Point-of-Sale is fast and easy which increases customer satisfaction. Document Management saves more than $1000 per month in forms printing and employee handling costs.

An Eagle Customer since 1993, Dennis Company initially selected Eagle because it wanted a solution that would accommodate business growth and be scalable as new locations, or lines of business, were added. "The Eagle system has grown in the areas most important to us. Support from Activant has been excellent. It's just a great fit for us," says Riene Niemcziek, controller, Dennis Company.

Eagle inventory management allows Dennis Company to be more sophisticated in its product ordering. Eagle-generated suggested orders eliminate guesswork and save time. "I look back at how we used to manage inventory before Eagle and I wonder how we made decisions," muses Riene. "With Eagle we're empowered to work smarter. Our employees are more involved. The system is integrated at all levels throughout the company. From purchasing, receiving and inventory control our resources are better directed."

Through better management of inventory—having stock of fast selling items and reduced stock of slow-movers—Dennis Company frees capital to invest in business growth. "Due in part to the wealth of information we have in our Eagle system, we've been able to make capital improvements that perhaps we wouldn't have been able to make," asserts Riene. "Anytime you can use information to work your inventory smarter and increase your margins, you see an immediate impact."

Eagle's intuitive interface provides Dennis Company cashiers and sales personnel with a powerful tool for processing transactions and assisting customers. The system is easy to learn, especially for those familiar with Windows. Dennis Company uses Activant training materials to teach new employees to use the system, saving significant time and resources by not having to pull experienced staff off the floor to train employees.

"Eagle Point-of-Sale has been a significant improvement in our business," says Riene. "It streamlines the checkout process and provides a more efficient, pleasant experience for our customers. Taking it one step further is Eagle's high speed credit card processing that is even faster for our customers. Eagle Point-of-Sale has improved the efficiency of our credit card check out process by minutes, giving us more time to concentrate on our customers. Eagle for Windows is very, very powerful."

Document Management and Signature Capture quickly paid for themselves. By eliminating three-part invoices and statements, Dennis Company saves approximately $1000 each month in forms and employee handling costs. On top of that, staff is freed from manual back-office tasks and can instead spend more time with customers. "Document Management and Signature Capture delivers real cost savings for us," asserts Riene. "And we've redirected staff to activities that are more efficient and effective for our business."

Flexible Business Advisor reports enable Dennis Company to monitor all aspects of the business. Sales reports highlight what's selling and what's not. Inventory reports identify products that need to be ordered and those with excess inventory. Promotion effectiveness is measured. From summary reports, Riene and other managers easily drill into detail data to gain specific information. "We use Business Advisor and Viewers every day. I use them for budgeting, sales analysis, expense management, you name it. The data is there to mine. The possibilities with Business Advisor are infinite," says Riene.

"Clearly the Eagle system has given us access to a wealth of information that we just didn't have before. We're able to make better decisions, more quickly, that contribute to our bottom line. Eagle allows me as a controller to quickly deliver financial information to our business managers so that they can make decisions and respond to trends or business activity," claims Riene. "Additionally, Eagle allows us to effectively manage our business information and reporting. Managers have easy access to data specific to their departments and needs."