Intact selected as new ERP partner to support and enhance LBS Builders Merchant’s standards of excellence
LBS Builders Merchants, one of the UK’s leading independent builders’ merchants, have recently appointed Intact as their new ERP partner. The Intact iQ merchant ERP solution will be rolled out across the 32-branch network over the coming months.
Intact iQ will empower LBS to be agile and flexible in their ability to meet and exceed customer’s needs. It will replace a legacy business software solution to support business growth and LBS’ unique requirements. Intact iQ will also replace the over-use of spreadsheets, other software and manual processes currently being employed in the business. Intact iQ will eradicate these data silos and serve as the central hub to optimally manage operations at LBS and enrich their standards of excellence.
Presently, LBS require some manual input and workaroundswhich impacts efficiency. . Intact iQ’s modern, workflow focused approach will allow LBS to easily automate countless tasks, processes and business rules which will help prevent routine tasks from eating up staff’s time whilst also reducing human error.
Speaking of the decision to move to Intact, Ben Davies, LBS Builders Merchants Director, notes,
‘The level of administrative effort required to run the business was growing. We have huge ambitions for the business so we knew we needed to invest in a robust, progressive digital core; a merchant ERP solution that would remove paper and spreadsheet-based processes to ensure we could work smarter, save time, reduce errors and deliver an enhanced customer experience.
Intact iQ offers this and much more. Their integration capabilities are second to none. The level of agility and automation it will provide will empower us to easily flex to customer needs. And merchant focused features like the POD, sales rep mobile app, transport scheduler, advanced rebate management and integrated CRM function highlighted to our team that Intact iQ isn’t just a better software system, it will enable us to implement a better version of our business.’
As noted by Ben seamless communication between systems was also a key consideration for LBS moving forward. With best of breed solutions constantly emerging LBS needed an ERP solution that was agile and progressive to facilitate integration with ease. With Intact iQ’s advanced REST API functionality, previously onerous integration projects can now be embraced by the LBS team. Huge benefits are envisaged here with ecommerce and EDI integration forming part of the project to ensure all orders are fed directly into the ERP system saving the LBS team significant time whilst reducing human error.
Speaking further Ben notes; ‘Overall, we are looking forward to the real-time business wide visibility and control Intact iQ will provide to the LBS team across the branch network, but there are numerous other benefits we can foresee. The systemwide conditions that can be included to ensure timely alerts are sent to individuals means our team can be assured that the information that’s important to them will come to find them, at the right time.
Also, whilst Intact iQ is designed around best practice merchant processes, there are certain ways of working that are unique and important to LBS. We’re tweaking and enhancing processes all the time so we wanted an ERP system that can improve and flex with us, not limit us. With Intact iQ we are amazed at how easily we will be able to make changes within the system. This not only makes us more agile, but it also lowers the total cost of the solution over its lifetime.’
The team at Intact are looking forward to working with the LBS team on this exciting project. Gary Brookshaw, Intact Product Director, notes; ‘It quickly became evident to us that LBS’ previous system was not empowering the business to adopt best practice techniques. We saw an immediate opportunity to enhance, simplify and automate processes by deploying Intact iQ. As we got to further understand how the business operates, its ambitions for the future and its commitment to this project, we identified numerous additional benefits that the solution can deliver for LBS. We are eager to see them come to fruition in the months to come.’
