A Letter from Brick Southeast, Inc.

Friends,

It is the mission of the Brick Southeast, Inc., to promote clay brick with the goal of increasing market share and safeguarding the industry wherever brick is sold. To that end, the organization has traditionally offered technical support, and, in the last few decades, sought to unify the industry under common marketing and advertising banners and messages. In addition to the above, the role of customer service has always been an intricate part of fulfilling the mission, but has been the domain of the individual manufacturer with regard to sales and delivery. This letter speaks to a new and innovative product which could help your company achieve maximum customer service goals.

Interface Technologies, Inc. (ITI), a Raleigh, North Carolina company, has worked with a local distributor to design a software package which may be of great benefit to our industry. The system, Brickware, is a leap forward in technology, usability, and understanding of the unique demands of the brick industry. This software focuses on our #1 requirement for success: getting brick to our customers.

As the industry grows, I see more and more of our business being stretched beyond its limits. The old way of doing business does not scale to accommodate the growth that we have seen in the last decade. As the business grows, management and employees spend more and more time fighting fires, until they have little time to work on improving their business. This leads to:

• Unrealized profits (lack the time and data needed to analyze business performance)
• Decrease in quality of customer service (more mistakes, forgotten arrangements, etc.)
• Increased overhead (efficiency costs, on the verge of hiring extra people)
• Risk of information loss (critical business data is stored in employees’ heads)

Used appropriately, technology can lower the cost of operation, improve efficiency, improve customer service and give you the visibility into your business needed to make decisions to grow your revenue and profit.

That’s why I was excited when Interface Technologies called and said that they had a newly developed program available for sale to people in our industry. It had been developed specifically for and with a brick distributor (Custom Brick Company) in Raleigh, NC. This program may be used “as is,” or revised as needed.

The main goal of the system is to provide the minimum amount of technology needed to give business leaders the data and time required to make their business better. This includes sales, overhead, revenue, customer service, accountability, etc. The system is simple, reliable, etc. Interface focuses on our business and is responsive to modifications, changes, requests, improvements, etc.

I did an on-site evaluation of the Custom Brick Company office in Raleigh, NC after the system was installed. I found management and employees very satisfied with the system. I found desks and poster boards that had once been covered with scraps of paper noting shipping and delivery information cleared and clean, while the shipments were on their way, on time, and to the right destination. I found a sense of pride in management and employees knowing they were operating with the best technology had to offer.

The Custom Brick people felt the year spent explaining things to ITI and the total cost of the program were well worth it. Custom asked ITI to literally sit beside and work with their people. The ITI people acted in a personable and professional manner. They saw the complexities and responded as requested, honoring their price quote, even though the work took longer than anticipated.

If you want to learn more about Brickware and what it can do for your business, contact Corey Wilson, ITI, 919.876.1566 x115, wilson@iticentral.com. ITI will be presenting Brickware at the Brick Show in March. I think it would be well worth your time to consider what this product can do to enhance your business.

Sincerely,

Peter Cieslak
Executive Director
Brick Southeast, Inc.