Epub: A dynamic change
Business software provider K3's Drink-IT, an integrated financial and retail management system designed for pubcos and brewers, is steadily sweeping through the trade, replacing one-time standard-issue computer systems such as Brewmaster and Sage.
Admiral Taverns, Robinsons and Everards are all using the system, after Hardys & Hansons pioneered it four years ago. David Cooke, K3's business sector manager, says the company has had "direct interest" from a number of other pub companies, too, and although K3 has so far targeted smaller or family-run pubcos, he says "there's no reason we can't approach a Wolverhampton & Dudley".
So why is the system proving so popular? K3 builds and installs technology solutions based on Microsoft's Dynamics software. It links up computer terminals across multiple sites so that users can work in conventional software packages on data that is integrated across the entire company.
It is designed to assist with processes including finances, stock control, production, quality management, purchasing, sales and distribution, and it encompasses pubs' till systems so sales information feeds into head office.
For the licensee, this piece of technology has improved day-to-day dealings with their brewer or pubco in just about every respect - it has made invoicing easier, it has shortened the time between logging an issue with their beer dispense and seeing a subcontractor come round to fix the problem, and it has made ordering beer less time-consuming.
David left a role at Hardys & Hansons to join K3 after the pubco was acquired by Greene King. In his former position, he had approached K3 to replace the Nottinghamshire brewer's Brewmaster software. At the time, he says, Drink-IT had the 'basics' of what a modern pubco or brewer needed in a package and he worked with K3 to develop it.
He explains how Drink-IT improved the company's ability to relate to its pubs immediately. "Before we put in Drink-IT, the costs were far less broken down, our ability to analyse quality assurance, handling of deposits and returns was nowhere near as detailed," he says.
In contrast, he adds: "Brewmaster basically just counted numbers like beans."
According to David, the strength of K3's Drink-IT, which costs from £100,000, is that it is becoming so prevalent. "The advantage is that the Dynamics platform has been so widely tested across the world," he explains. "It looks like any standard Microsoft package, so it's very user-friendly, and with Microsoft, wherever it leads, everyone else will follow."
As Drink-IT is a modular system, elements can be added as a business expands - if it takes on more pubs, for example.
Microsoft plans to use Dynamics for the foreseeable future, and has a 'road map' until 2014, says David. But the software will not stand still. Updates will be provided and K3 publishes monthly newsletters to keep clients abreast of developments.
K3's Drink-IT software has made Everards' and Robinsons' beer deliveries more efficient
Case study: Admiral Taverns
One of the fastest growing pubcos of recent years made its Drink-IT system live at the tail-end of November last year.
With long-term growth in mind, Admiral Taverns wanted technology that would help it build its portfolio of more than 1,200 tenancies.
"The impact for our pubs is on our ability to move our business forward under one standard system," says Admiral operations finance director Graeme Percy. "It will improve their day-to-day contacts with telesales and the links between tenants, head office and distributors. They will definitely see improvements in information flow.
"For example, when a business development manager has a meeting with the licensee, they will hold more detailed information, which can benefit the tenant.
"We just want the transition from seller to buyer to be as smooth as possible."
