Wholesale at high speed

No company has a permanent lock on its customers; it must ceaselessly work for their business lest it be overtaken by hungrier, nimbler, more efficient competitors. Few understand this law of the streets better than C.H. Briggs Hardware, a 45-year-old distributor of specialty building materials.

Over the past three years, Briggs has virtually reinvented its business to take advantage of the economies and efficiencies of networks and the Internet-a bet that is paying off in stronger management, higher productivity, and better relations with suppliers and customers. During that period, sales have increased by 35%, to $45 million. "We're at the beginning of a significant change in our company," says Julia Klein, president and CEO. "Technology opens up new opportunities that would not exist in traditional business practices." Many of the changes are transparent to outsiders-the creation of a comprehensive data warehouse, for instance, or the upgrading of the company's internal networks. However, by giving managers fast access to comprehensive information on customer accounts and sales trends, the systems help managers fine-tune inventory levels to reduce costs and minimize backorders. "Without these tools, the information would stay locked up in our AS400," says Klein.

A more visible change has been the creation of a Web site that customers can use to obtain product information, get e-mail answers to technical questions, and place orders. "We have a segment of our customers that needs information at hours when we are not historically open," Klein says. "Technology gives us the ability to be open 24/7 and fill a need cost-effectively."