Golden Wear Clothing Delivers for Customers with Sage Accpac

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Golden Wear Clothing offers adaptive clothing for nursing home and home health care residents, specializing in apparel that has been adapted for people living with physical limitations. Owner Pat Stephenson's goal is to provide fashionable, easy-access clothing at reasonable prices to disabled persons, the elderly, and care givers.

She's dedicated to serving her customers and offers some unique services to make sure that she reaches anyone who needs Golden Wear Clothing. The company's Winnipeg store has been operating for more than 25 years, and maintains a website for online orders. Most of the time, care givers visit the store to shop for elderly parents or relatives, so Stephenson welcomes them to take the clothing home, help their loved one try it on, and pay for it later.

Stephenson and her husband also operate two mobile stores, driving their trucks each year from Thunder Bay to Calgary. Along the way, they stop at senior centers and nursing homes, setting up stores on-site. She can spend as much as seven months a year on the road.

"Many seniors can't get down to the cities to shop for clothing," Stephenson says, "so we bring the store to them."

Financial Management Gone Wrong

In 2005, Stephenson realized that it was time to change her financial management software. "We were using a fairly antiquated DOS based program. There was no longer support for the system, so we needed to get into a Windows program," she recalls.

After reviewing several applications, Golden Wear Clothing selected and implemented a system that did not meet their needs. "We went with another system prior to implementing Sage Accpac," says Stephenson. "It was a disaster. We just couldn't get it to work. By the time we called 21st Century Systems, we were circling the drain with that program - our accounting numbers were missing or wrong, and we couldn't even close our month-ends."

Reclaiming Control with 21st Century Systems

In 2006, Stephenson brought in 21st Century Systems, a Sage Software Authorized Partner based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Together, they began working to immediately implement and deploy Sage Accpac ERP.

"21st Century Systems was here almost every day until they were confident we could fly on our own. They brought in a whole team of people, and even the owner, Stuart McKelvie, was here most days," says Stephenson

With Sage Accpac, the staff at Golden Wear Clothing is able to enter financial information and easily run their own reports, including month- and year-end close. The ease of use of Sage Accpac delivered an unanticipated bonus - extra affordability.

"It turned out that Sage Accpac was more affordable than the other system because it does not require as much support," Stephenson acknowledges. "What we found with the other system is that we weren't independent. Sage Accpac allows you to easily learn to use the system on your own and problem-solve on your own. We have far less need for consulting services using Sage Accpac. Of course, when we do need some help, 21st Century Systems is right there for us."

Improved Banking Relationship

The improved financial reporting of Sage Accpac provided Stephenson with greater insight into what worked and what didn't at Golden Wear Clothing. It also resulted in a better working relationship with their bank. Prior to implementing Sage Accpac ERP, an accounting firm referred to Stephenson by a friend unsuccessfully attempted to implement another software package. After 18 months and a complete loss of confidence by the bank, Stephenson found her firm had reached the brink of certain failure.

"There was some concern at the bank because we could not produce accurate month end financials and our year-end would have adjustments that made any monthly reports of no value," Stephenson acknowledges. "Within three months of implementing Sage Accpac ERP, our monthly financials are 'bang-on', our sales reports keep us focused and we know precisely how much and when to purchase inventory. Having two chartered accountants from 21st Century Systems design our system financial statements has resulted in restored confidence in us by our bank"

Full Control on the Road

With Stephenson and her husband on the road for large parts of the year, remote access to critical financial, sales, and inventory information is essential. Sage Accpac has remote access features built-in, allowing the Stephenson's to keep an eye on their business, even when they are far away.

"Sage Accpac is versatile," says Stephenson. "It does amazing things for us. We can take it on the road, and I can access the entire program from anywhere in Canada when I'm working in the mobile stores."

Real-time Inventory Management

Golden Wear Clothing now enjoys much better control over their inventory. Before Sage Accpac, it was difficult to know what items were in stock since inventory is split between the main retail store, online orders, and the two mobile trucks. Sage Accpac Inventory Control allows them to know exactly what they have in stock, and more importantly, where it is in stock.

"Because of our mobile store business, we had inventory on the road that we couldn't track. Now we can upload inventory data nightly from our mobile stores so that we stay up to date with inventory and know exactly when we need to place new orders," says Stephenson.

The Inventory Control solution also provides Stephenson with valuable reporting that helps her make informed purchasing and pricing decisions. "Reports are helpful for buying inventory, as well as figuring out what sells and what hasn't sold so well," she says.

Looking to the future

Stephenson is glad she made the switch to Sage Accpac ERP, and only wishes she had done it sooner. She and her staff are able to run reports and perform analysis on their own for the first time in years.

"Sage Accpac is a very easy product to learn. Once we got training, we were on our way in just a month or two. We've had absolutely no problems at all."

In the future, Stephenson plans to integrate Golden Wear Clothing's online store with Sage Accpac, and possibly implement SageCRM. She's confident that Sage Accpac will continue to meet their evolving needs as their business grows and expands. And if they need extra help designing custom reports or adding new functionality, 21st Century Systems continues to partner with them for success.

"I really like their professionalism," says Stephenson. "They respond quickly when we need them and they never make you feel like an idiot if you don't know how to do something. We aren't all computer experts, and they understand that."