Customers

Case Study - Church's Shoes

Church's Shoes, one of the worlds leading quality footwear brands, had just completed its first full season of trading in the new ownership of international brand Prada. It is also the first full season operating with the new computer systems it started to implement in 1999. Both events have had a marked impact.

Companies with the international standing of Church's Shoes think very carefully, before introducing change. The decision to replace its previous information systems in January 1999 was driven dominantly by the desire to see improved, integrated methods of running the business. Following a long, close and careful evaluation of computer systems available, Church's chose to work with Prima Solutions, the specialist garment and footwear systems provider.

"We are really reaping the benefits. It was a short learning curve and easy to get up and running quickly - a real credit to Prima. The information available to us is incredible."

 

Updated Systems

Financials was the first area of software to go live in the Summer of 1999, just at a time it was needed to give up accurate, up to date information relating to the, then potential, take over. Jeremy Roberts, Company Secretary at Church's Shoes, is very enthusiastic about the results.

"We are really reaping the benefits. It was a short learning curve and easy to get up and running quickly - a real credit to Prima. The information available to us is incredible."

"Traceability is excellent." Jeremy continues. "The old system did not retain invoices and other generated documents; now we can hold customer and supplier histories and are able to view all documents quickly and easily without routing through the archive boxes. Whichever angle you look at the financial data from, you get the same accurate information - from the customer angle, the supplier angle and from the company point of view."

"...now we can hold customer and supplier histories and are able to view all documents quickly and easily without routing through the archive boxes."
Prior to Prada's ownership, Church's had performed all of its trading in Sterling. Following the acquisition, however, there was a need to deal in a variety of foreign currencies, including Euro's, US Dollars, Japanese Yen and Hong Kong Dollars. The old system would not have coped but the Prima system made it an easy transition.

William Church, Director at Church's Shoes picks up the story. "At the time of our decision Prima Solutions had a limited number of shoe companies using their systems. However, we could see the benefits of working in partnership with an established IT supplier with a broad experience in the clothing industry. We had confidence in Prima Solutions and they didn't let us down."

"Implementation was the key." William explains. "It was important that our partnership managed the change, introducing a more efficient way of doing things. It was all about managing change and not just putting in a system."

"...the people at Prima Solutions gave us fantastic support to help us achieve this. They were patient and constructive; it was essential to have their assistance, providing a total team approach."
"Involving influential, positive people within Church's Shoes at the start, to drive the system into the company, made it easier for us to take ownership. With ownership, came the responsibility to manage our colleagues both during implementation and when the system went live. The people at Prima Solutions gave us fantastic support to help us achieve this. They were patient and constructive; it was essential to have their assistance, providing a total team approach."

"It was a nervous time when we went live," admits William. "Flicking the switch off the old system and onto the new was a huge step but in fact it went really smoothly."

Pre-Production Manager, Denise Turvey, had a lot of involvement throughout the implementation of the system. "Because we are a traditional company, where some people have been here 30 years, asking them to change the way they do things can be very difficult. I had to deal with some resistance from the team to begin with, but it is now accepted that we control the system and the system works for us. Everyone is responsible for providing their own information to enter to the system. Once it is there, it makes our lives so much easier; rather than chasing around the office for information, we can access it at the push of a button."

"We are now developing our staff by changing some of their roles," says Denise. "A job that is done automatically on the system has relieved people to be available to complete other tasks. It is easy to show colleagues how to use the system which allows more time for training in other areas, providing variety and new responsibilities for them."

"...we have laid the foundations of a solid IT future for the company. We are getting high quality information and can build more integration across the business, taking advantage of new technologies including the Internet.."

Working Together

Previously, each department worked independently of each other; now everyone is more open and aware of the impact they have on their colleagues and vice versa. Where overlaps in jobs were identified, people can work together to achieve better results more efficiently.

William Church identifies some of the main benefits Church's Shoes has already achieved. "We now have a much improved cross-flow of information; planning is far less bureaucratic and labour intensive. Most importantly, we have laid the foundations of a solid IT future for the company.

We are getting high quality information and can build more integration across the business, taking advantage of new technologies including the Internet." William concludes, "Using a modern system has had a positive impact internally. Our planning, reporting and communications have all shown marked improvement. We are now at the stage where we can exploit the system and capitalise on the benefits."

John Norman, joint Managing Director at Prima Solutions comments, "Working with Church's Shoes is a real pleasure. Church's involved credible people during the implementation process who worked openly, and in alliance with the project team from Prima Solutions. The partnership has worked extremely well, and has also provided us with the opportunity to enhance elements of our existing software to take account of the specific needs of the footwear niche. The result is a comprehensive footwear solution, now being used by Church's and other leading shoe companies in the UK."