Emma Trimmings is one of the UK's leading fashion trimmings suppliers to manufacturers of ladies garments supplying High Street retailers in the UK and USA. The company is based in North London with offices in Leicester.

What was their problem?

Connect had provided IT helpdesk support for Emma Trimmings since January 2003. As part of the service, Connect produces a monthly report tracking the number of calls made to the helpdesk and the cause of every IT problem fixed. Over time, it became clear that there was a consistent problem with the day-to-day operation of the company's main Access database. This database was central to the success of the business, holding all information about the range of products available for customers including details of suppliers and prices. The database was simply no longer able to cope with the requirements of a growing business. The system needed to be rebooted or debugged regularly, leaving staff unable to process orders, restricting the number of employees who could use the system at any one time and creating difficulties in accessing the information when off-site.

How has Connect helped?

Connect's application development team looked at a range of different options to develop a cost effective database for the company that would resolve the existing problems as well as cope with potential future demands. Having agreed a fixed fee for the work and a timescale for implementation, Connect created, from scratch, a new relational database, using MYSQL. The new system is not only more robust, it is also far more flexible, permitting clients and staff to view their complete range of products over the web. This means that, as well as taking orders over the phone, the company's staff could process orders off-site, for example, at a customer's office or when viewing new fabrics. In addition, company employees can now see, at a glance, precise details of previous orders made by each customer, quotations provided on any product and delivery details.