Prior to its relationship with Cybertill, the schoolwear and sports goods retailer worked from a DOS-based system that failed to migrate to the Windows environment. By 2006, the lack of a viable stock management system was constraining the company’s growth and affecting customer service. The retailer had spent three years searching the market for a PoS system that would cope with its extensive product range and its online sales, fully integrate internal departments and operate in real time. As Monkhouse’s business development director, Suzanne Toner, explains: “None of the many, many systems we saw could cope with our vast range of sizes (42 in one girls’ trouser line!), pricing per size and split VAT rates, not to mention other idiosyncrasies within our business.”
The new solution replaces old in-house servers and links all branches in real time using the internet accessed via a virtual private network. Monkhouse staff find the system easy to navigate, both in terms of operating the touchscreen tills and using the back office functions. The ability to monitor system performance right across the business at any time, from any point, is a real benefit to the management team, especially to Toner who works remotely in Seattle USA. “Having a real-time system on the ASP platform is great as I can log on at any time and see exactly what’s going on.”
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