No-one looks forward to a major IT project, with its attendant painstaking probe of code compatibility, data quality, report formats and internal processes.
But STL has smoothed the process by working with legacy system experts to streamline the process of migrating customers’ data from aging software to our next-generation wholesale management platform: STL Evo. We’ve also capitalised on Evo’s open framework to design ‘pre-fab’ interfaces (APIs) for popular third-party products, such as Sage accounting software, and various open banking and eCommerce app.
This customer-centric approach helped Chapple & Jenkins complete its migration to STL Evo on schedule.
The Bristol-based delivered wholesaler supplies a wide range of food, beverages, catering equipment and cleaning products to schools, care homes and hospitality providers, as well as to large-scale events. It had managed to maintain a quality service throughout the pandemic. However, continuing industry-wide issues in recruitment, the supply chain and customer confidence on top of sharp cost rises had highlighted the shortcomings of its legacy system.
It hoped STL Evo’s built-in best practices would help it reduce costs and increase productivity in merchandise management, improve the accuracy and efficiency of its order and purchase processes, and optimise its sales whilst protecting its margins.
They particularly liked Evo’s:
- Goods Inwards Diary, which would boost picker efficiency by advising what’s due in by when, or overdue
- Combined replenishment and PO creation facility, which would time and improve accuracy
- Ability to dynamically appoint customers to the most cost-efficient routes whilst honouring service commitments
- Automatic data transfer with Sage
However, the company wanted to retain some of its unique processes, such as its picking operation which begins with a traditional paper-based list before a pallet scanner-based system checks for and analyses any mis-picks.
Thanks to its Microsoft core we could easily customise it for Chapple & Jenkins. Combined with STL’s simplified migration process and new Evo APIs, this enabled the operator to meet its deadlines and trade fully from the go-live.
Martin Jenkins, Director, Chapple & Jenkins, said,
‘STL are not only tech experts but clearly understand wholesale. While an IT project this big inevitably had some teething issues, they knew how to minimise their impact.’