A faster, smarter way to grow: Bellew Electrical scales on Intact iQ

The business challenge: Managing growth complexity

Bellew Electrical successfully operated on Intact Vline (version 18) for many years prior to their move to Intact iQ. Colin Burns, CFO at Bellew Electrical, noted that the system "was very good and did exactly what we needed it to do at the time." Vline supported the company's growth from two branches to multiple locations, providing reliable inventory management throughout their expansion.

However, as Bellew embarked on an ambitious expansion strategy backed by Dutch private equity fund Waterland, their operational requirements began to exceed Vline's capabilities. With version 18 representing the final iteration of the Vline platform, the company recognised this as a natural progression point for system enhancement.

The growing complexity of Bellew's operations presented several challenges. Invoice consolidation for larger customers required manual processing. Multiple branch operations demanded increasingly sophisticated coordination. Customer expectations for streamlined billing and enhanced service levels continued to rise. These factors highlighted the need for greater automation and operational efficiency that only a more advanced system could provide.

Without addressing these system limitations, Bellew faced potential constraints on their growth trajectory and ability to maintain the service standards that had built their market position.

The Wesco Acquisition: Bellew's transition to Intact iQ

The decision to upgrade was perfectly timed with Bellew's acquisition of Wesco, a four-store competitor that had already moved to Intact iQ. This created an ideal opportunity to standardise both businesses on the same advanced platform while supporting their integration strategy.

Colin explains that continuing with Intact was the natural choice: "We had a great experience with Intact over the years - there wasn't really a case to go and review anything else. We had hardware and software support already, so it just made sense to keep that partnership." 

Bellew found the biggest challenge to be stock management - merging Wesco's 20,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) with Bellew's 30,000 SKUs. Many of which were similar or identical products. Intact provided comprehensive on-site support during go-live to ensure trade counter operations continued smoothly. Despite some initial nervousness about the complexity of the 
implementation, the transition was successful with no missed sales at any trade counter. 

From warehouse to trade counters: Intact iQ transforms Bellew operations

Since implementing Intact iQ, Bellew Electrical has experienced transformational improvements across their operations. The benefits have been felt from the warehouse floor to executive level, fundamentally changing how the business operates.

• Reporting improvements: Colin describes the reporting improvements as "10 times what it was in Vline." The finance team can now close their accounts receivable ledger by 1st July and have accurate margin reports available by 2nd July. The system provides detailed analysis capabilities, allowing management to compare margins by product class and branch, quickly identifying performance variations across locations.
• Stock control excellence: Bellew Electrical’s 80,000 square foot warehouse now operates with significantly improved accuracy through scanning technology. As Colin explains: "Occasional mispicks, like grabbing plug X instead of plug Y, are inevitable. By scanning each item, we detect the error instantly and guide the picker to the correct part, preventing delays." This improvement in picking accuracy directly translates to better customer service.
• Enhanced customer experience: The new system includes Intact’s Access app that provides GPS tracking and photographic confirmation of deliveries. When customers query delivery status, staff can instantly provide photographic proof and location details rather than making time-consuming calls to drivers and waiting for paperwork.
• Seamless inter-company operations: Perhaps most significantly for a multi-company group, iQ enables automatic inter-company trading. When a customer visits a Wesco branch but is a Bellew customer, the system handles all invoicing and stock transfers automatically behind the scenes, eliminating manual processes and telephone calls between branches.
  
  
  

Building for the next stage of growth

Bellew has invested in the team with a dedicated ERP manager experienced in iQ to keep unlocking value - a move that has “brought us to a different level and helped with future implementations,” says Colin.

As European work expands through Irish contractors (data centres across Scandinavia, Germany and Spain), Intact iQ provides the backbone to support growth while protecting the service standards customers expect.

In three (four) words? Colin sums it up: “Efficient, flexible, and customer friendly.”