Case Study Solutions using 3rd Party Products - Safety Connection, Inc. and ACCTivate!

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Our readers have asked for more ‘practical’ solutions to real world problems, and so we are implementing a new series titled “Case Study Solutions using 3rd Party Products”.  Intuitive Accountant will be working with a variety of 3rd Party Solutions in documenting true-to-fact cases from their files to find typical examples of what you might encounter as a ProAdvisor, Accountant, Bookkeeper or Business Consultant.  We then look at how that vendor’s product resolved the particular problems, and give you feedback from the actual users regarding the implemented solution.  These case studies are not ‘infomercials’, ‘paid advertising’ or ‘endorsements’ of any specific product, rather these articles are intended for educational and information purposes to give you are readers a variety of solutions to situations or client issues you may encounter.

Case Study – Safety Connection, Inc.          

Solution – ACCTivate! Inventory Management

How would you handle tremendous growth, inventory complexity, customers with both multiple locations and multiple ship-to locations, the need to ‘kit’ different products together as a unique solution, and a complex pricing formula to stay competitive?

Well Safety Connection, Inc. of Baton Rouge, La., a company which specializes in fall protection and rescue, chose ACCTivate! Inventory Management to handle their needs.

Safety Connection’s journey toward a better inventory management solution began when they realized they could barely handle their continued yearly growth.  At one point they were “on track to have 48% growth” just partially into the year, according to Clint Honeycutt, Sr., Safety Connection owner. He explained that they needed a solution to handle “potential growth and to keep up with everything better.” Ever since, ACCTivate! has proven to be a significant asset to their business operations. ACCTivate! is designed to handle substantial volume and growth and integrates into their QuickBooks®.

“I wanted an inventory program and a way of tracking everything,” Honeycutt said. With ACCTivate! we gained real-time inventory management and analysis and much more, including sales order management, customer relationship management, kitting, and advanced purchasing with drop shipping.

“ACCTivate! is now the core of our business. It is our business – it’s our quotes, it’s our orders, it’s our invoicing,” Janice Honeycutt, Vice President said. “The only thing QuickBooks is used for is to pay utilities, insurance, and all those types of things. But our revenue is in ACCTivate!.”

Before ACCTivate!, they needed to maintain customer details, such as multiple shipping locations. Ms. Honeycutt explained, “Chevron (our customer) could have 20 or more ship-to locations and multiple contacts.” ACCTivate! provides specific customer management capabilities and more to keep all of their customer-facing personnel in tune with each customer and their needs.

Clint Honeycutt explained, “We might mix one brand of harness with one brand of lanyard to make sure that they (our customers) have the best connection they possibly can have,” Using the ACCTivate! Kitting feature Safety Connection was able to combine different products from multiple different manufacturers and sell them as one product – their rescue kits.

Furthermore, ACCTivate! solved their need for cost-based prices based on the kitted products. “We use the management cost. We put our cost that we pay our vendors with a markup and it generates our retail for it,” Ms. Honeycutt said.

Prior to ACCTivate!, Safety Connection also lacked an efficient way to manage drop shipped purchase orders. Now drop shipments are simplified with ACCTivate!. “I love the Drop Ship feature,” she said. “It queues you. Plus, it just automatically creates the PO. You’re ready to email and off you go.”

Not only did Safety Connection solve a variety of business challenges with ACCTivate!, but they found it to be extremely user-friendly. “ACCTivate! is easy to use, so you’re not spinning your wheels trying to figure out the software. It’s intuitive,” Ms. Honeycutt said.

Now, Safety Connection can concentrate on their specialty of bringing superior fall protection and rescue products and services to companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corporation, Shell Oil Company and many more, without having to worry if they are efficiently handling their inventory and operational needs.

If ACCTivate! sounds like a solution that can solve one of your own ‘difficult cases’, you should definitely review their website for more information and contact information.

Editor’s note: We would like to thank Safety Connection, Inc., Clint and Janice Honeycutt, and ACCTivate! for information and statements provided as a part of this article.

Notice: If you are a 3rd Party Solution Provider that works with QuickBooks (Desktop or Online), feel free to submit one or more case-studies for our preliminary review.  We will be happy to consider such studies for potential publication and/or contact you regarding our re-writes and other editorial requirements prior to publication.