Custom software saves manufacturer time and money

A software solution for a leading Hamilton manufacturer has freed up staff.

When Global Velocity Group investigated streamlining the sales process it came down to either hiring more staff or commissioning specialist software.

“Our administrator was pushed. They were at their limit,” says Global Velocity Group director Allister Gillam.

Global Velocity Group specialises in the manufacture of more than 900,000 branded garments, bags and accessories for many leading Australasian brands each year. It also does contract manufacturing for various external brands and has its own in house brands like Huntech, Velocity and Nodoff.

“We were taking orders from our customer by phone, fax and email, then manually processing these. It was labour intensive. The question for us was whether we should get a part time staff member or look at a technical solution.” Global Velocity Group managing director David Icke sought trusted advice from software specialist Company-X director David Hallett, who he had previously done business with.

“We wanted to put some technology in to make our sales process operation much more efficient,” David Icke says.

They had decided upon using the MYOB EXO ERP business management solution.

Before buying the solution they asked Company-X if its developers could design and build a solution that would integrate with it.

“We looked at many options and decided that MYOB EXO ERP was the best solution for our business. Once that decision was made we just went to David Hallett and said that this was what we were looking at doing.”

Company-X analyst developer Schalk Bower then visited the Global Velocity Group at its Te Rapa, Hamilton, office,and analysed the software needs of the business.

“We were replacing a manual system which consisted of filling out a long form and then having to ring up Global Velocity to check on stock levels,” Schalk says. “It was important for us to deliver a system which gave a pleasant, frictionless, seamless user experience to reduce inefficiencies that came from having a manual system and to encourage sales.”

Schalk was tasked with developing a web-based sales order portal for retailers which worked on both desktop computers and mobile devices. It would pass sales orders on to MYOB EXO for processing by Global Velocity Group’s warehouse staff.

“Schalk came down and met with us on site. It was really productive. After that first meeting we had 90 per cent of it right.”

With the Agile Software Development Manifesto front of mind, Schalk quickly developed an early working version of the tool. It became the starting point for later iterations that emerged as the project matured.

Retailers log into the new system and start on a landing page unique to them as a user. Colour coding helps them understand, at a glance, how many individual items of a certain line are available.

“Green means there’s more than 20, orange means there’s less than 20, and red means we are out of stock,” Allister says.

If the user tried to order more individual items than is available in the warehouse the system automatically creates a back order which is sent to Global Velocity’s factory.

Allister expected less than half of Global Velocity Group’s customers to embrace the change. But adoption has been much higher.

“Our admin staff work 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday, but the new software is available all the time, so if the retailer is in the office at 6am or 7pm, or at the weekends, they can put an order through. It’s taken all the pressure of our administration staff,” Allister says.

About Company-X

Company-X designs and develops bespoke software solutions to large, multi-national, businesses like the Fortune 50 Cisco Systems Inc in Silicon Valley, California, as well as small and medium sized enterprises in New Zealand. Whether the business challenge is simple or complex Company-X can design, build, test and deliver cutting-edge software applications as a solution to its customers’ specific business needs. By getting to know its customers' business Company-X can build industry and business specific software that has meaning for them and their staff. It’s better than software that you buy off the shelf.

The Hamilton-based company, founded by directors David Hallett and Jeremy Hughes in 2012, won the Homegrown Innovators Independent Software Vendor category at the Reseller News ICT Awards in October, 2017.

Company-X was also named ExportNZ Services Exporter of the Year for 2017 in July.

The NZTA One Network Road Classification Performance Measures Reporting Tool Company-X built won the Roading Asset Management Innovation Award at the 2017 Road Infrastructure Management Forum in May, 2017.

Company-X was also in contention for the Westpac Waikato Business Awards Global Operator Award for 2017.

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