Zimba
Customer Profile
Zimba is a leading importer and wholesale distributor of high-end kitchenware and homewares, serving retailers across New Zealand and Australia.
Situation
In the past, Zimba's traveling sales representatives relied largely on facsimile to submit customer orders. These faxed orders were often difficult to read and had to be manually entered into the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system—a laborious step that introduced errors and could delay orders up to a week.
Solution
After considering several solutions, Zimba partnered with Spectrax™ to solve the needs of their highly mobile staff. Spectrax deployed Client Connect Pocket (CCPocket™) mobile device client software. CCPocket uses smart client technology to securely extend Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains software and other ERP systems to mobile devices, allowing Zimba to automate order submittal and digitization. The technology allows Zimba representatives to take advantage of wireless networks, which are now standard at many convention centers for trade fairs.
Benefits
Zimba continues to experience phenomenal payback, starting with immediate business growth and improved cash flow.
Steve Loughlin, CEO of Zimba, says, Transmitting and processing used to take a week. Now it happens instantaneously. Our administration costs have dropped 10 percent, while inventory management processes have accelerated by 50 percent. We avoided the need to hire additional data entry staff and reassigned existing data entry staff to strategic customer service positions.
Plus, with inventory information at their fingertips, Zimba sales personnel can more easily up-sell and cross-sell.