Vendor Perspective: Going Where No Small Bike Maker Has Gone BeforeVendor Perspective: Going Where No Small Bike Maker Has Gone Before

"One of the real benefits of an SAP solution is with the experience we have in the Fortune 1000 - well beyond the Fortune 1000, for that matter, in the large enterprise - we've taken a lot of that learning and brought it down into a very affordable package for the small to medium enterprise, that essentially allows folks like Torelli here, and Todd the CEO, to do things he could never do before."Those were the words of Mike Coleman, SAP's vice president of distribution and direct response channel, during his visit to Torelli Bicycle Co. in August, as small business owner Todd Linscott surrendered the keys to his computer systems into the able hands of Navigator Business Solutions for an "extreme technology makeover," courtesy of Navigator and SAP.

In this video interview, shot by information SMB On Location's crack team of documentarians, Coleman outlined some of the specific benefits in store for Torelli once its new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is in place.

"For example, based on [Todd's] current system, he's unable to essentially track SKUs and have landed costs on those SKUs based on the import/export duties," Coleman said. As a result, Torelli could not "assign those duties to a particular SKU and then be able to cost that to a customer and price it accordingly." The upshot of that for Todd and Torelli was a lot of guesswork, and never really knowing for sure whether its imported items, such as the fine handmade Italian steel racing frames, were actually being sold at a profit on a day-to-day basis.

"With an SAP solution, that will transform his ability to . . . price himself very competitively, and be able to grow exponentially as a result of that," Coleman added.

So how is that transformation going? Find out later this month in a live webcast: "Extreme SMB Technology Makeover: Torelli Races for the Finish Line with New ERP System." The webcast takes place Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT). Don't miss it!