Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Compiere, a provider of open source business solutions, announced that Atlanta-based Southern Book Company (SBC) has successfully implemented a hosted version of the company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.

 

By integrating the company's accounting, distribution and inventory management functions across various U.S.-based warehousing operations, SBC has increased net margins by 10 percent and more than doubled revenue since implementing Compiere in 2006.

 

Thanks to order management functions within Compiere, SBC has experienced a marked improvement in productivity across its warehouses. When the company gets new orders, the company can now enter them into Compiere as on-hand inventory is confirmed. The customers can pick tickets printing it from Compiere. The pick ticket is scanned and the shipping data for each order is transmitted to the third party shipper's system, when inventory is ready for shipment.

 

With the help of this data, invoices are also automatically created which reduces data entry requirements and the potential for billing errors. Remote system access, a process that presented security concerns prior to implementing Compiere can now be used by SBC's customers to monitor their inventory.

 

Southern Book Company said that Compiere's open source technology has helped the company to improve business processes with functionality that supports continued growth. But the company was looking to do this at a price that supports its current size and structure.

 

To identify the company's ERP needs and develop custom extensions within Compiere for third-party shipping interfaces and a business intelligence dashboard, SBC worked with Compiere partner KnowledgeBlue, an open source services provider. Knowledge Blue continues to host SBC's Compiere implementation and provides support and additional customizations.

 

“Recent studies have shown that many small and mid market companies are now embracing open source technology for their business needs due to functionality and affordability when compared to proprietary enterprise systems,” said Don Klaiss, president and CEO of Compiere. “Southern Book Company's success is yet another example of Compiere's ability to positively affect companies' productivity and profitability with minimal cost of ownership.”