THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
54 | CALCULUS SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
in the run-up to Y2K, I was involved
in the research for a replacement IT
system – a review process which led
me to identify a significant gap in the
market. The original vision was simple:
to provide a modern, easy-to-use retail
system at a price realistic for a small
independentbusiness.
After 18 years of development and
expansion, our products have become
sophisticated, but our development
techniques also allow us to respond
quickly to offer custom configurations
of the system to suit each unique
business, while keeping the system
simple to use for each end-user. By
staying engaged with our customers,
our products and services have evolved
to keep pace with the real-world
challenges they face.
The business has changed from
being a simple provider of software
to a service-led business where the
implementation consultancy we offer
alongside our products is almost as
important as the products themselves.
Our software provides our customers
with a range of powerful tools; we
then advise them on how they can
be used to improve their business.
During this process, we often identify
new areas where we can help drive
efficiencies, which helps feed our
developmentcycle.
Efficiency from start to finish
From the start, we have been driven to
improve efficiencies within businesses,
identifying and removing manual
processes, and making new tools
available to improve sales and margins.
The nature of our customers means
we are not targeting to reduce staffing
levels by increasing efficiency; instead
we are looking to release staff from
administrative tasks to allow them to
carry out new roles which drive the
business forward.
It is often required of our staff that
they possess many skills – this works
well with our ethos of helping the
business use resources for productivity
rather than administration. Rather than
staff spending time manually updating
product pricing and availability within
the retail systems, our platforms
connect directly to a range of
manufacturers and distributions to
keep this information up to date
automatically. The time saved from
these manual tasks can then be used
by those staff to update and market
the company’s e-commerce website,
and ultimately drive more sales without
requiring any additional investment
instaff.
Our mobile apps allow delivery drivers
and service engineers to receive their
work digitally; to capture proof of
delivery electronically and to feed
updates back to the main system in
real time.
These facilities allow our customers
to offer improved service levels to
clients, in turn helping to grow their
business. Replacement parts can
be sourced as soon as an engineer
leaves a property, and often be ready
for fitting the following morning.
Mobile apps give real-
time tracking of parcels,
delivery status and
service engineers
Our ethos of
helping the
business use
resources for
productivity
rather than
administration
“
“
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
