Cam Commits to £1.3 Million Software and Services Programme

Cam Systems, the leading provider of software solutions and services to the UK independent tyre industry, has announced that it is investing £1.3 million in a customer charter called Cam 20:20. According to the company, Cam 20:20 sets out the its aims to serve customers more effectively by providing “wider IT options…and by ensuring the transparency of Cam’s performance against defined customer service levels.” In other words, the company is furthering its joined up approach to tyre business systems, with new products and a set of new service level agreements.

Cam 20:20 is the result of customer surveys conducted by Cam that highlighted the requirement for both more tailored and, at the same time, more comprehensive services from one systems provider. This means the launch of a 32 bit version of the company’s popular Cameo software, which runs on the latest windows operating systems and vastly improving reporting capabilities – even opening up the possibility of Google-style analytics. At the same time, Cam’s .NET system rewrite will deliver document management software (for purchase and sales ledgers, fleet management and call centre options) in the early part of 2010.

To support the introduction of Cam 20:20, the company has created a dedicated customer services team after appointing Steve Bazeley to the new role of customer services director. And new service level agreements (SLA) provide a more tailored approach to IT service needs. Customers can opt for Premium, Business or Standard agreements.

From a service point of view, CamWiki is set to be launched by the end of this year. This will allow all 32-bit users to have easy access to a wide range of communications and Cam resources such as support documentation, product configuration and project summaries. As you would expect with a Wiki system, each information page is interlinked and can be searched using keyword terms.

32-bit Cameo, CamWiki and .Net services to be released

Cam’s Cameo software is an integrated line of business software incorporating a point of sale system, pricing product information, warehousing, inventory, ledgers and consolidation functions. IT is used by around 2000 tyre depots in the UK. The company’s largest customer runs Cam software on 500 PCs across 60 locations. Cam’s e-commerce platform Midas, has 31,000 user IDs and runs 35,000 trades a month, valued at £15 million worth of sales a month.

However, perhaps the most interesting thing about Cam’s business is the company’s continuing development and “yes you can, here are your options” approach. The products the company makes have a reputation for being labour and cost saving, revolutionising online procurement by allowing the integration of different supplier’s stock availability and price Cam Systems offerings on one screen. According to Mike Allen, Cam Systems’ managing director one customer has e-pricing and purchasing data from half a dozen wholesale and manufacturer suppliers integrated into their system.