Sales and profits jump in months, thanks to Phocas

Phocas is the first really integrated system that Globe Union has ever used and it didn’t take long to see the benefits...

Globe Union is one of the world's largest suppliers of plumbing products, with 5 million square feet of manufacturing, assembly, and distribution space operating on 3 Continents and in 9 countries.

Globe Union have over a dozen brand names and make products for scores of the private label brands. Jeff Pratt, Globe Union’s VP Sales, talks through the reasons why he chose Phocas.

“Phocas is the first really integrated system that we ever used. We have an Oracle system that provides sales reports and an Icem system on the Gerber side that produces generic sales reports but nothing like Phocas. The nice thing about Phocas is the ease of use which is what really convinced me to use Phocas. Sales people are not analytical people. They just need a simple tool with a point and click and this is what Phocas delivers.”

“Alll of my directors and regional sales managers on the wholesale side and retail side use Phocas”, explains Pratt. 

“The Regional sales managers use it to manage the sales reps and the accounts. Although they use it to manage the account’s sales volume it is mostly managed by the profitability.

“Phocas allows them to slice and dice information in so many different directions that they are able get into the inner core of what the product mix is within a company, more than just what their top level sales are. I am certainly more interested in product mix and net contribution and profitability than anything else”.

Easy access
“We all know that information is key to a successful business,” says Myles Glashier, President, Phocas Inc “But it is still a big decision for any business to invest in a BI system. Operators acknowledge there is no magic bullet in today’s economic climate, but across all industries, executives value the visibility BI provides into daily expenses, management performance and markets that enables them to make better informed decisions that affect profitability.”

Pratt agrees with this view; “We can now process data continuously, providing critical information to make appropriate operational adjustments. Phocas definitely meets the profit analysis of the business. Every month I run a Phocas report by rep territory and I am able by descending order to see which accounts delivers what profitability.

I can also drill down and get any detail on why it is below a certain net profitability level that’s acceptable. I never had this ability before and with Phocas I do and it is really simple”.

Phocas also allows accurate and better management of people. Pratt explains how this happens in Globe Union. “My sales managers manage their reps agencies by telling them what they are doing and what they are not doing and sharing that information with them. My directors manage my regional managers by allowing them to see which accounts are contributing and which accounts are not contributing.

What products are moving and what are not moving. Initially this would just be at a high level, but further detail can very quickly and simply gleaned”.

Measurable improvements
“It is worth noting that a BI implementation also brings about a lot of qualitative benefits that cannot be ignored. For a successful BI project you can expect the actual ROI to be far better than what the initial ROI calculation would suggest.” Says Glashier. “I would say that Phocas started making a difference to increase our sales and profits within months” concludes Pratt “and that we make business decisions on a regular basis with the information we glean from Phocas”.

> Phocas
Rick Toepfer, General Manager
M: +61 (0) 400103015
E: rick@phocas.com.au
W: www.phocas.com.au







10/10/27_ex_h_nl

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