Office Smart
Office Smart provides a full range of office products and furniture to businesses throughout the South West region and beyond. As a result of expansion they are about to relocate from their current premises in Penryn to a larger unit on Pool Industrial Estate.
Managing Director Barry Wilkinson says ‘We are now Cornwall’s largest Cornish owned office supplies business. Other local businesses know we are a name they can trust and as a result of this continued support from them we need to move to larger premises to cope with the level of demand for our services and continue to provide the level of service that is expected of us.’
A significant proportion of sales take place online. The website has been enabled for eCommerce since 2004.
Barry says ‘We find that most of our B2B customers order online now although they still like to know that the personal touch is there in our approach to customer service.’
ICT is at the heart of the operations at Office Smart. The company use a industry specific software package that allows them to stay on top of the volatile pricing in the stationery business, which is dependent on many external factors.
Barry says ‘The industry specific software is vital for us and also allows us to monitor our sales position accurately at any point.’
They have a Virtual Private Network, which means that the key people in the management team can also work effectively from home, logging into the office system.
Barry says ‘The flexibility is great and it allows us to be more productive. I am finding working on a laptop at home is excellent as it means I can be in the same room as the children in the evening and at weekends, but I can be getting on with work, while they are watching TV or whatever. This means that I can be more effective and deal immediately with any emails and so on, whilst not missing out on my young family ’
As pilot participants in the actnow flex programme, Office Smart is extending this new flexible approach, using ICT to enable a better quality of life, whilst also increasing business productivity.
