HPS move into Electronic Data Integration with First B2B
First B2B Ltd, provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) electronic trading have won the business of HPS Heating Plumbing Supplies, the South East Plumbing and Heating merchants
HPS have contracted to receive Electronic Data Integration services that enable them to streamline the documentation associated with their financial transactions.
HPS Finance Director Tony Curneen explains: “The nature of our business means that we deal with a wide range of organisations as customers and suppliers and there is a great deal of paperwork flowing backwards and forwards. This means that there is always the chance of human error and delay in the processing of documentation. If we can transfer a proportion of these transactions onto an electronic basis then it can be very beneficial to the business because we can speed up our response times and eliminate error. The service will be particularly beneficial when we deal with large buying groups such as Unimer as it allows us to communicate with these groups using whatever transfer protocols and formats they require without imposing any administrative burden on our organisation.”
The First B2B service was recommended to HPS by the provider of their finance systems, INFOR. The First B2B system is provided by technology known as “Software as a Service” which allows the service to be provided from central servers without any special hardware or software being installed at either the user’s sites or those of their trading partners.
Tony Curneen sees this as a major benefit: “We want to focus on our core business which is not managing IT and finance systems. The First B2B offering means that we don’t need to worry about this part of the business at all - just enjoy the benefits. It is early days yet in implementing the system but we have found First B2B a pleasure to work with, they are enormously co-operative and are prepared to put themselves out to help to an extent that is unusual in my experience.”
First B2B Chairman Richard Ward is delighted with the contract win, “We are finding that it is the fast growing and innovative businesses that are most keen to contract for our services and HPS are an example of such a business recognising that First B2B provides the market leading solution to an age old business problem.”
