IT consultants have to shape up or ship out warns software developer Enable if clients are to realize the potential of solutions to their bottom line.
Software developers and consultants who are unable to meet client deadlines and budgets are destined to go out of business and give the industry a black mark, says the MD of Enable Software.
With sales in excess of £118 million, DCS is one of Europe’s largest distributors of Health and Beauty products. Since the company was established in 1994 DCS has witnessed, under the direction of founder Denys Shortt, unprecedented growth. Not only handling sales and distribution for brands such as Gillette, Colgate, P&G, Unilever, L’Oreal, Cussons into selected markets, DCS has launched its own Enliven range of budget priced toiletries. In addition, the company supplies over 30,000 retailers through 500 wholesalers in the United Kingdom as well as exporting to 70 countries worldwide.
Supplier management is a critical discipline, especially for "goods for resale" businesses. Improving the visibility of an organization’s purchase related data and systematising the associated business processes are essential factors in optimizing revenue, reducing costs and managing risk in this area.
Establishing agreements for retrospective rebate payments from suppliers is a commonplace commercial method adopted by buyers. It is often a notoriously complex area to track and control, frequently creating administrative headaches for companies and absorbing valuable resource in the process.
Often rebate income is the difference between losing money and making money on the bottom line, so tracking the agreements to ensure on-target earnings is of critical importance. Having invested time and effort in establishing potentially lucrative deals with suppliers, companies face the arduous task of executing these in order to gain maximum benefit from those deals.
This can be a time consuming and expensive process. Rebate agreements by nature can be complex, ever-changing and therefore difficult to track. The risk to a company of not realizing 100% of the agreed rebate escalates as complexity increases.
When choosing an enterprise solution, smaller businesses typically opt for well known packages such as Sage or Microsoft. Larger organizations tend to choose one of the more sophisticated packages, such as SAP or Oracle. These are usually perfectly adequate for run-of-the-mill routine operations—they can be configured to the overall needs of the organization and can accommodate most standard requirements. So far, so good.
Enable has acquired the prestigious enable.com domain name.
All web based services and software will be migrated to this domain over the next 4 weeks.
David Hunt, Director of Operations commented, "For us, enable.com was always the ultimate domain from which to host our web-based software solutions. After 7 years of running the company we are delighted to have finally acquired this domain. We host mission critical services for over 200 clients globally including NHS, Sage and Mitsubishi Electric and this shorter address will make it even easier for our clients to access their solutions."
Stratford-upon-Avon based Andrew Butt, 21, has been named as a finalist in the prestigious Growing Business Awards.
Andrew, who is Managing Director of Enable, has been short-listed in a new category: Entrepreneur of the Future.
This new award identifies and celebrates entrepreneurs, under the age of 30, who are really going places. The judges are looking for candidates who have already started to build a business—or businesses—and who can show they have the ambition, energy, skill and vision to really scale the heights.
Denys Shortt, a former Entrepreneur of the Year, who discovered Andrew at a helicopter flying school said:
SUNDAY TIMES MICROSOFT TECH TRACK 100, 2004.
STRATFORD’S ENABLE—IN AT NUMBER 50.
Two million pounds sales a year. Not so much of a benchmark in this day and age—unless your age happens to be 21, you started in business at 14, you were the UK’s youngest qualified helicopter pilot 20 minutes after your 17th birthday—and the clients of your software development company are Sainsbury’s, Goldman Sachs and Collins amongst others in the UK, plus businesses in the USA and Dubai.