Success With
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Compusource Celebrates 20 Year Relationship with Horne Moving Systems,
Inc. |
Having
been in business since 1971, Compusource is pleased to have many
long-standing customer relationships. One of those valued long-term
customers is Horne Moving Systems, Inc. Founded in 1969 by Darrell Horne,
the president and CEO, they remain a family-owned and operated business.
Initially Horne was an agent for Global Van Lines, but in 1986 they became a
United Van Lines agent which they remain today. In fact, Mr. Horne
currently serves as a member of the UniGroup Board of Directors. Today
Horne Moving Systems, Inc. operates from two North Carolina locations,
Raleigh and Goldsboro.
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Horne Approaches 20 Year Anniversary
as Compusource Customer |
In 1984 Mr. Horne decided it was time to move into the computer age. After
evaluating the alternatives that were available, he selected the Compusource
VanS system to automate his operation. Many people do not readily embrace
change, and Mr. Horne’s staff at that time was no different. Mr. Horne states,
“ I can remember keeping manual books and computer records for one year after we
purchased that first system. My accounting department was scared to let go of
the familiar – and not too sure if they could trust a computer. I finally had
to throw the manual books in the trash. We have been totally computerized since
then.”
Over time as
Compusource enhanced the VanS system, Horne Moving Systems, Inc. used the system
to handle more and more of their operation. At this time they are using
payroll, accounts payable, claims, forms designer, driver processing, sales
processing, general ledger, accounts receivable, VanS Connect, the van line
order entry interface module, and operations/dispatch. The newest product they
are in the process of implementing is SalesTrak VS and the TechMate rating
interface. Horne Moving Systems, Inc. is a great example of a company
leveraging off their original VanS investment by consistently adding capability
as it becomes available from Compusource. With each new capability implemented,
they have gained added efficiency resulting in improved service and
profitability.
We feel that
Mr. Horne’s commitment to change, when it is appropriate, serves as a great
example for others to emulate, if someone really wants to get the most from
their VanS investment. This was evident again when he decided to implement the
Operations software module. Mr. Horne relates, “After we decided to install
the Operations / Dispatch program from Compusource 2 years ago, I had to use the
same approach I used to get everyone off the manual system in 1986. They wanted
to keep the old dispatch book and use it to verify the dispatch program. I
threw that in the trash too!” Today they are truly seeing the benefits of
having this portion of their business fully automated.
Mr.
Horne in reflecting on the long-term relationship he and his staff have had with
Compusource related, “ We have been doing business with Compusource for so many
years that they are a part of our family. We have recommended Compusource
several times in the past and would do so again today”. All of us at
Compusource certainly share the feeling expressed by Mr. Horne regarding them as
being a part of our family.
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Dircks
Installs Office of the Future |
For Chip and
Rick Dircks at Dircks Moving Services, Inc., Allied agent in Phoenix,
Arizona, the office of the future has now arrived. By installing the new
VanS Document Management System (DMS) from Compusource Corporation, the
Dircks have removed all shipment folder related file cabinets from their
office. They are now paperless!
The
byproduct of installing this new and exciting technology from Compusource is
enhanced efficiency throughout their office. Now all documents relating to a
move are scanned and then indexed to the order reference number on the VanS
main shipment entry screen. Chip Dircks states, “Anyone who has access to
the order entry screen can immediately display from their desk, any scanned
document relating to a move. Once the document is viewed on the screen, it
can then be emailed as an attachment, faxed, or printed directly from that
user’s PC. This procedure has dramatically increased our efficiency and
allows us to eliminate hours of unproductive work.”
Chip was
also quoted as saying, “While we have always wanted to have our computer
system reduce the amount of paper in the office, the DMS offering has now
made this a reality. It truly leverages today’s technology to meet our
business needs.”
From an
investment standpoint, the requirements are a scanner, a server for the
imaged documents, and the Compusource VanS Document Management System (DMS).
The normal return on investment for this capability ranges from several
months to two years. Rick Dircks adds, “The DMS product has proven to be
easy to learn, taking little training resources.”
Among the
many capabilities of DMS is the flexibility to index documents using several
fields, including national accounts. Using this flexibility, Dircks can now
easily, from their desk, access bills of lading from any national account
for any period of time. Rick Dircks states, “This allows us to easily
respond to our national account inquiries on a timely and inexpensive
basis.”
Rick also
relates, “I am excited to know that this imaging capability extends through
most every master file in the VanS System. This includes accounts payable
(vendor file), payroll (employee file), accounts receivable (customer file),
driver file, etc. This has given us the ability to truly operate now in a
paperless environment.”
Ron Shea,
Senior VP for Compusource, states “In the next release of DMS, we plan to
enhance the document types that can be attached to an order. This will
include Word documents, Excel documents, PDF documents, etc. This will give
our customers even greater flexibility and more time savings.”
Chip Dircks
states, “We have relied for years on Compusource to be our technology
business partner, and we have always been pleased with their ability to stay
abreast of technology changes. The installation of DMS is the latest chapter
in the technology successes we have achieved through our partnership.”
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VIP
Transport, Inc., a Success Story |
VIP Transport is a twenty year old relocation and
transportation company headquartered in Corona, California. It was started
by Dan Griffiths with a truck and a goal. The number of trucks has
increased but his goal of delivering quality full-service for residential
and special products has not changed.
Over the years, VIP has grown in locations too. Besides their Corona
location, they have branches in Hayward and Riverside, California and
Jessup, Maryland to provide nation-wide service. VIP also services their
international customers out of their Los Angeles office where they are
business partners with Allied International. Over the years VIP has grown
to one of Allied Van Lines’ largest booking and hauling agents.
Recently, VIP installed VanS, Compusource Corporation’s agent
information system. Management understood that to continue to grow and
provide superior service to their customers, the change to VanS was
necessary. In a recent interview with Laurie Griffiths, Dan’s wife and
Controller of VIP, we learned that “file flow” was much improved. Order
tracking is now a snap for their staff. According to Kate Trygstad, VIP’s
Assistant Controller, “With having to keep control of well over 1,000
orders VIP processes each month, VanS allows us to track shipment
information much easier. Plus, the audit trail for our financial
information is so much better than the software we used previously.”
In addition to smoother order processing and better financial reporting,
Laurie added, “Our collections have improved by using the collection letter
feature of VanS.”
Although Compusource did not install VIP’s hardware, they have become
the Systems Integrators responsible for helping VIP meet their information
systems’ requirements. When VIP experiences a system problem, they can rely
on Compusource to assist them in a resolution. Compusource is considered an
extension of VIP’s staff on an “as-need” basis and is as close as a phone
call away.
With the goal of providing quality full-service to their
customers, VIP looked to Compusource to be their business partner for the
tools and services they require to meet their needs and help them grow
profitably.
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Capitol
Las Vegas Scores Major Technology Win |
Capitol North
American, starting business in 1963 as a household goods mover with 30,000
square feet of warehouse space, has grown to be one of the largest moving
agencies in the country, ranking #1 in southern Nevada for Household Goods,
Tradeshow, High Value Products and Office and Industrial moving. Today
Capitol has a 115,000 square foot warehouse and distribution center on a six
acre complex. They employ over 65 moving personnel and 30 administrative and
sales personnel, and they maintain a fleet of over 70 vehicles for
utilization in the Las Vegas move market.
While many of us do
not welcome change, it has been received with excitement recently at Capitol
North American in Las Vegas. Capitol is a long term user of VanS, but until
a few months ago all their users were accessing VanS through serial
connections. They used a dial-up connection for Internet access and
communicated with the van line using a leased line with a 3270 Cleo card.
All of this changed
dramatically when Mitch Rittenhouse of Capitol decided to contract with
Compusource to purchase a new Unix server and use Compusource’s system
integration services to replace all of Capitol’s serial connections with
Ethernet. In addition, the Cleo leased line connection to the van line has
been replaced with Internet communication using the Jolly Giant QWS 3270
product. The Compusource integration services also included assistance with
installing a fractional T-1 line and a firewall to maintain network
security. This was all topped off with the installation of a Windows 2000
server to store Capitol’s Windows based applications.
When asked about his
impression of this process Mitch stated, “The transition presented few
problems, particularly compared to the impressive results and cost savings
we have experienced. The project required no retraining and very little
downtime resulting in a very smooth transition,” Pamela Mechanic, A/P and
Payroll Supervisor, added, “Throughout the systems integration process, the
Compusource staff were responsive and highly effective in their efforts to
assist us. While some issues did come up, they were minor in nature and
fixed properly and promptly.”
When asked about the
benefits from this major transition Mitch said, “ Our productivity has
increased by 30%. We have seen an impressive increase in the speed of data
transmission, resulting in better communication with our customers and the
van line. We are able to share information much better due to the shared
software installed on the network. One example is the movement of
spreadsheets from person to person”.
Celebrating their 40th year
with North American Van Lines, Capitol has certainly seen a great deal of
change over the years. Today Capitol is involved in many aspects of the
moving and storage industry including local, interstate and intrastate
household moves, trade show, logistics, office moves, commercial
warehousing, and government moves.
When asked how the
VanS system addresses the needs of this diversified company, Bill David,
Operations Manager, said “The VanS system allows operations to not only
dispatch our local and long distance crews more effectively, it also
provides us with real time access to customer service notes and a history of
all the communications that have taken place with our customers. It allows
our operations staff to provide a very high level of service to our
customers, which is extremely important in today’s competitive and service
conscience marketplace.”
Fran Tagler,
Accounting Supervisor, related “The automatic reconciliation feature of VanS
has made the task of taking the North American Van Lines statement and
reconciling it against our financials a breeze. What took hours every week
now takes a matter of minutes”. Sue Lucero, Capitol’s Customer Service
Supervisor, added “MoveTrak has automated our customer service tasks to a
degree that I would not have thought possible. It helps us stay ahead of the
curve and more consistently meet the expectations of our customers”. Mitch
further added “Capitol North American was recently honored by North American
Van Lines as the agent who had the highest customer “Use Again” scores in
the entire North American Van Lines agency system. I attribute a part of
that achievement to the increased functionality and communications
capabilities of our new IT system.”
With all of these
capabilities in place Mitch Rittenhouse says, “I am now looking forward to
enhancing our new functionality with the latest 5.0 release of VanS which we
plan to install later this year”.
Capitol North
American is certainly a company focused on taking advantage of all their
business partners have to offer. All of us at Compusource see them as a
great example of how to leverage off the investment in VanS by utilizing the
professional services available from Compusource that truly enhance the
software.
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