Despite national lockdown restrictions, MAM Software “pulled out all the stops” to move Auto Spares and Parts to Autopart Online. PMF finds out more.
Auto Spares and Parts (ASAP) decided to move to a new business management system (BMS) earlier this year – right about when the country was hit with a national lockdown. However, with the help of a remote implementation carried out by the team at MAM Software, the company was soon up and running on Autopart Online.
Gary Greatorex, Northern Regional Manager at ASAP, explained that one of the primary reasons for choosing Autopart Online was its integration with Autocat. MAM Software’s web-driven vehicle parts catalogue enables users to find and compare components from multiple suppliers and retrieve the latest available data.
ASAP initially set a deadline of April 2020 to migrate to its new BMS, just weeks before the challenges associated with the global pandemic took hold. The MAM Software team was able to implement Autopart Online remotely, and carried out the necessary training without having to visit the site ahead of the go-live date.
“For us, it was a natural transition,” said Gary. “We used a test system for two weeks before the system went live. During lockdown, the business was quieter than usual, which meant anyone could go on to their PC and practice using Autopart Online whenever it was convenient for them.”
Carrying out training on the system remotely also worked well for ASAP. One person from each branch took part in a full- day course, and they would then be responsible for providing socially-distanced training with the rest of their team. Gary added, “We were able to section people off so they could do their training at a suitable time. The MAM team has also been available to support us whenever we’ve needed it, so the remote way of working has turned out well for us.”
Several months down the line, Autopart is embedded in ASAP’s business, and a number of additional remote training sessions have been scheduled.
Concluding, Gary commented: “As a professional business, MAM wanted the implementation to be done in stages so the system could be rolled out gradually. This wasn’t possible with the situation we found ourselves in, but I can honestly say we haven’t seen any difference to how it would have been in normal terms.
“It’s just amazing what MAM was able to do. They pulled out every single stop and we can’t thank them enough for all their help.”
