SPONSORED BY 123 INSIGHT
A HELPING HAND
No stranger to adversity, 123 Insight
has been seamlessly supporting its
customer base throughout lockdown
CONTRIBUTOR 123 INSIGHT
For manufacturers that continued to operate during the
lockdown, having reliable access to suppliers was crucial.
Whether it was maintenance partners ensuring assets
ran smoothly, or supply chain providers delivering raw
materials to the factory gates, underpinning it all was an
easy-to-use and reliable IT system.
For users of 123insight, there was no chance of being cut o ,
as Martin Bailey, the company’s marketing manager (pictured,
inset), explains: “We’ve been able to o er full support to our
customers throughout lockdown without missing a beat.
Everything has been operating as normal, just via a
di erent process.”
Indeed, many of the enquiries the company
has received in recent months have come via
the online chat service. “Sta have been able
to work from home during lockdown, and we
modifi ed our website to provide a quick method
of directing enquiries to relevant departments.
We also took the opportunity during lockdown
of giving our website a complete makeover,
helping both prospects and customers get to the
information they need quicker.”
As a company, 123 Insight is no stranger to disruption,
having su ered a catastrophic fl ood at its Southampton HQ
in 2017. “The o ce fl ooded over a Bank Holiday weekend,
but we continued operating with no downtime despite
ultimately being out of our o ces for three months,” says Bailey.
“All calls were diverted, and everything was running ‘as normal’
within hours. Many of our customers were completely unaware
of the incident.”
This fl exibility is refl ected in the company’s MRP o erings. Its
fl agship 123insight software is o ered on a monthly subscription
basis, with customers able to request more or fewer licences
as demand dictates. Several 123insight customers have,
understandably, reduced the number of licences they are
operating in recent months; however, many
have done the opposite – taking advantage of
123mobile, a tablet-based app for use on the
shopfl oor and in the stock room.
“The dip in licences will have helped
those companies stay afl oat, which we can’t
begrudge,” says Bailey. “However, we’ve seen
huge uptake in 123mobile and 123bi, our
business intelligence tool that provides daily
snapshots of stock levels and the like.
On a shopfl oor there will often only
be a limited number of PCs that
multiple members of sta use.
In the current circumstances,
where employers are getting
people back to work and also
trying to meet social distancing
guidelines, you don’t want lots
of people using one computer.
It’s much easier – and cheaper
– to buy some tablets and
distribute them to sta . 123mobile
can be installed on them all, and stops
people having to return to a computer to input
information. It reduces shopfl oor tra c and
frees up space, while also giving managers
the chance to monitor who’s on-site and
that regulations around distancing are being
adhered to.”
One company that has been reaping
the benefi ts of 123mobile since before the
pandemic is Dorset-based Mako Board Sports,
which has been using 123insight since late
2017. Ben Smith, the company’s logistics
and quality manager has been particularly
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