Marketing Manager
System Hygiene
System Hygiene is an award-winning supplier of next-day cleaning, hygiene and safety products to schools and businesses in the North West.
Trading since 1983, the company continues to abide by founder Robin Huddleston's vision of sourcing innovative janitorial products that save its customers time, effort and money.
Driven by a passion for extraordinary customer service, System Hygiene has grown to become the region's go-to supplier for janitorial products.
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Before OGL Software, System Hygiene managed their business processes using paper-based systems and basic office software. Running so many manual processes was proving a headache until they spoke with a fellow OGL Software user who recommended OGL's software. System Hygiene's Marketing Manager told us: "They were right – we needed a robust and integrated solution behind our business and OGL Software fitted that brief."
System Hygiene began trading because they saw a gap in the market for everyday cleaning products that could be sourced locally and delivered quicker than national suppliers. "System Hygiene's founders firmly believed that a local firm, with a local workforce would serve local interests far better than national suppliers.
"We wanted to make a difference, and we wanted to be the difference."
The company aimed to grow by contributing to the local economy; sourcing product lines close to their headquarters in Accrington, recruiting apprentices in the region and promoting frontline staff to management - all of their current senior managers began as apprentices over 30 years ago! "It's our people who make our business special. We empower our staff to reach their full potential in the most imaginative and sustainable manner."
With over 5,000 customers and future plans to continue to grow the company's online presence, System Hygiene needed a solution that would stand the test of time. "OGL's constant willingness to improve the system and listen to our requirements means the system continues to be as relevant and vital now as it was in 2010 – and is, in fact, even better".
System Hygiene came to OGL with a variety of challenges they were experiencing with their manual processes that they needed OGL Software to overcome; better managing their expanding product portfolio, expanding their sales opportunities by trading online, a system to allow for smarter marketing and improving their customer service by being more responsive.
To continue their promise of becoming part of their community and to serve local interests far better than national suppliers, they wanted to improve their customer service with a CRM that could better manage their customer relationships and that would help them to become more responsive to trend changes.
"We have over 5,000 customer records, more than our salesforce could possibly see in person over the year. We needed other dynamic ways of constantly keeping in touch. We knew we needed all of our diverse customer information from sales, accounts and marketing in one place… and with OGL we had our figures at our fingertips."
A CRM system that centralises all customer information allows for full visibility of your existing customers and potential customers to better communicate and market.
"The CRM module has a built-in email function that allows us to segment and send e-shots to over 160,000 of our named contacts about safety news, product launches and promotions. This has been fundamental for maximising customer spend."
The CRM has allowed System Hygiene to keep track of all communications from direct mail to email and phone to better understand their marketing efforts, respond to trends and nurture existing customers to maintain their goal of putting customers at the heart of everything they do.
As their customer numbers were growing, so was the range and diversity of products they were demanding, and the handling of new products became overwhelming, but "OGL allowed us to be more responsive to customer's needs, buy better and sell smarter, minimise overstock and free up warehouse space for stronger selling lines."
The increase in administration workload for the growing products was difficult to manage. It became hard to keep track of the success of product ranges and to identify dead stock or if there was room for growth. "OGL provided a systematic way of growing our portfolio and managing our stock. With deep analytics, we now know how ranges or even individual products are performing, which markets have room for growth and at what lifecycle stage our portfolio was at."
With growing product ranges comes an increase in purchasing. "OGL Software has had a tremendous impact on our purchasing. Our buyers have found OGL Software so easy to use that it's definitely made their jobs easier. The system generates purchase orders automatically based on stock levels, customer orders and buying trends, all based on parameters and rules customised by the company. With over 5,000 stock lines, the time the software has saved our purchasing team is very impressive. They're now able to focus on other parts of the business."
System Hygiene was also looking to bring their company into the 21st century with an eCommerce website that would allow them to trade 24/7.
"It all seemed like a huge headache at the time and very much out of our comfort zone, but OGL made that straightforward; we were impressed with not only how everything would integrate together, but the hand-holding and ongoing support from OGL staff that would take us from specifying to launching a fully-fledged eCommerce site."
System Hygiene's Marketing Manager states: "We put customers at the heart of everything we do and will move mountains to maintain our promise of ‘quality next day cleaning supplies' – a promise that OGL has helped us keep for over a decade."
OGL's business software was built from the ground up by people with knowledge in the industry and experience of the sectors OGL Software is built for.
It's still supported by those who created it and so System Hygiene knew, "that it's development would be solid and ongoing and that gave us a lot of confidence in choosing the system." System Hygiene chose OGL Software because, "it was more connected than other systems.
"The various modules for accounts, sales, marketing and warehouse spoke to each other and were perfectly customisable to our needs. OGL Software was more flexible than other systems and could genuinely adapt as we grew.
"We couldn't wish to be supported by a more talented or able team. OGL support staff are knowledgeable, quick and friendly."
As System Hygiene strengthens its position as a customer-driven business and continues to innovate and expand into new marketplaces, it's clear to see why they need a robust system they can rely on, one that will be as scalable as their ambitions.
"If we had to pick only one favourite feature of OGL Software, it's that it actually works. OGL Software delivers what it promises; which is a welcome rarity in today's business age."
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