Mike Bacon

Partnership

"Back in 2000 we decided to change our existing retail system over to one that was more focused on retail furniture sales. STORIS was the partner that we chose that year and we've been with them ever since. In April 2009 we went live with the Vision R8 upgraded platform and it has been such an advantage to us. We are very, very happy with it."

Seamless Upgrade

"Ethan Allen conducted two upgrades because we have locations throughout the US and Canada, and maintain separate accounts for each country. The first upgrade process with Canada ran very smoothly, and we hoped that we'd experience the same results going from 5 stores to 160 with the US account. STORIS just hit it out of the park with the upgrade process. It was the same kind of professional step by step hand-holding that we required and we were able to complete the upgrade exactly as it was scheduled, giving us this high level of satisfaction and comfort."

PCI Compliance

"Since Ethan Allen has an online and Brick & Mortar presence, PCI factors heavily into what we do. Being compliant in this area is very crucial when dealing with our banks. The existing encryption has helped us in a number of areas. For example, Massachusetts just passed a law requiring that any personal data that we take from consumers, such as a credit card number, be encrypted. Having a partner like STORIS who's already got that answer is a huge benefit. It's just one of those things you don't have to worry about because it's already there."

Business Intelligence

"Certainly the existing reports that are currently available in STORIS have a lot of functionality. But there's always something more that you want to see. So rather than engage in programming, we can write the report using Report Builder. That gives us the information that we want to see, and it's easily accessible. In addition, once we've created the report we have the option to save it to our menus and can then add it to our users' quick launch menus. Now users can instantly have that information at their fingertips."

System Control Settings

"Typically when you buy a business package it is 'one size fits all' and you have to adapt your business processes to match up to what is already there. But with STORIS you have many configurations to choose from and you can make specific changes that correspond to the way your business works. Specifically, in the system control settings there is an 8-tab entry area where you can distinctly modify those controls so they line up with the way you run your business. It wasn't necessary to change business practices when we went to STORIS' Vision R8 platform. Instead we've been able to make Vision R8 do what we do today, without a whole lot of heavy lifting."

Project Management

"When upgrading from 7.2 to Vision R8, the Project Management team developed a well thought-out, well-designed process, where our expectations were kept in line. Deadlines were met and the live date that we set was achieved with no sweat at all. And that was mainly because of the professionalism of the Project Management team."

Warehouse Management

"The transparency that STORIS' RF Barcode provides to our warehouse management is phenomenal. In the past you'd set up your pick and then you'd look at the end of the day and inevitably have some pieces that would be missing. With STORIS RF Bar Code, not only do you know how much you have to pick for the day, but you also know during the day where you are in the pick process. So the precision and visibility that STORIS provides to our warehouse management really makes our efficiencies far better than we've had in the past."

Logistical Scheduling

"We have found the logistical scheduling screen is a great tool to make sure your delivery processes are all where they need to be. It's a screen that shows you if you have printed your delivery tickets, if you've put them on the manifest, and if it's been picked. It's all on one screen so when you're ready to close the day out, you can go to that screen and very easily see what it looks like. You can make sure that you haven't missed a customer who got added onto the system later in the day and whose order needs to go back and get picked. So the logistical scheduling screen is just that; not only is it great to see what the day looks like because it tells you your piece count and dollars to be delivered, but it's also that last check to make sure that you've got an accurate day and you're not going to disappoint customers."

Name: Mike Bacon

Title: Director of Retail Systems

Store/Chain Name: Ethan Allen Interiors

Business Specialty: Furniture

Current Number of Locations: 229