Excitement Stores, South Africa`s leading discount housewares chain of stores is rolling out JSE-listed Ixchange`s SaleAbility across its shops and warehouse to assist in controlling the group`s distribution and to provide vital statistics on stock movement.
Having successfully implemented the test phase of the project, to link four shops and the head office, Ephraim Feldman, director of Excitement Stores, has given the go-ahead to roll the implementation out to the more than 40 stores in the group.
Excitement Stores is owned both by the company and franchisees, and the system will be rolled out between all of them and the warehouse in Wynberg to provide the company with an improved distribution system. It will also provide management with up-to-date information about stock levels and with regular sales analysis reports.
Feldman says SaleAbility was chosen because it was one of the few systems that offered both head office and branch modules with the communication capabilities between them. "SaleAbility also has a proven track record of users using both the modules successfully," he adds.
To ensure the system works to specification, Ixchange will be customising the system to Excitement Stores` requirements as phase two is rolled out. Through the skills owned by the division, SaleAblity has outsourced a support person to Excitement Stores for application of the software to the environment. This is a tried and tested method of expediting the return on investment. Customisation is then be performed by an individual that understands the environment and is sensitive to the particular client`s needs.
This individual then stays on at client for the period of the roll-out as an internal help desk, support co-ordinator and value-added application resource. Some clients opt for this service on a semi-permanent basis. SaleAbility caters for clients` needs through a combination of product flexibility and Ixchange staff skills, this combined with the desire to provide an exceptional service to client results in successful installations such as Excitement stores.
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ABILITY
Ixchange`s ABILITY suite of software is a leading suite of business management applications with specific specialisation in the area of supply chain management. This software suite is made up of the AccountAbility back-office financial system, SaleAbility retail management system, VizAbility inventory optimisation system and ProfitAbility customer order fulfilment system. These applications are all integrated into the ABILITY suite, and run on Microsoft platforms.
Ixchange
Ixchange is a listed South African company focused on leading the international mid-range customer relationship management(CRM), helpdesk and supply chain management markets. The company has an entrenched its leadership position in the front-office with its HEAT and GoldMine products, while its locally developed ABILITY suite of business management software applications has emerged as the market-leading back-office suite. Ixchange is focused on the international market with offices in Los Angeles, Springs, Swindon, Cape Town and Johannesburg.