1st Hose

Keeping it simple with Sage

First-class customer service comes first at 1st Hose – a leading supplier of drilling rig hose solutions to the UK offshore industry for 20 years.

Underpinning that all-important ethos is the Aberdeen company’s commitment to ‘keeping things simple’ behind the scenes by maintaining a state-of-the-art, streamlined business management system.

“We want to stay at the forefront with our IT systems and so we invest in the highest-spec and best available products to help us run our business,” says Managing Director Fred Nicol.

With PlusOne’s support, upgrading from Sage Line 100 to the latest (2009) version of Sage 200 has been a key part of that process and coincides with the company’s recent addition of a new hydraulic hose division which has trebled its customer base and dramatically increased the number of orders handled on a weekly basis.

The newly-installed system will allow 1st Hose to develop a comprehensive parts list and fully automate the sales process from sales enquiry to dispatch note. Particularly useful is its streamlining of the ordering and receipt process for goods not already in stock.

Fred explains: “It’s a fantastic system: it means our sales personnel can now generate the sales order and move on to the next order without having to worry about physically keeping track of when the goods come in, as they used to have to do. It’s all done by computer now and we can definitely see the benefits in terms of time saved and increased efficiency.”

Further benefits, he says, include the ability to be more ‘hands-on’ and proactive due to more comprehensive management reports being available, and being able to more easily track and retrieve historical customer information.

Fred adds: “We’ve worked with PlusOne for 10 years and I am really comfortable that they fully understand our requirements as a small, family-run business.

“They always set out a plan and keep us fully updated with where we are against the plan so that everyone is clear what is happening throughout the process. Most importantly, they always stick to the plan, getting us up and running and trained within the time they recommend, and they are careful to make sure we don’t run over budget. All in all, they’re a great company to work with!”

www.1st-hose.co.uk