GC Johnson Painters & Decorators
G.C. Johnson are a leading Decorators Merchants and Interior Design specialist based in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, serving London and the home counties. Selling the very finest interior and exterior materials to professional decorators and home-improvers, GC Johnson’s sought to scale their business with an investment in merchant ERP solution, Intact iQ. We spoke with Mat Crispin from GC Johnson to find out more.
Before Using Intact
Before Intact iQ GC Johnson ran their business using Sage Line 50, an antiquated cash register, a DOT matrix printer, some Excel spreadsheets and various note pads! GC Johnson knew for quite some time that they needed to invest in a new technology solution for their business. Mat notes,
"Sage Line 50 in particular, was just too basic for our needs. It was difficult to input and extract information from the system and it just generally lacked the flexibility and agility we needed to operate efficiently. However, for a period, we managed by working outside the system using spreadsheets, manual processes, bolting on elements to the system etc. Then after hearing a recommendation from another business in the industry, we decided to look at the Intact iQ system to assess what benefits it would deliver for the business. From the initial demo we started to appreciate how much our current system was holding us back and what we could achieve by investing in new technology, specifically the Intact iQ merchant ERP solution."
After Intact iQ
When asked to compare Intact iQ to their previous system Mat notes that Intact iQ is far superior. It has allowed GC Johnson to redeploy over 3 members of the team to other areas of the business. In general, the team have more time to focus on value-add activities as they aren’t tied up with time-stealing manual tasks.
Mat notes,
"Pre-Intact our processes were very process heavy and labour intensive. For example, our team had to manually sort and pair invoices, and post out statements. Time-wise, Intact iQ has made a huge impact. The team has gone from struggling to keep on top of their workload to now being able to capture data and transactions in an automated fashion. This has allowed the team to focus on other areas of the business, other opportunities that previously would not have been possible.
Staff also now know that system data is accurate and can confidently search and find the answers they are looking for. Notepads that were a key feature of the business are no longer needed. No doubt we are also improving customer service as a result. Before Intact, if a customer came in and wanted to find out what wallpaper they purchased it would have been a laborious filing cabinet exercise to find the answer. Now we have accurate, up to date customer history, linked supplier data, pricing detail etc. all at our finger-tips."
GC Johnson is already seeing the implementation of the solution impact their profits. Mat elaborates,
"Historically we didn’t run a live purchase ledger and relied on bulk entries being added at regular intervals. Price checking was therefore fairly ad-hoc which wasn’t ideal but now we have a detailed, real-time purchase ledger. To say this has had a direct impact to the bottom line would be an understatement. We’ve now discovered several thousand pounds worth of over-charges from various suppliers, that historically we would have just paid. Now with the checks and balances we can affect with Intact iQ, it’s easy for the team to verify that everything matches up as it should."
Looking to the future
With Intact iQ Mat notes that GC Johnson now have a system in place that is responsive and agile, can seamlessly integrate with any 3rd party solutions and provides them with accurate, real-time visibility across the business. Working outside the system has now stopped and overall Intact iQ has afforded better control of the business to facilitate future growth. Looking to the future GC Johnson are working with the Intact Customer Success Office to implement a mobile warehouse solution and an ecommerce website using Intact Cliqx.
The team at Intact look forward to working with and supporting the GC Johnson team as they seek to continually improve and grow their business.
