Kerridge Commercial Systems, authors of the K8 software system widely used by timber and builders merchants, made a bold move with the acquisition of TIS Software.
In so doing, Kerridge became an IT group with more than 250 staff and in excess of 50,000 users. Both companies have customers in the merchant sector, although TIS’s customers are more into plumbing and heating, than building supplies.
People might know TIS for the Strategix software platform – enterprise resource planning software for the wholesale and retail distribution, logistics and service sectors, serving the building supplies, electronics and IT industries.
New benefits
Duncan Smillie, Kerridge sales director, said Kerridge is currently looking in detail at TIS products to see where they would be of benefit to its K8 software.
“It was a nice surprise to see just what these products could do,” he said.
Two brands of immediate benefit to K8 users are Connect Web and SmartPoint.
Connect Web is the e-commerce solution for Strategix OneOffice which effectively allows companies to design their own integrated trading website.
Mr Smillie said Kerridge does have a current e-commerce platform, but Connect Web effectively allows the customer to design their own website and is billed as easy to use as Microsoft PowerPoint. A merchant simply drags and drops pictures and text into the required fields.
This DIY web design removes the cost of hiring an outside agency and the wait before making it live.
Connect Web takes orders which appear directly in K8 software, checks stock and serves customers at any time.
“If you’re a merchant looking to get into internet trading, with K8 it’s an easy option,” said Mr Smillie. “You can connect with a few weeks of design work. It’s one component and cost you don’t need to manage.”
Combining information
SmartPoint information display software is the other TIS product being made available to Kerridge customers.
“If you are a merchant, you may have a customer relationship management system, accounting software and a catalogue system,” said Mr Smillie. “If you want to bring all the information together and display it in a user-friendly format, you can use SmartPoint.”
This can appear as a task-related sidebar, a performance dashboard window or embedded within other applications using Active-X technology.
Put simply, the software breathes life into existing systems that are restricted in their configuration. Sales agents don’t have to learn anything new; SmartPoint brings the information directly to them.
Mr Smillie said the knowledge and input from both Kerridge and TIS customers would make K8 a better product.
He said Kerridge would continue to support and develop TIS products for years to come. “But over time the goal is to encourage a migration to K8 with the aid of a carrot and not a stick.”
