E25 – Nice Link Part Two
Jay Carlson

Believe it or not, it’s Episode 25 of the ERPodcast

MFX up and under

Today’s episode is Part Two of our conversation with Jay Carlson, President of Nice Link Home Furnishings – if you caught Episode 24 you’ll remember Nice Link implemented and launched Acumatica, the Cloud ERP in June, right in the middle of a certain pandemic you may have heard something about – and as is with all ERP, especially critical during times of market disruption, Nice Link automated, so they didn’t need so much labor and so many spreadsheets. The connected digitally with their customers, so they’re taking sales orders that someone else is paying to input instead of hiring more folks internally. They got control over 7 national warehouses with a pretty complex sales model. They expanded eCommerce, with items appearing on other eTailers websites opening new channels and new market shares.
Did all this just happen by ERP magic, No – it’s hard work and you need help from implementation partners such as Nice Link’s go-to, a firm called Net At Work – who if you know ERP you’ve heard of Net At Work over the years as a leading ERP implementation partner – of course ERP is something most companies pay attention to once or maybe twice every decade – but take my word for it, Net At Work is a major player – Jay will speak about them on today’s Episode.
Nice Link Home Furnishings was at the right place at the right time when home furnishings kind of took off. Home offices needed refurbs when home suddenly became a full-time locale during the initial lockdown. Kids needed a space to connect to remote learning. Increased time at home, no one could spend money on travel or in some cases restaurants – so for many, disposable income went up, time at home went up – and the furniture stores were locked down too – so online they went. Wayfair had record months. We all know about Amazon. But Nice Link found themselves in Overstock.com, Macy’s, Costco and others.
 
Is this just a story of right-place right-time in the Home Furnishings space? Answer, Yes and No. But it’s more than just home furnishings
• It’s a story of ERP technology cutting overhead internal costs
• It’s a story of distribution efficiencies
• It’s a story of being able to instantly understand inventory across 7 US warehouses
• It’s a story of becoming easier to work with for your customers
• It’s a story of digital transformation
• It’s a story of decreased cost and increased revenues
• It’s a story for the new covidian economy.
It’s a great story – so let’s join Jay Carlson, President of Nice Link Home Furnishings for Part Two of the interview – Coming up right after the break, here on the ERPodcast

Insert Net At Work sponsorship 2.0

Intro to Interview in process. Ad Lib -
Insert Part Two, Jay Carlson Interview
Interview Notes
10:00 - When to make the move to ERP

11:30 -

11:50 - Capacity to Promise - Still learning that - growing capacity -

15:26 - one of the last things to come up - growth -

16:20 Lean Staffing not having to have 10 people in the department

16:41 - live inventory information always - needed in eCom

17:31 Two future accountant hires avoided

17:39 Net at Work - CPA level help

20:19 You can only get so far with what you had

21:36 - Selling to new retailers in new channels - value is created oppportunities not available previously

22:40 - Macy’s - line extension

24:06 - limitations of traditional software - even when future of business is up in the air

25:16 - Net at Work - flexibility and relationship good partners - ready for Costco