Premier Workplace Solutions
Alastair thought he needed a bookkeeping system to talk with the warehouse. What he found, was surprising.
- Previous accounting system was no longer able to cope with business growth and didn’t interact with warehouse
- Ended up with at-a-glance complete business management tool
- Four hours a day previously spent ensuring books are up-to-date are now spent on sales and marketing
At-a-glance reporting
When Alastair Moore set out to find a replacement accounting package for his rapidly growing Premier Workplace Solutions, he thought he merely needed a bookkeeping system which interacted with the warehouse. Luckily, the software designers knew better. “We thought that was enough, but when we discovered Attaché, there were features that we hadn’t even thought of, features that have streamlined our management and saved us enormously in terms of actual costs and man-hours, features we couldn’t now do without,” Alastair said.
The first wow factor was a personalised Dashboards interface that sits on top of the database and provides instant, at-a-glance reporting. “I looked at that and said ‘wow’. Instead of me printing reports, I just come in in the morning and bang, there on my screen is everything I need to know,” the former engineer said.
Having examined most contenders in the marketplace, including many of the high-end systems, Alastair said he was impressed with Attaché’s bang-for-your-buck features. For example, the Payroll system comes complete with a ClickSuper service that has reduced the time spent processing quarterly superannuation payments from four hours to five minutes. “That’s the best thing since sliced bread.”
Saving money through electronic document delivery
Attaché Document Management, an electronic document delivery system, is among Alastair’s favourite features. He uses it to issue pay advices to Premier Workplace Solution’s staff, as well as invoices and statements to customers. While he hasn’t quantified the savings, Alastair acknowledges that they are immense – from the cost of postage, envelopes and paper, to the time it previously took staff to prepare and mail the documents.
The fact that Attaché can easily be tailored to produce reports for Premier’s unique sales commission system was in itself a plus, as was the availability of a manufacturing job costing module.
In just 10 years, Premier Workplace Solutions has grown from two partners working in their studies to a company with 16 staff, 7000 products and more than 4000 orders a year, growth that simply would not have continuedwithout effective management software.
Alastair said that the software upgrade had been prompted by the inability of their kitchen table accounting package to cope with the growth of the business, and particularly its inability to interact with the warehouse and ordering. “We started looking for an accounting package and ended up with an at-a-glance business management tool.
More time to focus on the important things
“Attaché has invested a lot of money into refreshing and bringing into the next century what was a proven, but clunky product. It has completely changed and is now an essential management tool with the advantage of being completely adaptable to individual needs.
“Can I afford not to have it? No. Is it good value? Absolutely. Could I do without it? No.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today running the previous system. We’d be lost.
“Instead of spending four hours a day making sure the books are up to date, we now spend that time doing what makes us money – marketing, selling and filling orders,” Alastair said.
Premier Workplace Solutions provides imported, local and self-manufactured items for the safety industry, with a focus on car park products such as line marking, bollards and speed humps. Started by Alastair Moore and Scott Riddell, the business was developed on the back of an innovative marketing concept of separate web sites for individual products lines such as speed humps, wheel stops, and bollards.
The concept was so successful that the company almost grew too fast, jumping from home offices to a 210m2 factory, and then to a 750m2 facility in Ingleburn which subsequently had to be expanded to 1100m2. This growth highlighted the shortcomings of their original software. “We had four people using the system and it was just too slow, plus it did not communicate well with the warehouse and could not be tailored to our needs.
“Now, with Attaché as our proactive management tool, we are well placed to concentrate on marketing and sales to continue to grow,” Alastair said.
About Premier Workplace Solutions
- Workplace safety solutions (bollards, speed humps, convex mirrors, etc)
- Own manufacturing and imported items
- 7,000 products and 4,000 orders per annum
