Using Vigilant to establish various customer pricing levels, monitoring credit limits and controlling inventory allows Tile Master's managers to get out of the office and onto the sales floor

Ton Holten has always been a man on the move. Mind you, not quite so much as he once was. Today, Holten operates Tilemaster, a successful tile business in Newmarket, Ontario. In the 1960's, however, the young Holten was constantly on the road between his native Holland and Afghanistan.

"I come from the hilly area in Southern Holland where there was both a coal mining and a tile industry," explains Holten. "My father had a truck for delivering coal, but the coal mining closed down, so I bought him out and started delivering tile."

Soon, that one delivery truck grew into a small fleet serving a variety of industries. For three years, the hands-on Holten found himself not only running his business, but also steering tractor-trailers on three-week delivery trips for Holland's Philips Corporation to half-way across Asia and back. By the 1980's, a road-weary Holten had built up his company and successfully sold it out. Agreeing not to compete with the new owners on their own turf, Holten packed up his family and moved to Canada.

And it was here that Holten met his first computer."Around 1985, our accountant convinced us to buy a very expensive $10,000 computer and Vigilant Point of Sale software," he recalls. "The computer wasn't very compatible with anything and it was gone after a year. But we still have Vigilant." Unlike the computer, Holten says Vigilant has proven itself to be compatible with his business.

"On the Sunday," Holten explains further, "the house buyer is deciding what tiles are going into the bathroom with the real estate agent. On Monday, we get the order to deliver such-and-such a tile to lot #44, say, on the 30th of the month. I enter that data into Vigilant just once, plus the special price we arrive at with the contractor and I never have to enter that information again. Thanks to Vigilant, I spend virtually no more time on that order - so I can give them a special price. Then, if a few years later the homeowner comes by and wants five more pieces of the same tile for an entrance way, I can punch in the date the house was built and find exactly the style of tile the builder used."

Holten also uses the sophisticated tracking features of Vigilant to act as a kind of collection agency.

"Let's say we have a contractor come in to buy something and he has already gone over his credit limit with us. The computer will start flashing when that contractor's record comes up. And we can point to it and say, 'Gee it shouldn't do that, but the computer is flashing and it won't let me put in your new order until the old one's paid for," relates Holten with a grin. "And more often than not, the contractor will go out to his car and get the cash."Vigilant has also plugged the hole in what once was a profit-leaking rental service. The company rents out tile cutters, which often didn't get returned. "But our losses are down to almost nil now," says Holten, "Because with Vigilant, we know who's got them. That tile cutter rental is automatically included in the invoice Vigilant generates for the tile."

Also, he can easily print packing and picking slips, invoices and confirmations through the Sales Order. When an order is taken, stock is committed and back orders are tracked, ensuring that no sale goes unfulfilled. The Vigilant Sales Order was developed with companies like Ton Holten's in mind, such as wholesalers, distributors and those taking mail and phone orders.

What Holten appreciates most about Vigilant is something much closer to home. "They listen," he says. "They don't make you feel like a nobody or a computer illiterate as some other software companies I've called do."