First Hosted of Cheshire, a UK-based NetSuite Solution provider has completed an integrated, online finance, ecommerce, CRM, marketing and distribution system implementation for BLUW; a young, dynamic novelty gadget manufacturing and merchandising group .
From their HQ in London, BLUW Ltd manages operations in New York (USA); Hong Kong and Shenzen (China) with warehousing in Fort Worth Texas USA and Basildon, UK. As an international organisation operating in multiple time zones and across three continents, on-line availability and 24 hour support were the cardinal requirements which led to the selection of the NetSuite OneWorld solution.
By using a subscription demand service, it has been estimated that the group has achieved savings in excess of £100K over the costs of installing and running a traditional on-premise solution.
“We operate on three continents and our business is undergoing enormous growth. It would be impossible to predict future systems and infrastructure requirements for our business. With NetSuite OneWorld, we don’t have to,” explains BLUW, Financial Director, Ian Harkin.
First Hosted Ltd (FHL) managed the implementation by tailoring the solution to meet BLUW’s business needs in finance, e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM), marketing and distribution.
Once configured, FHL delivered a combination of Web-based and one-to-one coaching and development sessions to each of the location teams to ensure rapid uptake of the solution and a fast track to improved operating efficiencies.
Definition of roles and identification of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the dashboards contributed to a strong and cohesive team ethic. Automated sales and highly efficient fulfilment and customer service processes have all contributed to significant time savings throughout the operation. The net result is increased visibility of key data, improved sales, better team communications and a closer focus on performance.
"Our demands were high" says Ian. "The system was new to everyone. The service we received from First Hosted Ltd was second to none. Their delivery and customer management in what was a highly complex system implementation was an exemplary case of how all customers should be managed. We were communicated with efficiently and nurtured through the entire process.
“We look forward to continuing to use the services of First Hosted Ltd for continued training for our organisation and we would recommend them to everyone. NetSuite the product, like First Hosted Ltd, is top class!
"NetSuite allows us to focus on what actually generates income for our business, and that is spending time with our customers," says Harkin. "Having everything operating on a single platform is highly efficient. Our online stores, outsourced warehousing facilities, delivery and dispatch system, and shipping are fully integrated with UPS and our payment processing with PayPal, dramatically reducing investment on overhead.”
Ian Harkin concludes saying: “NetSuite gives us the flexibility to meet our future needs, whatever they are, with little or no effort and minimum cost. With NetSuite we must have saved in excess of £50,000 in computer hardware and infrastructure alone; and at least as much again in salaries and fees for maintenance and support.”
