Vigilant's feature-rich software effectively services CDS's six diverse companies

In 1984, just one year proceeding the birth of Vigilant, an expanding company began their search for an automation solution. Thus began the relationship between two companies that in these many years have both transformed dramatically. Presently, the CDS Group of Companies continues to take advantage of Vigilant within all six of their businesses.

Because CDS was growing weary of tracking and performing monthly billing for a rental fleet of over 600 units manually, Vigilant was originally chosen for its Repetitive Billing Add-on. Three of the six currently take advantage of this feature, consisting of CDS Rental Service (operating a fleet of rental storage vans), CDS Store-All (owning 50,000 square feet of multi-tenant industrial buildings and personal storage units), as well as Relocatable Homes (owning and operating an 85 unit mobile home park).

Since the time of their automation with Vigilant, CDS Store-All has doubled in size. M.E.D Servi-Systems, another of CDS's companies and a Holistic Medicine Supplier, have increased their sales by a factor of 10, while CDS Building Movers, which begin in 1988, is now a multi-million dollar company and the largest building mover in Canada.

"Without the multi-faceted features of Vigilant, we could not have moved ahead so quickly," attests Brian Smith, Management Consultant with the CDS Group of Companies. "The automation and control process has enabled quicker and more informed decision making in all areas and has freed up staff from the drudgery of repetitive bookkeeping." He goes on to state that the customization Vigilant has provided to CDS is "invaluable," while the Vigilant format and menu system is "extremely user-friendly."

Since 1984, CDS has been training new employees on the Vigilant program, but for them to learn is a breeze. The process, says Smith, is rapid as well as straight forward. "And no matter what type of report we require for our different operations, it is right there and easy to customize."

Both companies continue to grow together and will certainly do so for many years to come. The companies have proved successful, and look forward to continuing on the same path into the 21st century.