Atlas e50 web version integrates Sage accounts into online ordering system

www.equip4work.co.uk is a young and thriving B2B web based online catalogue company. Launched in March 2005 it carries a huge range of essential workplace equipment from desks, chairs and storage to ladders and work platforms, from pallet trucks and work benches to safes and lockers, all at highly competitive prices.

Customers view the full range of products online, make their selections and place their orders. Delivery is free anywhere in the UK. Soon after the launch of the Equip4work online catalogue it became clear that the volume of orders would require more staff to enter orders into Equip4work’s Sage Line 50.
Manual processing would be inefficient and costly.

It was vital, therefore, to find the right product to electronically integrate their web orders into their
Sage Line 50 system and minimise the need for human intervention. In addition, they needed to find a product at a price that was compatible with their business model. Atlas Sage Series from Atlas Products International (API), an approved Sage developer, fitted the bill perfectly. After spending time with the Dumfries-based Equip4work, assessing the functionality that best suited the business needs, API developed a web version of their core e50 product which is now delivering
significant benefits for Equip4work.

The details of each day’s orders are supplied to Atlas e50, and at the touch of a button, all of the order information is imported electronically into Equip4work’s Sage system in a matter of minutes. Handled by conventional methods, it would take office staff several hours each day, with inevitable keyboard errors being introduced and the potential for time consuming costly problem resolution down the line.

Instead, staff are employed on more productive tasks, cashflow is efficiently managed and customer purchasing information is absolutely accurate. The Atlas solution not only inputs the web orders, it automatically creates new customer accounts direct from the Web into Sage making it highly flexible and scaleable as Equip4work’s business grows.

Atlas Products International’s Area Sales Manager Andrew Leng said: “It was great to be involved at the early stages of the new online catalogue. It was a dynamic process that enabled us to take our core eSeries product and make it fit perfectly for Equip4work’s needs and any other website. Equip4work Managing Director Derek Hutchinson said: “API worked closely with both us and our website designer to ensure that the solution suited the needs of all concerned and gives us a great platform to build and expand our business.”

“I am delighted with the outcome. The return on investment was just four months. Before two people spent three hours each per day manually transferring customer orders from our website and the workload was growing – now it takes just five minutes. This means they now spend their time on frontline sales activities instead and I don’t have to recruit more staff for the data entry function as the business grows.”

For more information on Atlas e50 and integration with Sage click here.

To download a pdf version of this story, showing how Atlas e50 web version integrates Sage accounts into an online ordering system click here.