A Uniform Management System Can Drive Your Digital Transformation

It is becoming more common when speaking to uniform and workwear suppliers to hear that they’re looking to completely overhaul their digital set up. This includes investing in new websites, ERPs, server infrastructure and, of course, uniform management software. 

As part of the consultation process with potential clients, I’m often asked for advice and guidance on timeframes, and the order in which to implement this new technology. And the shortest answer is always that this is different for every business.

You must spend time considering what’s best for your business, and what’s driving this need for digital transformation. You also should take into account the implementation time for each technology, which will help you prioritise any quicker wins vs long term gains.

I wanted to put a helpful guide in place of things to consider if you'd like to implement Smart Red as part of your digital transformation. 

Do I Need An ERP System?

It's ideal to have an ERP chosen, but not necessarily in place, before implementing a uniform management system. If so, this easily informs the product set up, pricing set up, order information and any additional data that will be passed between the systems.

However this is not set in stone - if uniform management is your number one software priority, we can work with your existing systems until you're ready to migrate over to a new ERP. Smart Red can, and does, work as a standalone platform for our clients. The structure, set up and databases are entirely customisable to your business and processes. We fit in with you, not the other way around.

What Systems Can I Integrate With?

Smart Red can integrate with any ERP and web platform, so you don't need to limit your selection because of us. Investigate all the pros and cons of all systems out there, including bespoke builds, and we'll do the work behind the scenes with your provider(s) to get it speaking to our uniform management system.

How Long Does Implementation Take?

Timeframes for implementing software can vary widely. Typically, we say to clients that Smart Red takes 3 months from scoping, testing to go-live. However, no man is an island, and if we are integrating with other systems, often this can be longer. 

During the scoping stage, our project team spend a significant amount of time understanding the complex needs of your business. This informs us how we’ll do the Smart Red roll out. This may be a full launch after the build and testing phases are completed. Equally we could suggest a phased roll out – where clients can use the powerful functionality behind Smart Red first, and other integrations follow when readily available. This is driven by you and your needs, not our own agenda. 

What About Websites?

You can choose to keep a retail website completely separate from a B2B site, and therefore this can be done in isolation as two completely separate projects, with separate providers. Another option is to use the team at Big Red to take all this hassle away from you, and run both projects simultaneously on one system, with one admin area. It's completely up to you.

Why Wait?

Integrating software can take time, but the longer you wait to make a decision, the longer it will take to have clients actively using, and benefitting from, new software. It's a fine balancing act.

The quickest way to start is to have a conversation. As Head of Sales, I’m happy to have any discussions, no matter where you are in implementing your digital transformation project and advise you along the way. Contact me today.