Flowgear, the agile cloud integration platform, provides Storm Distribution with an integration solution for logistics management and order processing.
Storm Distribution is one of the new breed of distributors who sell their products via their e-commerce portal, and through national building suppliers, but do not manage stock themselves; rather they use a third party logistics supplier to handle and ship goods to customers.
When CEO Nick Middelmann decided to change their logistics service provider it became clear that they would have to find a way to automate the integration of data between the logistics provider’s warehouse management system (WMS) and the company’s Sage accounting system. In addition, Storm accept orders electronically from national building suppliers, like Builders Warehouse, and this process needed to be automated. Without automation it would be a laborious process to capture and update information and the possibility of errors would be high.
The evaluation process
Middelmann turned to a Sage consultant for advice on how to automate the process of updating between his Sage system and the service provider’s WMS. The recommendation was to evaluate Flowgear, an integration platform listed in the Sage Marketplace.
The integration project
With Flowgear’s integration platform, Storm Distribution has now automated the process of order receipt, stock pick confirmation, purchase order creation, and stock shipment. At the business level, this process integrates information between Storm and its key business partners. From a technical perspective, it involves integrating several different data formats and communication protocols – accomplished with one integration platform.
Middlemann described the Flowgear Professional Services team as “easy to deal with because they could discuss issues in non-technical, business terms.” The ability of Flowgear staff to explain and implement both technical and non-technical issues was important in enabling the Storm Distribution team to get the integration solution they needed.
Integration benefits
According to Middelmann the Flowgear integration platform has enabled Storm Distribution to implement a completely new set of solutions and business processes.
