Summer 2008

A .NET-based multi-channel software suite underlines Exact Abacus's commitment to hosted software, but it is also a full-service outsourced fulfilment company. Peter Rowlands went to see how this all came about

When Exact Abacus launched 3EX.NET, its new-generation multi-channel fulfilment software suite, last autumn it was more than just a typical evolutionary development.

It marked a switch by the company from a Unix environment to Microsoft's.NET platform. It brought customers a modern, graphical user interface and integration with Microsoft's product stable, including Office and Exchange. And it introduced modular architecture, in which users could opt for just the software components they wanted, rather than taking the whole lot at once.

But more than all this, the launch provided decisive evidence that this go-ahead company, still controlled by the founding family, remains at the forefront of development in the multi-channel market.

 

That continuity is echoed in the recent switch of management control from founder David Gregson, who set up the company 25 years ago, to his son Lee, who feels that the new products have arrived at just the right time. 'We're finding the market is really buoyant at the moment,' he says. 'The apparent downturn doesn't seem to have affected the multi-channel business so far.'

It's not the first time in recent years that Exact Abacus has taken a major stride forward by introducing its customers to new concepts in the solutions field. According to marketing director Sylvia Gregson: 'Back in 2000, we were the first developer in the UK – and possibly Europe – to launch the concept of hosted software to the direct marketing industry.'

This is the approach in which the software supplier hosts the system and provides access to its customers via remote data links. Often it is referred to as the 'Software as a Service' or SaaS model. Customers simply pay as they go. The concept has become more widely accepted now, but at the time (and bear in mind that remote data links were more expensive and less reliable then) it was little short of revolutionary.

And it worked. 'We still have some licensed users hosting their own software,' Sylvia says, 'but most of our customers have switched to the SaaS model. They appreciate benefits such as lack of need for up-front capital investment, and the automatic software updates.'

If you think the switch to SaaS was a major development for the company, arguably an even greater one was its expansion into physical fulfilment. Today, Exact Abacus stands almost alone in its field in offering not just software for running in-house or third-party fulfilment, but also the capability of doing the actual fulfilment.

As Sylvia recounts it, this activity just evolved. 'We were prompted originally by some of our existing customers,' she says. 'First they asked if we could help them out with call centre capability, so we set up our own call centre. Then we were asked if we could take on some of their warehousing and despatch work as well.'

The contact centre was created in 2000, and was followed by the fulfilment activity a couple of years later. At that point the company was still working out of Leyland, its original home, but in 2004 it moved to a modern warehouse location in nearby Chorley, which gave the fulfilment operation scope to keep on growing. The company now works for more than half a dozen fulfilment clients.

'The fulfilment business is a unique resource,' says sales and marketing director Lee Thompson ('yes, another Lee,' Sylvia comments wryly). 'It means when we're developing new software, we can test it out on our own operation before we let it loose on our client base.'

And has this helped the company avoid some of the pitfalls of deploying new products? The question prompts a frank grin from Lee. 'Absolutely!' He explains: 'In practice, things never work exactly as you expect when you're planning them. There's been more than one occasion when we've tried out a new feature, then quickly decided to take it back to the drawing board and make some changes.'

Not that the fulfilment operation is run as some kind of test-bed for the company's software products. It's a fully-functioning business in its own right, operating from a compact high-bay warehouse and able to handle thousands of product orders a day. Its clients tend to be drawn from the company's software user community, but this is not an inviolable rule. 'We'll talk to potential customers who aren't using our systems,' Sylvia says. 'We're quite willing integrate with theirs.' She adds: 'Obviously we hope that they'll see the attractions of our products over time.'

We wondered if third-party fulfilment companies might see Exact Abacus as a potential rival in their own market sector, and hesitate to buy its software products. 'Quite honestly, it's hardly ever been a problem,' Sylvia says. 'I can only think of one company that has expressed any concern since the day we started in fulfilment.'

She says there was talk at one time of finding a new name for the fulfilment side of the business, 'but we're so well known as Exact Abacus that we couldn't see the justification for changing.'

Currently it's the new software suite, 3EX.NET, that is causing a buzz at the company. It is said to have been in development for five years prior to the launch, and to support it, Exact has made a major new investment in its own web and application hosting infrastructure. 'It was a big commitment on our part,' Lee Gregson admits, 'but it's confirmed our independence in hosting.'

Although delivered over the internet, the package doesn't use standard web browsers for its user interface. It uses Microsoft's .NET architecture to deliver the interface and content via web services. 'We decided browser technology wasn't rich enough or fast enough for our requirements,' Thompson says.

The system handles everything from merchandising and procurement to order-taking, stock control, packing and despatch. For picking, put-away and other warehouse management functions, the product is fully wireless-enabled. A Pocket PC-based application for handheld use has been developed using Microsoft's .NET Compact Framework, and interfaces directly with the core application server. In the company's own warehouse, this means product is scanned a minimum of three times to ensure maximum despatch and stock accuracy.

Also included among the six main modules are standard financial functions, demand management and e-commerce management. In effect, the 3EX.NET of today could serve as practically the only suite needed to run an entire direct marketing business.

'We believe supply and demand are inextricably linked,' Sylvia says, 'so we feel they work best when they're managed as part of a single process.'

Also included are functions such as supplier and carrier optimisation. 'We could have gone down the third-party MetaPack-type route to carrier management,' Lee Thompson says, 'but we felt we could provide tighter integration by handling this function in-house.' Already the suite integrates directly with the services of ten national carriers.

The 3EX.NET suite is particularly strong on marketing and e-commerce. It includes customer profiling and analysis tools, as well as PCI DSS-compliant payment processing capabilities.

The company believes a key strength is that the whole product uses a single core database. 'It's the key to everything,' Thompson says. He adds: 'Some competitors perpetuate the myth that it's a major challenge to link web sites to the back office. Our view is that it needn't be if you develop truly integrated technology.'

As far as he's concerned, that means building the e-commerce web site as part of the same continuum as the fulfilment processes behind it – which is why the company is particularly excited to have established a full web site development capability as part of the new portfolio.

'Designing a web site is relatively straightforward,' Thompson says. 'Plenty of people can do that. Ours are different, because they're brought fully into the development stream.' He thinks this will be a major selling point in the future. 'We're already developing e-commerce web sites for a couple of customers now.'

What if you're in a part of the world where internet connections are less than ideal? Can you still benefit from Exact Abacus's hosted software approach? In a word, yes. The company is happy for clients in that position to host the suite locally on their own servers, and is in fact rolling out just such an implementation now.

And here's the interesting part: such users still pay as they go, just as if the system were hosted externally, so they still get benefits such as unlimited use, lack of capital commitment and inclusive upgrades.

So how big or small should you be to talk to Exact Abacus about your fulfilment requirements? On the physical distribution and call centre side, Sylvia says the company would be happy to discuss solutions starting at ten to twenty orders a day. 'It's the nature of the market that a lot of customers start on a small scale,' she says. At the other end of the scale, the company is already handling operations of many times that size.

On the software front, Exact targets clients with anything from two to 250 users. 'That includes the vast majority of companies selling by catalogue and online,' Sylvia points out, 'and also fulfilment companies.'

So if you're wondering if this means you, the answer is plain enough. Yes it does.