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| Mercia Engineering Supplies |
We are accustomed to receiving enquiries about MAP4, and, having sent out an information pack, hearing nothing for many months, or even years.
When Mercia Engineering Supplies enquired in March 1996, however, we never expected it to be a further 9 years before they ordered the system. To be fair, it was not quite as simple as that.
Dave Mizen, then a Director of Central Engineering Supplies, had just bought out Central’s Coventry branch, forming Mercia Engineering Supplies Ltd, beginning a period of rapid expansion.
The initial staffing compliment of Dave, wife Lisa, and two former colleagues, soon rose to handle the increased workload. By 1999, with 10 full-time employees, it was felt that further growth could best be accomplished by opening a new branch, and in July of that year the Corby branch started trading. The success of the Corby branch led to Mercia opening a third branch, in Leicester, in October 2001. This was also a huge success, but, as so often happens, led to problems with the administrative systems in place at that time - they simply could not cope. Mercia had inherited Central’s bespoke computer system as part of the buy-out, which had served them very well, but it was now time to upgrade the system to one which would keep pace with their continued expansion.
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Dave explained their thinking ‘We are not IT people, and were reluctant to change, as we were so familiar with our existing system. As a result, we tried to upgrade and enhance the system, but it simply didn’t work, and we came to the conclusion that we needed to change it. Once we had made that decision, selecting MAP4 was easy. It was obvious that the system was tailor-made for our industry, and that BL Computer Services knew our business very well, and we felt as comfortable as we could that it was the right decision. It didn’t stop us being very nervous and apprehensive, however, at the thought of changing. Especially as we were fundamentally changing the way we operated, with our branches connected online to one central system, whereas previously, each branch had operated their own system.’
Clearly, the obvious question is ‘How did it all go?’
Dave continues ‘It is no exaggeration to say that it was beyond our wildest expectation. I had beenwarned by several people, who had previously made
such a change, that it would take at least 12 months for the new system to truly settle in. We went ‘live’ in Coventry in November 2005, and Leicester and Corby went ‘live’ in the December. I remember thinking at the time that it was supposed to be traumatic, but it wasn’t! To be fair, the people from BL Computers spent a lot of time with us, which I am sure was a key factor in the success of the project, but I’d like to think that we played our
part as well.’ From our viewpoint, we think it was a staggeringly successful implementation, conducted within a very tight timeframe, with all parties doing their bit.
For the technically minded, Mercia have a 20 user MAP4 system, with the Corby and Leicester branches connected to the Coventry Head Office by Broadband through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). |
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