Building Supply Distribution Company Selects Acumatica as Right System to Handle Growth
Customer: Frederick Block, Brick & Stone
Website: www.frederickblock.com
Location: Virginia
Industry: Building Supply Distribution
Former System: Legacy
New System: Acumatica
Customer Profile: Frederick Block, Brick & Stone is a masonry and landscape supply distributor that sells brick, stone, pavers, and all related items to contractors and homeowners.
Download Building Supply Distribution Company Selects Acumatica as Right System to Handle Growth
Steve Slaughter, President/CEO, Frederick Block, Brick & Stone
The Challenge:
Frederick Block, Brick & Stone (FBBS) is a third-generation, family-run business that first started selling cinder blocks and mortar in 1967. Over the past 50+ years, FBBS has become a leading distributor of masonry and hardscape products for residential and commercial markets in Virginia.
FBBS was running its business on an ERP system installed in 1999. Though there had been updates, important features such as remote access, integration with Microsoft Office, and reporting options were very limited. And managing inventory for multiple locations was increasingly challenging. They knew it was time for a modern ERP system that would allow them to grow. FBBS formed an internal evaluation team and embarked on a lengthy search. Based on online research, they identified about 40 potential ERP systems. When they started calling specific ERP partners, five systems made the shortlist. After the demo phase, the choice was between Epicor and Acumatica.
Steve Slaughter, President/CEO of Frederick Block, Brick & Stone explains the process, the decision, and the benefits, including the speed bumps along the way.
The Solution:
Acumatica was a better long-term play
“When it came down to the final two choices, Epicor was customized to our industry, and Acumatica was not. If this was something we were choosing for the short term, it may have made more sense to go with the industry-specific solution. But we wanted a system that we felt could grow with us, so we would not have to go this process again for another 20 years. Acumatica, by far, seemed a better choice in that regard. It was a better long-term play.
Not every system had every single thing that was on our wish list, but Acumatica certainly checked all the boxes we needed it to. We felt Acumatica could be made to do all the things we needed for our industry, but it also had the flexibility to go above and beyond.”
Everyone in the system without additional costs
“A big deciding factor was Acumatica’s unlimited user pricing model. Most companies make you pay per user, but Acumatica does not. We wanted to have a lot of people touch the system, but most of them are not heavy users, such as drivers or warehouse staff. We knew we could grow with Acumatica, and bring everyone into the system, without any additional costs.”
The type of person we wanted to do business with
“We chose to work with CAL Business Solutions because we liked the fact that George took a personal interest in us, in the process. He seemed like the type of person that we wanted to do business with. And based on the references we spoke with, CAL seemed to have a very good reputation in the industry.”
The Benefits:
With Acumatica, the sky’s the limit
“Acumatica allows anyone to access it, wherever they are. If someone needs to work from home and be productive, they can do that. Acumatica is much more user friendly than what we had before. The integration with Microsoft Office, especially Outlook and Excel, has been great.
The benefit that definitely affects me, and others, on a daily basis, is the ability to see information quickly. To be able to create a Generic Inquiry and manipulate that the way that we want is huge. In our old system, we had to download the information into a CSV file and import it into Excel. Or we had to run a number of different reports then take information from each one. With Acumatica, basically the sky’s the limit. Whatever we want to see, however, we want to see it, we’re able to create something to make that happen.”
So many options for the future
“The areas where Acumatica lacked something out of the box that we needed for the building supply industry, such as complex units of measure and anticipated discounts, CAL Business Solutions was able to create it to meet our needs. Acumatica gives us so many options for the future. There are a lot of features that we don’t utilize right now, but thinking ahead to where our business may be five years from now, we feel like we have a system that we can easily add to and grow with over time.”
CAL made it right
“Since we were one of the first Acumatica implementations for CAL, they were still learning. I think if we were to start an implementation right now versus when we started two years ago, it would be a whole different ballgame. Their abilities with the system have grown so much. It took a long time to get to where we are now. But I will say that George, and CAL, made it right, which is very important to me. There are always going to be things that don’t work out as planned. At the end of the day, George stood by what he said they would do and did it. Not everybody does that. So yes, I would recommend CAL Business Solutions.”
A system that continues to improve over time
“There is a lot to like about Acumatica and I love that they are growing. I love the user community, and the Summit they do every year. I like that they are putting money back into the system. We have a system that we know is going to continue to improve over time.”
Now, this building supply distributor has a modern ERP system that they can be confident will scale with their growing business.
Steve Slaughter, President/CEO, Frederick Block, Brick & Stone
