Nigel Hendley - Case Study - SMART Systems
The following case study illustrates how newcomer Nigel Hendley embraced SMART and how it instantly helped his new venture.Choice at Home, based in East Horsley, is owned and managed by a husband and wife team offering a complete design, supply and installation service for all aspects of home interiors for both retail customers and property development.
New to the KBB market, Nigel and Cicely Hendley have over 35 years experience in design, construction, investment, I.T. and business management. Following the opening of their first showroom in April 2006, Nigel felt the reliance on spreadsheets to create quotations was far too labour intensive to meet an increase in customer demand. Prior to choosing SMART, Choice at Home tried to use a similarly positioned solution, although this did not meet their needs and Nigel decided as time was of the essence it was best to move on.
Choice at Home needed a solution that would easily communicate with its existing software packages. In addition, the ability to add new suppliers easily without extra costs was a ‘must have’ attribute. Nigel explained “We chose SMART to help free our time from processes that heavily relied on manual inputting. Our priority was to offer customers a fast and efficient quotation service. When we were looking for a business solution, we were very impressed with the ease of adding new suppliers with SMART which was free for the suppliers.”
Choice at Home adopted the SMART solution in June 2006, Nigel commented on the implementation “We now have a professional solution that is tailored to our business needs and more importantly is capable of growing with us as our company expands.” Nigel goes on further to say “The most valuable attribute SMART offer is flexibility, particularly in adapting to our existing and future management systems and suppliers.”
Being able to offer a quick response with an accurate quotation saved Choice at Home time and in the long-term money through possible lost business. Nigel summarises by saying “As a newcomer in the KBB market I would urge people to re-evaluate their current systems. In most industries these types of solutions are second nature when running a successful business.”