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Customer Spotlight - Signbox
In each issue of intouch we will be putting one of our users in the Clarity Hotseat and finding out a little bit more about them.
In this special Christmas edition we would like to introduce you to Mark Bartlett, Managing Director of Signbox.
Q. Good Afternoon Mark. What type of signage does Signbox specialise in?
A. For over twenty years, Signbox has been providing high quality, design-led signs, displays and wayfinding systems. We have an extensive portfolio of sign solutions for
a wide range of markets, including corporate, retail, hotel & leisure, education, museums & libraries.
A unique blend of architectural and engineering experience, coupled with a passion for excellence, has gained us a reputation as one of the foremost sign manufacturers in the UK.
Services offered include consultancy, signage strategy, design, manufacture and full project management.
  
Above - An example of some of the signs supplied by Signbox
Q. How many employees does Signbox have currently?
A. Signbox has 29 employees, based in Egham.
Q. You were recently presented with the Best Wayfinding award at the 2008 Sign Industry Awards. Congratulations! Tell us more..
A. Our core activity, is in providing intelligently designed sign solutions for the built environment. When the property investment company Greenhills purchased the Croxley
Business Park in Watford, one of the first priorities was to commission Signbox to redesign and replace the existing estate wayfinding. This involved some 100 signs with an
elegant monolith construction in stainless steel. Illumination was provided using an LED back light unit for a sustainable solution. Our patented LED technology was also
incorporated within the internal glass directory signs at Tower 42.
We were keen to enter this years event to build upon our previous success in the Sign Industry Awards:
- Interior Sign of the Year Award 2006 - Winner
- Interior Sign of the Year Award 2004 - Winner
- Sign Design of the Year Award 2004 - Winner
- Sign Design of the Year Award 2003 - Winner
The acknowledgement is useful as a marketing tool and always a good night out for our employees to celebrate their success.
Above - Touch Systems's Dhiren Varand (right) presenting the Wayfinder Scheme Award to Richard Hart of Signbox (centre). Ex-BBC War Correspondent John Sargeant presented the awards (left).
Q. You have provided signs to a wide variety of industries for many years. How was your business operating before implementing a CRM / MIS system?
A. Signbox has enjoyed an organic growth, always responding to the demands of our customers. Adopting a pro-active approach, we have used a variety of business software to
provide management and accounting solutions. However, these were all bolt-on fixes over time, each involving a learning curve and not easily able to interact with each
other, so information had to be duplicated. Clarity not only gave us the flexibility of CRM and MIS but has enabled efficient use of time to do what we do best – making signs!
Q. When looking for a system, what was it that convinced you that Clarity Professional was right for your business?
A. In order to grow our business we knew that we had to have more strategic marketing. Clarity has provided us with a clean database of customers that we can regularly email
a monthly newsletter, instantly launch new products to and update with the latest innovations on our eshop. The ability to track an enquiry to order, through production
to delivery and onto invoice, all in one system has proved an invaluable tool.
Q. Since implementing Clarity, how have you found that it has improved your business?
A. Fully utilising the Pricing Wizard, enables us to maintain GP and this has been evidenced from our quarterely management accounts showing a constant quarter on quarter
figure; Something difficult to achieve when signs are constructed in so many different materials. We have finished '08 some 10% up on last year which was in turn 47% up on
the previous year.
Q. What advice would you give to someone interested in Clarity?
A. With all management information systems, they are only as good as the information input. So empower your key people with the responsibilty to ensure its success and
within a very short space of time they will see how much easier it makes their lives and how much more professional you have become.
Many Thanks Mark!
Contacting Signbox
If you would like to find out more about Signbox and their services please log onto www.signbox.co.uk, www.signboxshop.co.uk or call 01784 438688.
If you are a Clarity user and would like to be featured in our next issue please click here or call Sarah Thompson on 0121 248 2448.
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Touch Systems Ltd
7 The Pavilions, Cranmore Drive, Solihull, UK, B90 4SB
Tel +44 (0) 121 248 2448 Fax +44 (0) 121 248 2450 |
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