Successful Customers Bring Repeat Business For Integrator

For the past four years, The Philadelphia Business Journal has recognized integrator and software developer Miles Technologies (Moorestown, NJ) as one of the fastest growing private companies in south New Jersey and the Delaware Valley. Miles Technologies targets small to medium businesses that want fast growth without building internal IT capacity. The integrator credits its success to delivering the best possible service, along with hard-dollar returns, for its customers. "Most of these companies can benefit from an ADP [automatic data processing] system, but can't afford it," says company founder and CEO Chris Miles. "We build custom software, staff each project accordingly, and implement the solution fast. If it takes more than 90 days, we see that as a huge problem."

Miles Technologies makes ongoing customer development a priority. "Of the top 40 dollar-volume customers in our history, every single one of them still uses us on a regular basis," says Miles. "We want them to depend on us completely. Sometimes it can be a very hectic process, but it's a good thing for their business because they can continue to advance and grow. And it's good for ours because we have happy customers and repeat business." The approach seems to be working. Six of the top 25 companies on The Philadelphia Business Journal's list, including the number one company, are Miles Technologies customers.

In-Depth Analysis Identifies Need For Network Upgrade
The top company on the newspaper's list is Global Protection LLC (Marlton, NJ), a distributor of personal protective gear to the military, law enforcement, first responders, and homeland protection agencies. Global Protection was recently acquired by New Jersey entrepreneur Bob Lipinski, whose goal was to grow the company's annual sales from less than $12 million to more than $100 million. Because he and Miles had previously collaborated on other projects, Lipinski asked Miles to examine Global Protection's business processes.

What Miles Technologies found during its analysis of Global Protection was a business dependent on manual processes, individual decision making, and seriously flawed logistics systems. Existing systems relied on off-the-shelf software for back end accounting and fulfillment management. The systems did not integrate well, and, therefore, were not being fully used. "The critical fulfillment systems - purchasing, warehousing, delivering, accounting - were broken and creating major bottlenecks," Miles says.

The most serious problem according to Miles was an incredible demand for the company's products, yet a limited supply source for many of them. "For instance, Global Protection would have multiple requests totaling several thousand for gas masks, but there may only be several hundred available from its worldwide suppliers. So, Global Protection's managers were making case-by-case decisions about which customers would receive gas masks, how many, and when," Miles says.

Custom Software Automates Business Processes From End-To-End
Miles Technologies' solution was to scrap the existing network, build a new product database, and introduce a propriety software solution to automate the entire order fulfillment and accounting process. The new network infrastructure consists of a dual-processor Windows 2003 SQL Server connecting all eight employees, plus sales representatives and customers. The Web-enabled custom software is built on the SQL platform and uses ASP and Java Script. The software organizes available vendor product inventory, monitors Global Protection's warehouse levels, automates order processing and invoicing, and makes fulfillment and shipping decisions.

Rebuilding Global Protection's product ordering system and product database was critical to enabling growth. "Previously, it was taking a tremendous amount of time to analyze available product from manufacturers, make decisions, create the purchase orders, and then receive the product," says Miles. "Because Global Protection is a small company and can't afford to carry a large inventory, the company had to be efficient. So, we built an automated purchase order generation system. It's based on ideal stock, predicted demand, and allocated orders." Next, Miles Technologies built a new database organized by individual products, sizes, and source manufacturer. Miles also arranged the database by prearranged, multiproduct kits to accommodate customer orders.

"We definitely won the business because of our long-standing relationship with Lipinski," says Miles. "That's our approach to business. We don't do retainers or monthly fees unless we're hosting a Web site. We just bill for our time. And they continue to stay with us because they get results."