September/October Edition

42 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • Shaping your wholesale business software to excel in this ‘new world’ Industry News O ver the last 6 months, we’ve seen businesses in every industry scramble to re- think their supply chains, pivot their business models or look inward at improving operating inefficiencies. This has led to business owners scrutinising their business software for answers, solutions, insights. And it begs the question, how capable is your business software to meet current challenges? More importantly, how robust and adaptable is it to handle the next crises; not only in the electrical industry but globally? Some areas to look at might include: Capitalising on a new wave of online selling Enabling customers to trade online, be it with a zero integrated webshop or fully integrated to your back office system ecommerce website, has seen the biggest knock-on effect of the coronavirus pandemic. And with new government grants available to get businesses selling online, many have taken the leap. But with so many options available today, you don’t even have to go with a full-blown B2B or B2C ecommerce site. Some software providers also offer customer account management portals that extend to offer repeat ordering. This is a quick and easy way to get your business online without managing the complexities of a full ecommerce webshop. Let your software do the walking One thing that has been really highlighted in many businesses is the inefficiencies they’ve found across their organisation. It’s time to let your software do the walking. How can it facilitate seamless order processing or give you better visibility of your stock across branches? How can it help you enhance your processes by simplifying and automating them? How can it help you improve your people by optimising their talents? And how can it help you reduce paperwork and thus save you time and money? Talk to your provider. Find out what modules or features they have that you’re not already aware off. And find out what training they offer to help you and your staff get the most out of your software and further deliver on your overall business objectives. Adapting to the new ‘low-touch’ economy Apart from trading online, other ‘low-touch’ features and functionality that have suddenly come to the fore include - providing cashless and contactless payments and deliveries with photo capture. Facilitating click and collect capabilities. And even the tracking and tracing of colleagues’ whereabouts daily (office, home or customer site) to facilitate contact tracing. Integrating mobile business software platforms to enable new working conditions has been a quick win for many electrical businesses adapting to this new world. What industry-specific, seamless and integrated platforms does your provider offer that will enable you to adapt and embrace these new norms? Using system data to deliver actionable insights and improve forecasting Data is powerful and more so than ever before. It doesn’t matter what systems you have in place if you