Kemp Electric Supply Positioned for Growth Thanks to xTuple

After his company outgrew their old business management software, Kevin Biltz of Kemp Electric Supply Co. embarked on a search for a replacement. Biltz knew he needed more – and better – information from his internal systems.

He was wary of older systems acquired over time by legacy vendors such as Epicor, Sage and Infor.

Exorbitant costs, unreasonable time to implement and notable deficiencies in vendor support were well-known problems in the distribution software
marketplace.

Kemp Electric wanted to find an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software which could be implemented quickly and cost-effectively but, most importantly, could reliably meet the intricate and unique needs of the electrical wholesale distribution industry.

As part of his research to replace his existing systems, Biltz looked to the Member Services Program offered by his industry marketing group, IMARK – and found an innovative company called xTuple which offered an open source ERP with a special focus on industrial distribution. He then piloted the free PostBooks version of xTuple ERP to ensure it met his needs. The flexibility and ease of customization inherent with open source technology was immediately apparent, and he quickly came to a decision. Kemp Electric purchased a commercial xTuple PostBooks license with the Wholesale Distribution add-on package (xWD). 

“We needed a more reliable, powerful and flexible ERP system that would allow us to take full advantage of what modern technology can provide,” said Biltz. “An added benefit was that xTuple is an IMARK Member Service Provider and has worked closely with IMARK to build out functionality for its electrical distributor members."

With xTuple ERP, Kemp Electric is able to service customers better, faster and easier – with immediate, direct sales access to more products through real-time integration with the Trade Service electronic catalog.

Automatic order-processing and invoicing via email allows Kemp Electric to keep customers informed with immediate sales order acknowledgements and to push out invoices immediately, ultimately receiving payments more quickly, improving cash flow. Quoting and billing time at Kemp has been cut in half, the net result of these improvements. Another crucial requirement, according to Biltz, was for the system to have fully integrated corporate relationship management (CRM). In the world of distribution, relationships with vendors are often as important as customer relationships – and xTuple’s
fully-integrated CRM uses the same powerful tools for both.

“With xTuple, we gained important features needed to move our business to the next level,” said Biltz. “The quality of support that xTuple provides is superb! This is true for both user and developer-level support. The xTuple staff is responsive, quick and effective in solving problems and very receptive to input and ideas coming from their customers. The overall system is a pleasure to work with!!”
Within 90 days, from selection to implementation, Kemp Electric was running their business with xTuple ERP.