Hicksville, N.Y.—With the growing use of business-to-business (B2B)
technology, exciting things are happening in the flooring industry, noted Chris
Ogden, marketing director of QFloors. “Retailers’ businesses and lives are being
changed for the better. We’re extremely enthused about the remarkable interest
and growth currently impacting both our company specifically, and the flooring
software industry at large.” Ogden is one of a growing number of software
executives excited about where the business is headed. FCNews recently took a
look at some of the major movers and shakers in the B2B arena (in no particular
order), their systems and what services they provide. All of the following,
including Qfloors, are B2B compliant. The Qfloors system assists flooring
retailers as they manage their business and financial data, noted Ogden.
“Fully integrated, it handles inventory, sales, accounting, bar coding,
ordering, payroll, reports, job costing, taxes and other operations. Business
consultations, on-site business conversion and training, and accounting services
are also available.” There are several different versions of the program
available, ranging from a basic program meant to work hand-in-hand with existing
accounting software (i.e., Quickbooks or Peachtree), to an all-inclusive system
linking multiple locations, computers and users together simultaneously. Qfloors
integrates directly with FloorEstimate Pro estimation software, and WinSched
labor scheduling software. For more information on Qfloors, call 801/687-2667.
Carpet Dealer Management System, or CDMS, offers its CDMS 8.02.00 software
system which is designed to let retailers track each roll of floor covering from
time of order to last cut. Sales floor inquiry and customer account inquiry, and
point-of-sale entry and installation scheduler service/claim maintenance are
some of the system’s point-of-sale applications. Sales information can be
analyzed by salesperson, category and product so dealers can determine what
products sell best to which customers, noted a spokesman for the company.
“Various accounting modules simplify and expedite automated finance charges,
commission tracking, monthly taxes and contract deposits,” he said. “For
instance, a special ‘job costing’ module allows the owner to track expenses,
billing and profitability to date, and compare these figures to the estimated
cost and price.” SCO UNIX interfaces with Vencon EDI, Flooring America—Maxine
files and Carpet One Product Link. For more information on CDMS, call
888/848-2367.
SystemsNet, based in Fountainville, Pa., employs Floors for Windows 8.0. The
system is designed to manage sales orders and estimates, inventory control,
purchase orders, database administration, accounting functions and scheduling.
According to the company, a new archiving option transfers old information in
separate files and exports data from the dealer’s accounts payable, inventory,
sales order and purchase order file out of the main file system. Its platform is
Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP. SystemsNet’s Rockson Floors program is an
integrated software package that offers computerized job costing, inventory
control, purchase orders, pricing, accounting and payroll, and sample and
commission management. It allows the client to stock and sell by the square
foot, square yard, linear foot or by individual units. Rockson also displays and
maintains item history complete with amount, side mark and date for easy
reference and prints inventory labels complete with UPC bar code. It also tracks
available, reserved and sold items. For more information on SystemsNet, call
800/888-7638.
Aya Associates offers its Comp-U-Floor for Windows program, which is designed
for retailers, distributors, stone and slab fabricators and commercial
installers. Comprehensive point-of-sale, order processing, invoicing, inventory
tracking, purchasing, importing, accounting and management reporting offers
faster estimates and order processing with a shorter sales cycle, noted a
spokesman for the company. “It allows any salesperson with access to resolve
customer inquiries instantly,” he said. “It also facilitates accurate and
cost-effective purchases with good inventory control, including the ability to
reconcile vendor invoices versus original purchase orders; enables accurate
scheduling, cost control and efficient installer payment processing.” Its
platform is Microsoft SQL; reports may be exported to Excel for further
analysis. For additional information on Aya Associates, call 800/766-0330.
VenCom, with its Vencom B2B system, offers an affordable system that
interfaces with numerous flooring specific, custom-written and/or generic
accounting systems. “Our easy-to-use software allows dealers of any type and
size to benefit from electronically automating transactions with suppliers,”
said a company spokeswoman. “Transactions include a product and price catalog
that is automatically updated when changes occur,” she added, “plus B2B
invoices, ship notices and purchase orders.” For more information on Vencom,
call 270/384-4058.
CCS Computing Services, serving flooring dealers and contractors, is a
flooring-specific management tool that automates scheduling, work orders and
proposals, installers, invoicing, and product pricing. First Flooring Standard
Edition is designed for small to medium-sized firms that have a mixture of
customers in new construction, retail, commercial and predefined space. The
Construction Edition is designed for the medium to large tract home suppliers.
Both products can be linked to the First Flooring Accountant system that
provides seamless integration with other management tools. For more information
on CCS, call 866/244-5790. —Louis Iannaco
