Image makers: when purchased to fulfill solid business objectives or to help employees solve problems, focused, project-based software applications for document imaging and storage are resulting in big gains for many pro suppliers

Prosales, July, 2003 by Chris Wood

Say the word "technology" and some might visualize flip phones, PDAs, and flat-screen high-definition TVs. Others may be reminded of buzzwords like "seamless collaborative synergy providers" being chanted by a lot of young, sharp-looking cappuccino drinkers in dark suits. But you're in the lumber and building materials industry, and more often than not the technology that is supporting operations doesn't conjure up such glossy images. However, while "document imaging software" probably isn't the sexiest phrase to have echoed off the lumberyard walls, smaller, project-based technology is exactly what many dealers are using to successfully fuel operational efficiencies and growth opportunities and improve service levels on a company-wide scale.

Indeed, BMC West and Curtis Lumber have found a powerful ally in fulfilling their companies' short- and long-term goals by using this type of information technology (IT) tool. And guided by their overall company mission and values, they truly have discovered that--ultimately--the most successful applications are the ones developed with focused goals and the guidance of in-house resources.

BMC West: Accounts Payoff

Boise, Idaho-based BMC West has always had a long-standing, positive relationship with most major product vendors in the residential construction industry. "We always want to work with integrity," says BMC accounts payable manager Pam Miller. "We want to conduct business to make sure everything is right with our vendors and everything is right with BMC West."

This is a channel partner ideology not uncommon among successful and progressive pro dealers, but up until 1997 the behind-the-scenes processes in BMC West's accounts payable (AP) department, while operational, were anything but progressive. Invoices and payment reports bulged out of row after row of filing cabinets. Windowsills substituted as temporary desk space, and copy machines and mail meters worked non-stop as the paper came in, piled up, and was shipped out in an endless administrative stream.

"We had all the invoices mailed to the corporate office from the vendors," explains Miller. "We would either get two copies from the vendor or we would make a copy. We would keep a copy in our file, and mail a copy to the correct BMC West location with a report of all AP activity that was keyed for them and a copy of every invoice that they would use for their daily reconciliation. If we didn't get tons of copies in the mail, we were making tons of copies, and we were essentially in the business of shipping paper all over the country. And we wanted to stop."

By coincidence, Boise-based IT solutions provider Integra Information Technologies was cold calling Boise-area businesses in late 1997 to promote programming and other services. After a debrief on the issues at BMC West, Integra thought new document imaging software from Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Optika could solve some of BMC West's efficiency issues. Standing apart from any other software solution providers BMC West had previously investigated, Integra pledged to seamlessly integrate Optika with BMC West's Oracle accounting software, a key issue that had been preventing the dealer from purchasing an off-the-shelf application in the past.

"The largest efficiency that we wanted BMC to be able to achieve was to simplify data entry," says Dane Moyler, vice president of business development at Integra. "Through the entire project, the core emphasis has always been on lowering the transaction time and cost to the bare minimum."

According to Miller and Moyler, the character-based Oracle accounting system was already time consuming, involving multiple data entry screens that demanded deliberate and slow entry processes. "We wanted to be able to do something that would enable us to enter our data into one system that would provide indexes for the imaging system retrieval and provide the data that we needed for Oracle to actually cut the checks and make the payments," explains Miller.

With a corporate technology strategy dictating flexibility at the local level to maintain customer service standards, BMC West also wanted Web-based access for all of its branch locations. "We pay centrally, but all of our purchasing is done in our individual locations to allow for a more entrepreneurial local business model," explains Miller. BMC West therefore wanted Web-retrievable copies of invoices and purchasing reports available at a yard-to-yard level, making daily mailings and onsite tiling of AP documents unnecessary.

Loathe to adopting technology in a vacuum, BMC West had every AP employee review a line-item list of each and every software update and process modification prior to making incremental changes to the department's computer systems. "The employees were intimately involved in developing what it was we were going to do," says Miller. "They had a high level of input, and they knew what to expect. From looking at invoices on a screen and storing documents in computers rather than in filing cabinets, everything about our processes changed."