11/05 - High-tech software that is inexpensive and easy to use

Some home furnishings retailers suffer in silence when they spend thousands of dollars on computer software systems that don't work for their companies.

Novas Furniture in Houston took a different approach. After struggling with several systems and realizing that the countless hours and thousands of dollars they had spent on hardware, software, and training were wasted, the previous managers of the company, Jill Abrahams and Alan Lucien - who have extensive backgrounds in systems administration, sales, financing, and Web design - decided to create their own complete software system.

The result, EzProcessPro software, has totally transformed Novas Furniture with its ease of use, says Pat Parada, sales manager. The program uses the most modern, secure Internet technology, making it accessible from any place with an Internet connection, and features an online point of sale catalog. Since it is Internet-based, there are no license fees for computers and no limits on the number of users. Users don't have to buy a network or server, nor suffer the tremendous expense of creating and servicing their own. EzProcessPro's functionality has generated so much attention that its designers are now offering it to other companies in the furniture industry.

One initial goal of the software's design was to simplify the sales process. For instance, Novas Furniture showed many product catalogs in its stores. When items in the catalogs were discontinued, employees would have to search through all of the catalogs and pull out the pictures of those products. Often, the pictures couldn't be found, or a new picture might be added into some catalogs and not others. "They were very difficult to update," Parada says. "The customers would have to wait 10 to 15 minutes for us just to find a picture."

With EzProcessPro, the salespeople along with their clients simply look at the online product catalog, which is ideally updated for all users by the manufacturers themselves, when a change is made to product or to a fabric. "In the past, we had a huge problem with accidentally selling discontinued things. That doesn't happen anymore," she says.

The catalog divides the merchandise into two categories: "in stock" and "special order." The in-stock catalog reads from inventory and only shows what is "IN STOCK". This feature helped clean out the warehouse when it was too full, Parada says. When working with a customer, salespeople might search the catalog by category, such as "bedroom - wood," or they might search the catalog by a particular manufacturer, or even by an item number.

Once the customer has selected an item, the salespeople can actually place the client's order from the online catalog, literally with the push of a few buttons. This process resembles the "shopping cart and check out" functions that are featured on many retail websites. No longer do the salespeople have to transfer sales information from one place to another, often writing it initially by hand. This method had been rife with errors.

Now salespeople only need to indicate the quantity of an item the customer wants, and fill in the customer's personal information. The system transfers all of the product information directly to the sales receipt. EzProcessPro also automatically transfers the appropriate information into the proper areas for layaway, finance, delivery, purchasing, commissions, etc. "It is totally integrated", says Lucien. "We have also incorporated one of the most advanced and innovative inventory control systems on the market."

Nova's salespeople love the system because it helps make them money, and also because it is so easy to use. The system designers tested each module on Nova's employees. If the employees needed any instruction at all on how to use a module, the designers went back to the drawing board to simplify it.

The salespeople also have an area in the system created especially for them. Once they sign on using their logon ID and password (the ID determines what areas the employee has permission to access and those they do not), they can go into their respective areas and check on customer accounts, send out letters, or even view their commissions. "The salespeople enjoy using the system," Parada says. Having a log-on ID associated with each employee also helps Parada match her (system numerically ordered) receipts and transactions to her salespeople's activity. If she is missing a receipt, the system tells her which employee to ask.

Parada also loves EzProcessPro's payroll system. In the past she had to post information from one place to another. Now the system does it all for her. It automatically calculates the employee's hours through a system time clock that the employees use to clock in and out of daily. The system figures out the commissions, taxes, and withholding. It also has an area for adjustments before and after taxes. The entire process of doing payroll used to take a complete day. "Now it probably takes less than a minute and a half," she says.

Customers also seem happier doing business with Novas now, Parada says. The stores have chosen to use 19" monitors, throughout the showrooms, so customers can view the products comfortably with their sales representative. The customers are proud to be buying from a store that seems so high-tech, she says. In addition, the business has a much better handle on its inventory now. Before, the problem of offering discontinued items led to about three customer cancellations a week. Since using EzProcessPro, Novas has one or less cancellations a month.

"From what I have seen, I really believe that this is the best system on the market," Parada says. "You'll never find an easier program at such an affordable price. It is so very worth it."