Snapfulfil is the UK’s leading “Tier 1” SaaS WMS, complete with full RF/Barcode scanning equipment and sophisticated functionality, but with NO CAPEX required!
No capital costs, no tricky finance leases, no long drawn out projects, just the solution you need, including RF Barcode Scanners/Mobile Computers and infrastructure, all implementation, training and integration processes, in fact everything you need to streamline your operation.
Delivered by one of the UK’s most experienced WMS specialists, with over thirty years experience, delivering solutions for companies such as Coca Cola, Huhtamaki, UTL Vodafone and DHL, Snapfulfil SaaS WMS is, a comprehensive WMS from a proven provider, delivered to your desktop and warehouse operatives in the most efficient way.
Warehouse & Logistics News – What does your job involve day to day? Has your role changed since last year?
My role is very varied and enjoyable, as I’m involved in nearly every aspect of the commercial proposition of the business, from creating adverts and sales literature, to attending trade shows around the world and most importantly meeting prospective clients and working with them to decide if Snapfulfil is right for their warehouse. I was made Director last year, so the role has certainly changed, but definitely for the better
W&LN – 2011: how was it for you and Snapfulfil?
The stereotypical answer to this question is “We had a great year and are looking forward to an even better one next year” and I hate to sound phony, but we have won Business High Growth awards, implemented solutions from large corporates to emerging entrepreneurial businesses, and expanded the turnover of the company more than 50%, in what is a difficult economic environment. So in short we have had a great year
With our business model of ‘No Capital Expenditure, No Finance Lease and Short Contract terms’, we have not only helped expanding companies meet the new demands placed on them, but alsohelped companies that are facing some of the hardships of the past few years to not only reduce their costs, but to actually save money at the same time.
W&LN – What is your particular proposition for customers in the warehouse & logistics sector? Has that changed since last year?
We specialise in the provision of Warehouse Management Software and nothing else, as this system focus allows us to provide a truly first class solution, rather than spreading our resources across a number of different areas.
Our proposition hasn’t changed significantly since we launched the UK’s first Software as a Service (SaaS) WMS in 2008, but we have seen many of the other WMS companies changing their, mainly commercial model, to something similar to our own. We are deeply flattered by the imitation, but we much prefer innovation for our software solutions.
W&LN – How has the Warehouse Management Systems sector been performing in 2011? What do you see as the most important recent developments in the sector?
As I mentioned before, we have seen significant growth in the market throughout 2011, but our impression of the wider sector is of slight contraction. The number of news stories has diminished, against previous years and we have noticed that many of the attendees to trade shows are talking in a much more conservative manner.
The most important development is the market’s acceptance of Cloud & Software as a Service systems as a mainstream solution, not an option for the smallest businesses only. With even the larger US vendors either acquiring their own SaaS offering, or deploying their on premise solutions in a more dynamic ‘off premise’ route, this acceptance now appears to be complete.
W&LN – Have you moved into any new business areas during 2011?
As we said before, we specialise in WMS and due to the flexible nature of our WMS solution, we are constantly presented with new operational and business sector challenges to meet and exceed for our current and new clients. Our world is extremely fast moving and our clients need to change and enhance their offerings to keep ahead of the competition, we have to ensure we enable them to do that.
W&LN – Has your company grown in the last 12 months?
Yes we have grown across the entire business, with a higher headcount in both of our offices (UK and US), higher turnover and much increased profitability. Also things are already looking extremely positive for us in 2012.
W&LN – Have you been investing in improving your premises, taking on more staff, upgrading your website, enhancing your IT etc in 2011?
All of the above and too many to mention individually! But a few current snapshots are the office environment having flat screen information terminals within our Development and Client Services areas, along with new staff in Project, Client Services, and Commercial departments and internal team initiatives to involve all in taking the business forward. We also operate a continuous improvement cycle for our company website, to ensure that can communicate our message as widely as possible.
W&LN – How are your existing products and services doing?
We continue to work extremely hard to keep us technically ahead of the competition in the SaaS WMS arena and as you have read above this is now paying dividends for both us and our clients.
W&LN – What’s been your company’s single biggest achievement in business this year
I would say that one of our most significant achievements was a project on behalf of an Olympics sponsor. Up against a tight timeline, with a very demanding set of operational processes to meet, we not only delivered the full system on time, but included comprehensive two way SAP integration and catered for a range of system changes requested throughout the UAT with the minimum of fuss and no delays. That project is now fully operational and has been so successful the clients are even considering the system for a completely different division. A real achievement for both us and the client!
W&LN – What was your personal favourite business moment in 2011?
Successfully signing contracts with a Global Brand and ‘Big 6’ Utility PLC in the same month!
W&LN – If your company had to go through 2011 again, what would you do differently?
Obviously the benefit of hindsight enables you to review all decisions. We did nothing inherently wrong but, in a perfect world, we could have worried less about the potential for the economy to stall growth and committed even more to resources to meet and create even more expansion than we achieved.
W&LN – Do you operate in any other countries besides the UK? How are you getting on there? Have you gone into any new countries in 2011?
We operate an office in the US, launched in 2010 and we moved into larger offices this year. We have also increased the headcount, installed our first systems and signed contracts that will put Snapfulfil in sites across all points of the US compass in 2012.
W&LN – Have you won any awards in 2011, or been accredited to any new industry standards during this time?
We were Double Award Winners in 2011. The company was recognised for its strong potential, impressing the judges of a UK wide competition with our performance and growth prospects, beating off stiff competition from a total of 27 other entries to win the One to Watch award was made runner up in the Business of the Year category. This recognised the business that has made most progress during its year on the Coaching For High Growth (CFHG) programme.
The CFGH scheme aims to help ambitious businesses in the East Midlands to expand their company through a tailored package of intensive coaching. The initiative is funded by East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF.
W&LN – Do you sell your products direct or through distributors? Has that strategy changed in the last year?
We only sell direct. Due to the specialist nature of our solution, we have found that our own expertise and experience is very much part of the solution that people buy, not just the ‘boxed’ product.
W&LN – Can you name any of your major projects in the last 12 months, and talk about what you have done for them?
One of our most recent projects was for PineSolutions.co.uk. PineSolutions are a unique furniture retailer where the customer experience is paramount, offering over 25,000 items of furniture for next-day delivery. To support this popular next-day delivery service, PineSolutions wanted to ensure that they were using the best warehouse management software (WMS) for the task.
When selecting any business critical software, its experience that counts and one WMS stood out as the SaaS market leader, Snapfulfil.
Handling furniture in a fast moving e-commerce environment is very specialised and PineSolutions wanted a system that would cater for multiple boxes per product, heavy items requiring more than 1 person to handle and Wave Picking, along with all of the other usual features of a tier 1 WMS, without the high costs and long projects usually associated with WMS projects. We not only delivered the system to meet these needs, but met their installation time scale and budget.
W&LN – How does your forward order book compare with a year ago?
We already have a healthy order book for 2012 to keep the project teams busy throughout Qtr 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, plus a great sales pipeline to work on into the rest of the year. The position is significantly healthier than this time 12 months ago and we hope this positive mood continues.
W&LN – Which trade shows did you exhibit at in 2011? How were they?
We attended a variety of shows, including Logistics Links across the UK and Promat in the US. The turnout for all of the shows was very impressive, with orders already resulting from all of the shows that we attended. We are really looking forward to attending even more in 2012.
W&LN – As the Christmas period is traditionally the busiest time of year for the UK warehousing and logistics industry, what challenges has your company been facing?
With several projects still to Go Live this year, we are finding that our clients are running out of time now the busy period is upon us, which obviously impacts the project timelines. However we are working closely with our clients and moving forward, despite the hectic time of year!
W&LN – As a company, what are your new year’s resolutions for 2012?
Continuing to build on our Market leading status in the UK and to capitalise on the high levels of interest in the US.
W&LN – Where do you see your company in three years’ time?
We see the business continuing to lead the SaaS revolution in WMS by remaining technically ahead and with more live, satisfied clients than any other vendor.
W&LN – And finally, what would you like Father Christmas to bring your company in 2012?!
A cloning machine, to allow me to be in 3 places at once..and still get on the Golf Course! Go on Santa.you can do it…
Snapfulfil
Tel: 0845 463 7627
Email: gavin.clark@snapfulfil.com
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