There have been many stories recently concerning overstocking in the IT supply chain, which is at odds with the trend of the whole IT industry towards transparency of supply. Even the biggest of global players have failed to reconcile demand for their products with their supply capacity, resulting in huge write-offs of unwanted stock.

In a market where customer service is increasingly the primary differentiator, it is essential to commit to customer SLA's. The trick is to do this without tying up $m's in inventory, keeping a high stock turn and avoiding the costliest of pitfalls, the obsolescence trap.

This is true not just of distributors but also of value add organisations all along the supply chain. It may be possible to assess stock levels in order to meet recent sales demand, but what allowance do you need if DOAs are higher than anticipated? And what about factoring in forecasted demand?

A number of high-tech sales and service businesses use Strategix at the heart of their operations, including Soanar (Australia), Arlec (Australia), Bailey Teswaine, Croft plc, Interface Systems International (ISI), Midwich Ltd , Milgo and Sterry Communications. See below under Strategix in your market sector for more information about their use of Strategix.

answers to key challenges
In common with these customers, the most valuable commodity you could possess in managing today's complex challenges is not the biggest warehouse in Europe but the best, most accurate and most up-to-the-minute information on your product movements and customer contacts.

To partner properly with your customers and suppliers you need reliable access to:

• quality customer relationship management tools in order to have forward visibility of business plans, close management of open quotations and all customer contact
• detailed forecasts from your customers and / or product managers, consolidated for your suppliers
• accurate, up to the second, online price and availability information via your website and your call centre
• in-the-field tracking of loans, exchanges, returns, DOA's
• comprehensive two-way courier integration to provide door-to-door visibility of deliveries
• easy exchange of information with your suppliers to inform of alterations to demand, anticipate supply problems and provide accurate sell-through information and handle stock rotation
• controlled buying processes that manage difficult areas such as end of life-ing, supercessions and returns for credit
• tight control of price protection deals and all forms of price support, including ship & debit agreements and volume rebate schemes

The answer lies in fully automating all the customer interface processes from the initial approach through the quoting, forecasting and management of orders and right through to helpdesk, warranty and returns processing. Each penny of cost added at any stage of the order is a penny less of precious margin. Strategix offers seamless, integrated management of all these processes in a cost controlled manner.

Even more importantly, Strategix also offers complete stock availability as a sales support tool. The premise should be that you do not need to have an item in your warehouse in order to 'sell' it. With support from the right system, you can commit to satisfy your customers' demand using knowledge of the availability of stock in the supply chain, not just 'within the walls'! Dynamic free stock allocation can release working capital back into your business.

Strategix also recognises that clever deployment of your logistics systems as well as your stock will allow you to offer the highest levels of customer satisfaction, even against the tightest SLA's. Does it suit you to hold your stock close to its point of exit from your supplier's logistics structure? Does this allow you better levels of co-operation with the manufacturer? Can you still get the goods to your customer on time? Our customers do!

Do you wish to deploy your stock near or even on your customer's site? For key lines or for all? Our customers do!

Do you wish to employ one central warehouse, giving economies of scale while still offering next day delivery all over Europe? Our customers do!

Do you want to operate some combination of all the above in a full pan European environment depending on where your customers are and what SLA's they want? Our customers do!

strategix in your market sector
Our customers range from companies focussed on high volume distribution through value add distributors and on to full service providers.

Strategix users also very widely in size and geography. The Strategix users shown here operate in your market and are representative of the breadth of application and variety of size and topology:

Soanar (Australia) - a pan-regional specialist distributor of electronic components, subsystems, and associated products, concentrating on a range of semiconductor products via sales offices in every major Australian mainland city as well as Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand, and associated Soanar companies in Singapore and India. With an HQ located in Melbourne and warehousing and distribution facilities centralised in Sydney, a large Strategix user with a sophisticated implementation of a shared central stock model.

Bailey Teswaine - one of the UK's largest communications systems integrators, offering a complete range of communication services encompassing voice telephony, data networking, structured cabling and CTI, offering a nationwide service in the UK based on a network of regional offices and state-of-the-art Customer Service Centre in Leeds.

Croft plc - a national Network Services Provider and Systems Integrator, with a head office based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Interface Systems International (ISI) - a trade-only distributor of IT products and services, based in Birmingham, Slough and Warrington.

Midwich Ltd - A dedicated trade-only distributor of computer-related products and peripherals with 120 users on Strategix for Finance, Sales and Warehousing, and with a tight integration with Goldmine Sales & Marketing.

Milgo Solutions - a Communications Solutions Provider (CSP), building and delivering corporate voice and data networking.

Sterry Communications - a national voice and data reseller, whose core activities include the supply, installation and maintenance of digital telephony systems, telecoms engineering work, network provision, structured cabling, and the supply and installation of data network equipment.

industry focus
How else do high-tech distribution and service businesses benefit from our focus on this sector?

• You get industry-specific functionality as standard
• Fewer enhancements mean smooth and rapid deployment - which means risk reduction and an early ROI
• Our personnel have extensive experience implementing the software within the sector. This enables implementation to be a value-add process, by taking the opportunity of drawing on our skills in assessing and exploiting the benefits of introducing new business practices
• By focussing on your sector, we can anticipate developments in the market - so in future years you keep one step ahead
• We produce a continuous product enhancement stream, enabling you to take advantage of new and cogent functionality quickly - a committed partnership with the sector