Kerridge CS demonstrated its latest innovative products to delegates at its Konnect Ireland event
On May 5th Kerridge Commercial Systems, a global provider of ERP solutions, welcomed over 85 delegates to its Konnect Ireland customer conference. Held at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin, the event was attended by companies from the Distributive Trades, Automotive and Rental markets and demonstrated the enthusiasm users of its software have for learning and updating themselves on current versions and options in the KCS software portfolio.
Conference delegates, including companies that were new to the software as well as those who have been using it for years, were invited to discover how the latest technology can help improve business performance, from mobile apps and cloud computing to the latest developments and product road maps. “With over 620 customers in Ireland across our core markets, it’s really great to be able to share what we have been working on for the last few years, what products are coming down the lines, what innovations and importantly what direction we are going in, it’s so important to be able to share this with our customers and Konnect is the perfect platform to do this” explained James Mitchell, UK & I Managing Director.
The keynote presentation by James Mitchell, highlighted the acceleration of digital transformation as key to improving performance and customer service and to creating sustainable working practices. ERP Workflow has traditionally been controlled by paper, with the introduction of its mobile apps reducing internal waste of paper and customer paper trails, KCS are providing its customers with the tools to take the technology to the job, not the job to the technology. “Printing 1 page generates 6 grams of CO2, and at a cost of £0.06 per sheet this all adds up, by digitising processes from picking through to invoicing we are helping our customers stay ahead of the competition, be more profitable and embrace becoming more sustainable.”
KCS have been offering Cloud solutions for over 20 years, with more than 7000 customers in K-Cloud worldwide, the service is offered with up to 99.99% availability and built on a partnership with selected industry leading service provider. Neil Abraham, Director of Cloud and IT Operations, expanded on KCS’s cloud offering and its impact on sustainability, “The impact on sustainability and the environment in general is huge, millions of individual servers are now no longer situated on-site in their own air-conditioned room, consuming vast amounts of energy, using outdated and inefficient equipment. For one moment forget the obvious Cloud benefits of data security, resilience, business continuity etc. The ecological reasons are strong enough themselves. No server on site, no carbon footprint of the person who travelled to site to install it and maintain it, inefficient use of power for air-conditioning, just for a machine ... the ecological arguments for the Cloud go on and on.”
With over 322 employees in R & D globally, David Liddle, President, Research and Development, explained, “Research and development sits at the very heart of KCS, we are committed to continuingly developing innovative products that are designed specifically to meet the ever-changing needs of our markets. Our road map reinforces this commitment, with new features and developments in our ERP’s, including increasing robotic automation, launching new apps including ePOD for the Automotive market and Stockcheck, as well as building on our 3rd party integrations. We are ensuring our customers have the right tools at hand to run efficient and profitable businesses, today and in the future.”
Delegates were introduced to KCS Partners, Jason Bradshaw from Phocas Business Intelligence, who demonstrated how to make the existing data in each of the KCS’ ERP system’s easy to access, understand and act on with Phocas, which allows users to turn insights into real intelligence. And Lewis Elliot from Paymentsense who explained the benefits of integrating cards payments directly into K8 and Autopart.
The afternoon sessions provided delegates with the opportunity to focus on specific aspects of the software through breakout sessions on digitising processes with mobile apps, getting the most out their business management software with tips and tricks, as well as the importance & benefits of getting current and staying current.
James Mitchell commented on the day “The feedback we have had from our customers during the event has been really positive. Its been great to welcome our RNH customer base into our family and see so many of them at this event. What a great customer base – very, very happy with the product, really engaged with the brand, and wanting to make sure we have a great product going forward for the Irish Automotive market. It’s been fantastic to see our hire and distributive customers here as well. Many have asked when we will be doing our next event – we hope to do this in 18 months in Ireland. In the UK we will be inviting our customers to our Konnect event in the Autumn.”
Watch the videos from the conference
