Case Study : Cartridges Are Us
Executive Summary
Like most companies, Cartridges Are Us relied on paper invoices when billing its customers. In the past, printing and mailing paper invoices took the front-office staff more than 40 hours per week of labor to complete. This was time taken away from more strategic business issues like sales and marketing. By implementing Fidesic solutions, the daily process of sending invoices now takes less than two minutes instead of two hours. With the time saved, the company can focus on achieving its business goals and deliver superior customer service. Furthermore, Cartridges Are Us has gained better visibility into their incoming cashflow by using the Fidesic solution.
“We started seeing results right away,” said Dominic Iocco, CFO and General Manager at Cartridges Are Us. ldquo;We initially wanted to pilot the software with a few invoices, but the response from our staff was so supportive, that we decided to send all the invoices through Fidesic. I was ready to hire another front office employee before I heard about Fidesic, now I don't have to.”
Cartridges Are Us saw a complete payback on their investment within four months. When considering the total benefit Cartridges Are Us has derived by implementing Fidesic, for example, eliminating postage and supply costs, reducing labor costs, and avoiding costs such as new employees‚ the anticipated ROI for the first year is more than 150%!
In addition to the real dollar savings from replacing the paper invoicing process, Fidesic also benefited Cartridges Are Us in other ways. The front-office staff has used the time they have saved to improve customer service by starting a monthly newsletter to their customers and dealers, and to grow the business by stepping up their marketing efforts.
More importantly, the company now has visibility into its incoming cash flow that it didn't have with paper.
By using Fidesic, the staff at Cartridges Are Us knows for sure if the money is on the way, improving customer satisfaction by shipping orders sooner, and turning away the right business, the customers who will never pay them.
"Our investment in Fidesic has reaped the fastest ROI for any technology purchase we have made."
—Dominic Iocco
CFO & General Manager, Cartridges Are Us
Solution Overview
Customer Profile
In just five years Cartridges Are Us, Inc., based in St. Johns, MI, became a leading national business-to-business ink jet distributor. The company, serves businesses nationwide such as DHL Worldwide Express, state and local government agencies and sells their product through a growing network of computer dealers.
Business Situation
During an average month, Cartridges Are Us sends out approximately 2,000 invoices to its customers and partners. Printing and mailing these invoices was taking a minimum of two hours per day. Due to the timeconsuming paper invoicing process, the company needed to increase its front-office staff to keep up with the invoices.
The company was also facing a collections problem; they were shipping orders with the promise that the check was in the mail, but never receiving payment. This was a major issue for Cartridges Are Us because they are typically operating their factory at capacity, forcing them to turn away business.
Solution
Cartridges Are Us implemented the Fidesic eInvoice module for Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics 6.0 to deliver all their invoices via email, fax, or U.S. Mail, and to give their customers the option to pay electronically through www.fidesic.com.
Results
Early indications have been rewarding. Cartridges Are Us has already seen a reduction in the amount of time to send invoices from two hours per day to two minutes. Cartridges Are Us will see payback period of less than four months and a one year return on investment of over 150%.