The Progressive Solutions blog

This is our blog, with extra news, tips & product features. Main Progressive Solutions website here.

Recruiting now!

The Progressive team that brings you the market-leading bisTrack software are currently recruiting for more bright and able people to join them.

Details of the Dynamics GP support and implementation person and an Internal sales person we’re after are over on the main Progressive Solutions website.

Is your business fit for the recovery?

Whether or not we’re now emerging from the recession is probably best debated elsewhere. The Builders Merchants Journal has some thoughts in their latest blog, they’re crossing their fingers and saying we’re past the worst. But what’s not in doubt is that we all have choices about how we respond when the expected upturn does come.

Good software will do more for you than run a trade counter or send out invoices. Good software is the vital boost that lifts a well-run business to greatness, transforming the way you work.

bisTrack is a complete, manageable solution for the treatment of sales management, purchasing, stock control and business intelligence.

We can help get your business fit for the recovery.

Find out more on the main website at www.progressive-solutions.co.uk. Or ask us directly by calling the sales team on 01928 592200.

Latest newsletter now online

The Autumn 2010 newsletter is another milestone issue for us, concentrating on customer stories of merchants using the bisTrack software to transform the way they work.

In it you can read about how Ridgeons rolled-out the bisTrack solution to help their business for over 600 users at trade counters and back office desks in East Anglia. The implementation there was a model of smoothness, and testament to what a motivated team can achieve.

You can also find out how Yorkshire Timber are planning for the future as bisTrack helps grow this young business. Woodbridge Timber too are enjoying the benefits of better stock visibility and an end to recording the same information in several different systems. Woodbridge manages the movement of up to 2000m3 of timber per day with bisTrack.

Managing director Arthur Duffy writes: “We may or may not be coming out of recession but my team continues to move forward, engaging with customers to help them get in the best possible shape for the recovery. Increasingly our services team is being actively asked by customers to help them with specific projects and, under Paul Jones, that department has been expanded and strengthened to enable us to provide increased project support across all business disciplines.”

>> Read more here (PDF, 959k).

No application is an island — online data sources

There’s an interesting story on our website right now about integrating third-party data sources with your main trading application. These days you can’t afford your systems to work in isolation, you need to be able to draw on the best available tools for the job, whether that’s postcode integration, online product catalogues, vehicle tracking software, or whatever else may come along. No application is an island. Our product director Gary Brookshaw writes:

Directions, currency conversion, employment law, weather, sports fixtures, technical data, holidays, our bank balance – today we can access information about anything we need to enhance our business or personal lives via the internet – within seconds – to enhance our personal…  [ Read more ]

e-Xact and the importance of good data for builders’ merchants

Beverley James is sales and marketing director for e-Xact, a company specialising in integrated data solutions for merchants and wholesalers. Here she talks about the challenges of getting your data in order…

How often do you come across a builders’ merchant that does not use a computer with a product file for the sale and purchase of goods? How often have you heard the expression “Garbage in, Garbage Out”? How often do you hear talk about how important it is to have quality data? The answers are likely to be rarely, often and loads of times.

“The companies that can quickly deliver high quality information to staff and customers alike are much better positioned to take advantage of technology – and ultimately witness improvements in their bottom line…” [Read the rest of the story here]

Recent press articles on the Progressive website

The latest Professional Builders Merchant magazine has a great review of our last customer event where customers saw what’s new in bisTrack 3.0 and a glimpse of the future roadmap for bisTrack: http://www.progressive-solutions.co.uk/news/in-the-press/Reporting-back.php

A recent Timber Trades Journal has an article from our managing director Arthur Duffy ‘Getting the most from your software’: http://www.progressive-solutions.co.uk/news/in-the-press/getting-the-most-out-of-your-software.php

The Builders Merchants Journal had an article ‘bisTrack releases v3.0’: http://www.progressive-solutions.co.uk/news/in-the-press/bisTrack-releases-third-generation.php

Here is a news review of the Unimer Day, held in early July at Celtic Manor, south Wales: http://www.progressive-solutions.co.uk/enews/News/Unimer-market-temperature.php

…and finally not one to pass up an opportunity to embarrass colleagues… New appointment to our marketing team: http://www.buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/2540/Nind_strengthens_PSI_comms_team.html

One of support staff trying to break into the record books at this year’s V festival http://www.progressive-solutions.co.uk/news/in-the-press/Calling-all-bouncing-merchants.php

More press stories here at: http://www.progressive-solutions.co.uk/news/in-the-press.php

New bisTrack press articles

Some recent press about us and our software:

bisTrack releases third generation — Builders Merchants Journal, June 2010
Canadian envoy visits town firm — Runcorn Weekly News, 13 May 2010
The right software — Unimer News, May 2010
Getting the most out of your software — TTJ, 3/10 April 2010
Alsford improves stock control — TTJ, 3/10 April 2010
McMahon restarts roll-out in recession — Builders’ Merchants News, April 2010

Please take a look! Progressive Solutions’ bisTrack merchant/timber trading software, was cited as ‘industry standard’ in a recent Voice of The Customer survey.

Latest bisTrack newsletter

Last year we added close to 1000 new users of bisTrack in the UK alone — every one of those new users represents a tough decision for the businesses deploying bisTrack, all watching every penny like everyone else. But these customers know that bisTrack, far from being a drain on their business, will add to their bottom line and bring value to their trading position in a way that few other capital investments can match.

Palmer Timber are two years into a single branch implementation of bisTrack, where the software has completely transformed their timber milling operations, giving new visibility to every stage of the process. “The system’s big ‘wow factor’ was accuracy of stock. We’re regularly over 99% now.”

James McMahon in Ireland (where the recession was probably even more devasting than on the mainland) we’re so convinced that bisTrack was key to the recovery that they restarted a mothballed roll-out. Today the company are recognised as the largest and most successful independent merchant across the island of Ireland.

Alsford Timber too have reaped the benefits of greater stock accuracy, but also make good use of business intelligence to track performance trends and the success of new lines of building materials. They see bisTrack as a key tool in their armoury for an aggressive three-year strategic plan, taking them to the next level.

You might have seen the newsletter as an insert in either the TTJ or BMN this month.

>> Read more here (PDF, 803k).

Better business brains

We hosted the ‘Better Business Brains’ event for the Institute of Directors Cheshire branch this week at the newly-built Progressive House.

The evening event enabled busy directors and consultants time to see how our technical advantages could provide revealing insights into the key data that defines their business.

Using our business intelligence toolkit, the groups saw how simple it was to leverage the data and tease out otherwise hidden patterns in the performance figures that businesses should be tracking.

After a short presentation, with some witty examples of current management thinking and how intuitive risk-perception is not always as reliable as we’d imagine, the group moved into the informal and interactive part of the event.

Delegates networked with other directors, practising their ability to use a dashboard to tell what’s going on in a business, and get the inside track on helping themselves and clients, to bring visibility to hidden management information.

The event was hosted by Arthur Duffy, managing director of Progressive Solutions, a thriving software and solutions company specialising in intelligent technology for management decision support. Arthur was ably supported on the day by Gary Brookshaw, product director and Paul Jones, services director.

Guest blog article for Builders Merchants Journal

We were asked recently to write a guest blog for Builders Merchants Journal. We chose to talk about the key role of customer service for merchants, in a world of increasing choice for consumers.

“To stand out from the crowd, you need great customer service. Really great customer service. And one of the ways you can achieve this is by knowing your customers well: what kind of work they…”

Read the rest here >>.