“We wanted an IT partner who would respond to our needs not just during the purchasing process but who would work with us as our business grows,” says Adrian Finn.
He is pretty direct about the decision making process H & B Hawkes - the family run company of which he is a director - went through when faced with updating its software capabilities at the end of last year.
“To be perfectly honest, the decision was very firmly driven by our customers,” says Finn. “That’s not to say we weren’t also aware of the limitations of the old system, but it was, at the end of the day, listening to the businesses relying on us that informed the choices we made.”
From its New Covent Garden base, H & B Hawkes - established 30 years ago by Adrian’s father - provides fruit, veg and some dairy produce to sectors including hotels, pubs, catering operators and the police.
Prior to the new millennium, the company was forced to replace old technology with a Y2K compliant alternative. But as Finn explains, although this was designed to provide a medium-term solution to the company’s IT needs it was far from a straightforward process.
“We needed something to take us through any potential IT fall-out resulting from December 31, 1999. We also wanted to build a platform for the future, however the limitations of the new system soon became evident.
“We then decided to go back to the market and see what else was on offer. We also had to begin a longer process of examining what our customers really wanted from fresh produce IT support.”
That process of research showed, quite simply, that H & B Hawkes was not giving customers the flexibility they required to operate to maximum efficiency. On-line access to accounts information, speedy retrieval of purchase history data, and the ability to track orders and invoicing were consistently top of the customer’s wish list and H & B Hawkes took a pro-active stance in their response.
“We looked at what was available in the market place and many of the systems on offer were pretty similar in their capabilities. But we wanted much more than a replacement. We were looking for a supplier who really understood our business and who would, over a period of years, be responsive to our expectations of their software - and willing to take our suggestions seriously,” says Finn.
The search led them to Affinitus and its Freshware offer. From a stable of software packages, it comprises a number of modules designed specifically for the fresh food and produce industry.
Affinitus has quickly established a niche market serving importers, wholesalers, growers, multiple suppliers and the transport and distribution sectors. Their approach was one that quickly impressed Finn and the H & B Hawkes team.
“From the first meeting with their sales representative it was obvious that this was a company able to speak our language. They helped us identify the areas of greatest need and guided us through the transition period very successfully,” he says.
But any investment in new technology - especially for small-to-medium scale operations - has to quickly demonstrate its benefits.
“Access to accurate and up-to-date information is something we now all take for granted and in a fast-moving business like this it is probably even more essential,” says Finn.
“Freshware has worked very successfully for our business and initial feedback shows our customers are also extremely pleased with the improvements it offers.”
Internally, they include rapid transfer of data input across the system to bring accounting and stock management systems together more efficiently, while for the customer the ability to access their accounts in a secure dedicated customer area via the internet is at an advanced planning stage.
Finn is quick to praise the Freshware after sales and technical support functions. But he is also a man who will be challenging Affinitus to respond to his desire to further improve the service to his customers.
“The other main reason we went with Freshware was that we could see Affinitus had a commitment to working with us in constantly evolving the software. We’ve quickly seen the benefits of the system on both sides but it’s a base to build on and we’ll be holding Affinitus to a sales promise which has, so far, been successfully fulfilled.”
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