Less administration time.
More time for the customers. Peter Thorell, owner of the BDS store Thorell Motor in Töreboda uses InExchange’s invoicing solution and FDT Avance ERP system. It has simplified procedures for him and reduced time spent.
“I need to sell brake pads. The invoicing process should just be rolling along—and it does that now,” he says contentedly.
Auto parts specialist BDS has stores and workshops all over the country.
A considerable number of them are FDT users. Several also have their own invoicing solution via InExchange. Peter Thorell, who operates the family company, Thorell Motor, in Töreboda in northern Västergötland, carries out his invoice processing with just these two tools.
“Both are great in themselves, but the combination is brilliant,” says Peter.
He became aware of the tandem effect thanks to a conversation with Karl Mann, seller at InExchange, and also with his BDS colleague Skara Motor.
What they described was a potential that he didn’t have enough knowledge about before then. “The advice I received was that I should clearly give this a go.
And we’ve never had any regrets. We started off by testing and got help to file in small templates. That was all that was needed. So now it goes quickly,” Peter says, beaming.
Examined in detail, there are a couple of properties that Peter really appreciates in particular. He works through the benefits systematically as though he were listing the pull-offs along a highway:
Practical:
“Before, we basically invoiced once a week.
And then we were using the old manual method. Out with the paper, putting things in envelopes, into the franking machine and then off to the post office.
All this takes time. Even for a small company. Now we don’t need to do this.”
Flexible:
“We invoice our workshop customers, whose invoices consist of somewhere in the region of five to six A4 pages, once a week. They don’t want them more often than that.
But for casual customers I can produce invoices at any time, simply and easily.
You don’t need to go to the great lengths that you did before.
If I know that they won’t be buying more this week, I can send it to them straight away—and there’s a shorter payment time as a result.”
Easy:
“There are a number of steps that need to be clicked through, but this is done quickly. And when the installation is ready, you don’t need to think about it anymore. I can’t imagine how it could be easier.
I also prefer that it takes place in stages. You have control over it at all times, getting a confirmation with each click: ‘it has now been loaded’, ‘an e-invoice will now be created’. Just pressing a button, letting it proceed and only afterwards receiving an OK message would make me feel uncertain.
Time-saving:
“Saying that invoicing time has halved is perhaps overdoing it, but it’s not far off. Then I’m a little old-fashioned.
Our system is adapted so that we only need to press a button, but I visually check through all orders quickly to make sure that it all looks fine.
Then I press the button once per customer.
“The procedure could therefore actually happen even quicker, but the time saved is already huge and highly valued.
I am exceedingly satisfied.
I wonder why I didn’t start using this earlier.”
Peter also highlights the options provided for summary invoicing.
It does away with a lot of administration—which is a relief for everyone.
“When making a purchase using a company card at some larger chains that have invoicing set up externally, I can get irritated when I receive invoices two days in a row and the only thing on each invoice is some poor little screw.
Why not put them all on one? What’s the problem?” he asks rhetorically. He then adds:
“It’s a lot of administration for everyone.
Both supplier and customer get irritated.”
Co-ordination always has its merits. Peter’s hope is that more BDS members will choose to combine the FDT ERP system and InExchange. It would open the door to further refinements. Existing solutions can as a rule be made even better if they are customized for an industry with the same conditions and needs.
Peter provides a specific example of the type of benefit.
“FDT has other business chains where all connected users use their program.
FDT manages this thanks to the chain’s central price file loading.
I wish we did it like this as well. It would be fantastic to turn on the computer every month and find this was ready, but that’s not the case. Now we all have to do it on our own.”
Thorell Motor has sold auto parts, spare parts, accessories and auto accessories in the store outside Töreboda since 1952. Thorell Motor is currently an independent company that is part of the nationwide chain BDS, which comprises auto part stores and garages.
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