Expeto is a business management system for small to medium engineering companies in the service and repair industry. Expeto helps you plan engineers time, manage stock and accurately monitor costs and service levels to help you deliver outstanding customer service.
Historically ERP systems have been associated with large organisations fulfilling numerous transactions for a large number of orders and customers. This, coupled with the expense and time consuming undertaking of both implementing and maintaining ERP software has resulted in many small businesses continuing to use non-centralised spreadsheet based procedures. Small businesses face many of the challenges of larger organisations. Additionally, they face a number of unique difficulties when selecting business management systems as they often have limited access to personnel with appropriate IT knowledge, limited financial resources and can be more susceptible to the consequences of making an incorrect business decision.
As a business grows and the key functions are delegated then the need for an ‘ERP based’ approach involving a centralised data repository, one-time data entry, instant availability of data for analysis and embedded best business practices, increases. In considering whether you require business management software to help run your company it is important to consider the following points:-
If you answered yes to more than one of these points then it is likely that you are currently using systems that lack the flexibility to manage your business processes.
We developed Expeto to bring the benefits of large company software to the small business while recognising the limited resources of small business when implementing such systems. Traditional ERP systems can take months to implement consuming thousands of man-hours. Expeto is designed to reduce the time and costs of implementation with set-up data imported from Excel spreadsheets.
Expeto is specifically designed to focus on the areas that provide the most significant benefits of a business system, including
Accurate reporting is essential to allow you and your employees to make business decisions based upon up-to-date reliable information.
With Expeto reports are automatically generated from accurate system data and as it readily integrates with Microsoft Office, data can be exported to excel spreadsheets and word documents.
As the credit status of the customer is confirmed at order entry the potential for incurring costs on delinquent accounts is minimised. The ability to create invoices directly from completed sales orders leads to improvements in speed and accuracy which can reduce the number of days of outstanding receivables. With full visibility of purchase orders and receipts, trade credit can be maximised by paying only those invoices with matching receipts.
The cost of carrying excessive inventory can be crippling to any business. Expeto minimises stock as purchasing is driven by a demand either to satisfy a stock order or sales order. Stock orders ensure that inventory remains within predefined levels which are set dependant on usage. As the inventory position is accurate and maintained in real-time, purchasing on incorrect assumptions is eliminated. The delivery dates are coordinated with the need date, and unneeded material can be either postponed or cancelled. The result provides not only a reduction in inventory but also a saving in the associated costs of carrying inventory including the costs of obsolescence, handling and warehousing.
As the company data is centralised, data duplication and double entry into multiple systems is eliminated with data entry errors minimised. The saving can be realised by reducing the number of staff or by redeploying existing staff to more productive areas of the business.
Improved visibility of the planned workload for each engineer ensures that capacity is maximised and areas of under/over capacity highlighted. By minimising rush jobs and parts shortages less time is needed for expediting. As supervisors have better visibility of the planned workload capacity can be adjusted to meet requirements.
Job costs are quickly established from actual parts usage and labour rates with the data reused to ensure accurate quotations. Complex discount structures can be managed. With a greater understanding of costs the pricing can be managed to maintain profit margins.
Improved coordination of sales and service execution leads to a better customer experience and increased sales. Improvements in making and meeting delivery promises and in shorter order to completion lead-times result in higher customer satisfaction and repeat orders. With business processes and data refined this may provide the opportunity to explore customers and markets that would otherwise be unmanageable.