News

Newest Release of Enterprise-Class ERP System Helps Distributors Deliver Better Customer Service

YARDLEY, PA, March 1, 2006 - Activant Solutions Inc. announces the availability of Activant Prelude™ version 19. The latest release of this enterprise software solution incorporates new features - including administrative holds for price violations, the ability to attach PDF, Word, Excel, and picture files to documents, and enhanced exporting of standard reports to Excel, and much more - designed to help distributors increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating costs.

"Prelude 19 is full of enhancements that streamline processes and help distributors better manage the information in their solutions," says Steve McLaughlin, senior vice president and general manager of Activant's wholesale distribution group. "Each release of Prelude only helps strengthen a distributor's position in this competitive marketplace."

Increasing Productivity

As early adopters of Prelude version 19, the employees at EPKO Industries, Inc., a national organization involved in the sourcing and distribution of commercial wall coverings, industrial sewing threads, and industrial textiles, have had the chance to test drive some of the new functionality, including an enhanced order suspend feature.

In the past, when customers called to place an order but were unsure of the quantity they needed, the order would be flagged as suspended, but it could still move on to the admin or credit hold stages, making it difficult for customer service reps to retrieve. Prelude's suspend feature can now be set to keep an incomplete order in a suspend queue, where it can be recalled at any time to make changes.

"Instead of keeping handwritten notes about incomplete customer orders, we can now enter them into the system and have them ready in the suspend queue," remarks systems coordinator, David Kyles. "This way, if a customer calls back after a particular rep has gone home, the order can easily be recovered and completed by someone else."

EPKO vice president Gary Rothschild explains the advantages of staying up-to-date: "It's all the little things they add in a new release that help you be more productive throughout the day, and with the new functionality contained in Prelude 19, we'll be able to better serve our customers' needs."

Other functionality in Prelude 19 includes:

• Create a Price Matrix from a Quote - Create a price matrix based on an existing quote. This feature saves order entry time, resulting in efficient sales, accurate prices, and a healthier bottom line.
• Attach PDF, Word, Excel, and Pictures to Documents - Increase sales and improve customer service and order accuracy by linking images, item codes, or manuals to items, invoices, and transactions.
• Expansion of Exporting Standard Reports to Excel - Better manage business processes by utilizing the flexibility of exporting reports for data manipulation.
• Use Commas with Monetary Values - Use commas when entering monetary values into your Prelude solution to provide a user-friendly interface that limits data entry errors.
• Administrative Hold for Price Violation - Ensure that every order is a profitable one by automatically putting an order on hold if the sale price is lower than the cost of the item.
• And many more…

Pricing and Availability

Prelude 19 is currently available. For additional information and pricing, please visit http://distribution.activant.com or call 1-800-776-7438, press 1.

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