Rebate management blog - Page 37 - Enable

Enable Tech is a column on design and technology by David Hunt. David has been our operations director from the very start, and has lead the evolution of Enable into one of the most respected and high-quality software development businesses around. David has an uncompromising passion for design, quality and excellence.

Last week, we launched a new subsidiary business called DealTrack. DealTrack is a software solution that helps organizations manage complex trading agreements involving retrospective payments, such as rebates, retrospective discounts, royalties, purchase income and back margin.

In this article, I’ll guide you through some of the more interesting techniques used by the website we built for DealTrack.

1. SVG graphics

Almost every image on the DealTrack website is delivered in SVG format. SVG has been around for a long time, but browser support is only now nearing a level where SVG can be considered a worthwhile option. As someone who is enthusiastic about design, SVG has some upsides that excite me.

1. High resolution displays are going mainstream: products such as the Apple iPhone 4, third generation iPad, Retina MacBook Pro, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Nokia Lumia 920 have introduced displays to the marketplace that are capable of displaying 250 to 350 pixels per inch. Artwork designed for conventional computer displays looks blurry on these devices. SVG is a vector image format and therefore images authored in this format look beautifully sharp not only on these new high-DPI devices but on older displays too.
2. Editing tools such as Adobe Illustrator allow SVG to be edited natively. There is no need to hold a “master” version of your website artwork in addition to an exported “published” version. An SVG file can be opened directly, edited and saved. It’s a slick workflow.
3. SVG is based on XML. It is therefore dead easy to create SVG output programatically. For example, a status icon that needed to be colored red in some cases and green in others would typically require two separate versions of the same image. With SVG you could create a single version and alter a color attribute on the fly — driven by your application’s business logic.

9 min read

Stratford-upon-Avon based software company Enable has today launched a new subsidiary called DealTrack Ltd. The new company has been created by entrepreneurs Denys Shortt (who also owns DCS Group) and Andrew Butt who have combined forces with fellow directors David Hunt, Andy James and Dan Wood.

DealTrack will be located in the new £1 million Enable headquarters in Timothy’s Bridge Road and will create up to 5 new jobs over the coming year.

DealTrack creates web based software that simplifies business-to-business trading, unlocks hidden revenue and maximizes profit in trading agreements.

Why we’re focusing on rebate management

For over a decade, Enable has helped distributors, wholesalers and buying groups manage the income they receive from suppliers and customers. Denys and Andrew have identified a key area where businesses are continually throwing away hard earned revenue.

Denys Shortt comments: “I am delighted to be announcing DealTrack — an exciting new business created in tough economic times. We have found a niche here. DealTrack will transform how companies manage their business deals and help them lock down profits. It has been tried and tested.”

3 min read

Stratford-upon-Avon based software development company Enable has made a £1 million investment into 7,000 sq ft of new freehold offices in the Stratford-upon-Avon Enterprise Park.

The Managing Director and 29 year old award-winning young entrepreneur Andrew Butt commented “This is a milestone for Enable—it is our first freehold headquarters! We see it as an investment for the future and key to our plans for continued growth.”

Denys Shortt, CEO of Enable commented “Enable is expanding and will have its best year in history this year. We are winning orders from big firms and employing locally with graduates from Warwick University.” He continues “We are also delighted to have had several banks offering us funding for our growth—a good sign that the banks are lending.”

Denys Shortt started Enable Software in 2000 with 16 year old Andrew Butt who he made the Managing Director. Since then Enable has grown to almost £2m sales and now has 24 employees.

1 min read

Directors of Enable have recently returned from a Study Tour to Silicon Valley. Organized and run by Mike and Linda Portlock of E-Vision Consulting Ltd, the focus of the Tour was �Transformative Technologies for Business IT�, exploring how emerging technologies can be deployed to help organizations build a better future.

The 2012 visit was the 16th annual IT Directors Study Tour organized by E-Vision Consulting, and was full of fascinating insight. We live in an age where empowering technologies are increasingly available first to individuals rather than to enterprises and institutions. Employees and customers are getting the good stuff first and this is increasing pressure on IT leaders.

Those involved in IT are used to rapid change but harsh economic conditions combined with new consumer focused technologies, such as mobile, social media and cloud, have created a new environment with fresh challenges for both IT and the business. It is inevitable that groundswell technologies will continue to shift information power to customers and employees. IT leaders must shift their mindsets for a world where technology projects can come from anywhere and IT is a key advisor, not necessarily the manager, on those projects. This power shift cannot be stopped, but IT leaders can take advantage of it.

3 min read

As a result of continued demand for Enable’s software development service, and consistent revenue growth, Enable will be exhibiting at two key events at Warwick University in May.

The first is the Warwick Summer Careers Fair on Tuesday 8th May. Organized by the Employer Connect team at Warwick, this event connects employers with students expecting to graduate imminently. Enable’s Managing Director, Andrew Butt, and Operations Director, David Hunt, will be attending.

The second event, also organized by Warwick’s Employer Connect, is a PhD network event on Thursday 10th May. Enable is privileged to be able to access this unique opportunity and discuss some specialist roles available to PhD graduates. This event will be attended by David Hunt and Dan Wood, an existing PhD graduate.

David Hunt commented "Enable is focussed on recruiting top talent. We recognise that in order to achieve this it’s about pitching ’the Enable difference’ to candidates and attracting people with a shared vision and values."

Enable is a keen supporter of promoting from within, and has successfully recruited, trained and developed many graduates over the past few years.

1 min read

Enable’s CEO Denys Shortt recently wrote an article for BBC News on his top tips for business survival. The article is reproduced below in full.

Denys Shortt is a former England under-21 hockey player, an entrepreneur and founder of DCS Europe plc and Enable Software, employing nearly 300 people. He is also chairman of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

My drive and determination comes from my England hockey days when I played centre forward, the goal scorer. I learned the hard way from my coaches—you were either scoring goals or you were dropped from the team!

I worked for my father for a few years and learned how family businesses have their challenges. I realized that to grow a really big business I had to think big. In just 15 years I have grown DCS Europe to sales of �130m and 250 employees.

I have not stopped there—I started a second business, with a 16-year-old, called Enable Software. This is now up to �2m sales and 20 employees.

7 min read

Enable have been shortlisted for Business of the Year at the Pride of Stratford 2012 awards. Enable’s CEO, Denys Shortt, has been shortlisted for the Entrepreneur of the Year and Citizen of the Year awards.

Judges have praised the outstanding quality of entries received for the inaugural Touch FM Pride of Stratford Awards 2012 with DCS.

After hours of deliberation, the judging panel confirmed the nominees who are in the final reckoning for an award. The ceremony, created and hosted by Touch FM (Stratford�s local radio station), will be presented at a glittering event in Stratford upon Avon on 17th February 2012. The night will reflect and recognize the best that Stratford District has to offer.

The judges have selected just 39 finalists from hundreds of applications. Each of the 13 categories (which include Business of the Year, Citizen of the Year and the Stratford�s Pride Award) has three finalists.

The Judges are: Gina Fusco (Head of Strategy and Marketing, NFU Mutual), Richard Egginton (CEO, Stratford Town Trust), and Steve Orchard (CEO, Touch FM). Cllr Stephen Thirlwell (Deputy Leader, Stratford-on-Avon District Council) attended on behalf of Cllr Chris Saint (Leader, Stratford-on-Avon District Council).

2 min read

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.

3 min read