Rebate management blog - Page 34 - Enable

Enable’s CEO, Denys Shortt was featured in the Daily Mail this week, in an article about Denys’s role as chairman of Coventry and Warwickshire LEP. The Mail’s article is shown below.

Denys is chairman of Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, one of the first such bodies to be approved by the Government. Denys, 47, is an entrepreneur who in 1994 founded DCS Europe, a beauty company that distributes brands including those made by Unilever and Procter & Gamble to more than 70 countries.

Local Enterprise Partnerships are the Government�s much vaunted replacement for the Regional Development Agencies, which were scrapped in the 2010 Budget. The new Government funded groups are intended to be led by business, for business. Since the concept was launched, 24 have been approved and set up.

The firm also sells its own range of beauty products called Enliven and turns over �130million a year.

Through the LEP, Denys hopes to provide local firms and entrepreneurs with the support they need to expand their businesses and deal with relevant issues, such as access to finance. The partnership has held regular focus groups, targeting business sectors from farming to automotive, as well as forums on issues including planning and skills. It also holds breakfast meetings for firms to tell of their concerns, while a conference in October was attended by 300 businesses.

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Enable has been a pioneer of Internet applications since its inception 12 years ago. We quickly recognised that physically installing software on every PC in an organization was not the way forward, as upgrades need to be carried out individually on each computer, computer-specific problems can be encountered, and users can only work on the specific PCs that have the software installed. On the other hand, browser-based applications can be accessed via a web browser from anywhere without requiring any local installation, and upgrades are carried out once in a central location.

Enable has focussed on developing browser-based applications that are fast to operate and easy-to-use for both the occasional and the expert user. A major goal has been to make browser-based applications as ‘feature rich’ as the desktop, and this has been largely achieved in recent years.

In the past, a potential downside of browser-based applications has been that they require a reliable Internet connection to operate. However, Enable has recently completed development projects where this is not so. Utilising HTML5, Enable can develop applications with functions that can be accessed and used with only intermittent connectivity. When an Internet connection becomes available, data is able to synchronise between the user’s device—PC, smartphone, tablet—and the central server that hosts the application.

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On a star studded evening of entrepreneurs in London—including James Caan, Julie Meyer and Will King—the Growing Business Awards celebrated the best of British Business. Created by Real Business and the CBI in 1999, the Growing Business Awards are the most established recognition for UK independent and entrepreneurial businesses.

This year’s event kicked off the first Global Entrepreneurship Week, where enterprise activity is being championed across the world.

A new award for ‘Local Hero of Enterprise’ was won by Denys Shortt, founder of DCS Europe and Chairman of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

Declan Curry, presenter for BBC Business News, announced the award:

“Former England Hockey player, highly successful entrepreneur and proud son of Stratford-upon-Avon, Denys Shortt commits himself to a huge array of local community projects—from supporting the town’s football club to mentoring business owners to launching an ambitious new project to place helipads on rooftops alongside accident and emergency wings.”

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Barclays Corporate has extended banking facilities of £19m to DCS Europe — Enable’s parent company. DCS Europe is the UK market leader of sales and distribution of health, beauty and household brands. As a result, the business has moved its’ banking operations to Barclays Corporate in recognition of the bank’s support for its ambitious growth plans.

The facilities will support the expansion of the Group which operates from its 11 acre site in Stratford-upon-Avon and which employs over 250 people. DCS is the official UK distributor for Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate and many more. The company’s own brand ’Enliven’, which consists of a range of 75 products, is produced in their new factory as well as the manufacturing of a number of own-label products on behalf of retailers such as Superdrug, Next and Wilkinsons.

As well as expanding its repacking and manufacturing divisions, DCS is now looking for further global growth in export markets, building on its presence in 70 countries.

Commenting on the deal, CEO of DCS Europe, Denys Shortt said: “Our deal is proof that the banks are lending in these tough times despite what the newspapers say. We are continuing to grow the business following the investment in our facility in Stratford earlier this year and we will to continue to develop all areas of the business to create jobs and growth.”

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With the continuously growing need to access applications and data on the move, consumer products such as iPhone and Android powered devices are increasingly being used to meet business requirements.

The benefits of consumer apps apply to the business world. Benefits such as being able to optimize the user experience for the device screen size and being able to work with intermittent Internet connectivity.

One of the major challenges is deciding which devices to support. Do you support Android, Blackberry, iOS, or a combination of those? Perhaps you need to support all three, which involves a rewrite of the application. Also, if you are developing a business app it is surely important to be able to access it on a desktop computer and/or web browser? If you do develop multiple versions of your app then you will need to integrate with each of the App Stores.

There is another approach to this challenge, using Enable. We can provide you with your own company App Store, and develop applications once that work across Android, Blackberry and iOS as well as desktop computers and web browsers without having to be written multiple times.

This is achieved by delivering each application over the web but using the latest technology to cache important information locally on the device, therefore allowing you to work with intermittent connectivity to the Internet. The applications look and feel like locally installed applications.

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Enable has delivered an iPhone application to allow merchandising teams to capture real-time data during site visits.

With annual sales in excess of £130 million, DCS is one of Europe’s largest distributors of health and beauty products. Under the direction of founder Denys Shortt, the company has witnessed unprecedented growth over a period of seventeen years since it was established in 1994.

DCS supplies over 30,000 retailers and 500 wholesalers in the United Kingdom and exports to 70 countries worldwide. In addition to handling the distribution into selected markets of brands such as Gillette, Colgate, P&G, Unilever, L’Oreal and Cussons, the company has launched its own Enliven range of budget-priced toiletries.

The importance of accurate customer compliance data

Providing accurate, up-to-date data to their renowned range of suppliers is vital to DCS. Deals that are agreed between suppliers and customers determine which products are to be displayed by the customer, at specific prices and positions. Short-term promotional deals are offered and core range products are identified.

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As a leader in developing retrospective rebate and overrider management systems, Enable is delighted to be exhibiting at eWorld Purchasing & Supply.

The event focuses on leading-edge technologies and techniques within the procurement and supply chain functions. Come and join us on 2 March at Stand 3 where we can discuss how we design, develop and implement finely tuned solutions for customers across many industries.

You will also have the opportunity to hear how Andrew Butt, Managing Director, has overseen the requirements analysis and implementation of supplier contract management systems to a range of companies and buying groups, offering benefits such as revenue optimization, cost reduction, risk management and cash release.

Our efficient systems have made the difference between just "making do" and making profit!

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The NEC Group is the Birmingham-based venue management company that operates four world-class venues: The National Exhibition Centre, The International Convention Centre, the LG Arena and The National Indoor Arena. The Group also operates national ticketing agency The Ticket Factory and award-winning, prestige caterer Amadeus.

Together, the venues stage more than 800 events a year, from world-renowned consumer and trade exhibitions like Clothes Show Live and Crufts, to concerts by international artists including Pink, Elton John and Michael Buble.

A substantial part of NEC Group business involves the provision of Catering Services, both in a retail context at NEC exhibitions and as a contracted service to an end client via its own premium event catering company—Amadeus.

What was the issue?

The staffing of Catering Services is a substantial exercise, involving hundreds of staff and a mixture of full-time employees, annualised and non-annualised part-time employees, casual workers, students and agency staff.

The NEC Group spends £12m annually on catering labour, with each individual event having particular staffing requirements, and where last minute changes to plan are common. The Government’s Working Time Directive rules add further complexity where legal restrictions exist on the working schedule for staff.

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