Leading UK distributor Penlaw relies on Pinnacle to keep its IT in peak condition

Penlaw has been a Sage user for around twelve years and a customer of Pinnacle for support on Sage and the company’s IT infrastructure for the last eight.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Sage 1000 is the lifeblood of the business. Roland Alexander, Systems Manager at Penlaw, explains, “Except for delivery route planning, our Sage 1000 business management system supports every business function – the whole works. Our depots absolutely depend on it, so every minute our infrastructure is out of action means lost business and lost revenue, both for Penlaw and our customers. Time is money! That’s why we would never cut corners on support.”

Pinnacle managed the migration to Sage 1000 when previous Sage solution reached end of life, a major move that entailed a widescale hardware upgrade but proved straightforward under Pinnacle’s management.

Pinnacle has also supplied, installed and supported security products to safeguard the company’s business systems and the valuable data stored on them, as well as supplying and supporting Microsoft Office 365.

The critical nature of Penlaw’s IT infrastructure makes professional support essential. So in addition to managing migrations and upgrades, Pinnacle provides day-to-day technical support to users across the business.

Roland filters calls for support and then relies on the Pinnacle support team to respond to queries and resolve them remotely, whether the user has asked for help with running a report, solving a performance issue or unblocking a login problem…

He praises the responsive support received from the Pinnacle team,

For Roland, it makes sense to have a one-stop shop for IT support in working with Pinnacle. It frees him to take a more strategic approach to the company’s IT, rather than firefighting user issues.

As he points out, having support for hardware and software, IT security products and the network infrastructure all under one roof means Pinnacle is accountable for everything: “I have just one backside to kick, should it ever be necessary!”

The relationship is not only about reactive problem-solving: regular reviews ensure Penlaw continues to get the most out of its Sage system, with Pinnacle advising on improvements to ensure there is sufficient processing power, RAM and storage to meet current business needs and known future requirements.

This proactive approach is essential in such a rapidly expanding business: 12 years ago the original Sage system supported just two depots. Today there are seven depots and over 60 heavy users of the system in functions ranging from sales to accounting to stock ordering. Another system upgrade is currently under way and, at the current rate of expansion, another will be required within a few years.

The company is on a mission to reduce reliance on paper-based processes across the business. There are several objectives for this initiative: to minimise the associated costs of purchasing, storing and filing paper; to work more efficiently; and to improve customer service. Pinnacle has supported this development, with the recent integration of document-scanning software for proof of delivery and purchase invoices.

Roland says, “When you consider that any business has to store seven years’ worth of records, this consumes a lot of resources. In our case, with 43 trucks out on the road throughout the working week, we generate huge numbers of delivery notes.”

The business and its customers are already experiencing the benefits. Ready access to electronic copies enables a fast response if a customer queries a delivery on the invoice. “Rather than trawling through filing-cabinets, we can to call up the delivery note and email it straight from the system, saving a lot of time and effort in the process,” says Roland.