Headquarters:
McFarland, WI
Employees: 50 – 75
Industry: Wine & Spirits
Wholesale and Imports
Founded in 1985, Left Bank Wine has become the leading distributor of fine wines and spirits in the state of Wisconsin. Their portfolio of wines includes all the major wine growing regions in the world. Left Bank coordinates deliveries throughout the state, maintains a team of mobile salespeople, and also hosts public tastings and wine dinners.
Left Bank needed to escape the work rut by streamlining processes while saving time and money. Codence solved Left Bank’s problems by reducing inefficient business processes, and giving them confidence in their data.
Patchwork Tools and Unreliable Accounting
Previous to using Genesis, Left Bank was running their business operations using a combination of applications and tools resulting in inefficient business processes.
“We had to download our transactions each day into a homemade FileMaker database and then export that into an accounting program in order to know what our Profit & Loss were for the day. We were already using FileMaker, but in a very unsophisticated way.”
– Stacy Sandler, President, Left Bank Wine & Spirits
Even worse, their accounting solution proved to be unstable and unreliable. After investing considerable time and money into upgrading their existing solution to meet their needs, Left Bank management came to the conclusion that at least the accounting system needed to be replaced.
Genesis Accounting was recommended to them as a reliable FileMaker-based accounting solution that could interface well with their existing FileMaker front-end files. The Left Bank team was so satisfied with the results that they decided to also migrate their entire operations tracking system to Genesis Transactions, completely replacing their previous front-end files.
Reliable Data and a Better Business Overview
Genesis Accounting immediately solved Left Bank’s accounting problems, providing them with reliable accounting data that was fully integrated with their business transaction data.
Using Genesis Transactions as their front-end files facilitated customer management, invoicing, purchasing, and inventory control, and gave them confidence in the day-to-day overview of their business:
“The first time we did a physical count of our inventory, Genesis Transactions had tracked things so closely that we were within a few hundred dollars, instead of thousands, as had previously been the case… Genesis gives us confidence in our data.”
Because Genesis provides well-integrated transactions and accounting features, after changing systems Left Bank was able to generate reports on everything from product sales to sophisticated business metrics.
“Because of all the data we’re capturing with each transaction, we can look at business activity and our metrics in an unlimited number of ways.”
A Solution Customized to their Specific Needs
Continuing to maintain their data within the FileMaker environment is a definite plus for Left Bank management. They feel that FileMaker’s user-friendly environment, along with its customizability, has inspired positive trends at Left Bank Wine. Managers appreciate the custom reports and functionality regularly added at their request by Codence developers. They also like that customization can be safely added without disrupting normal workflow.
When comparing Genesis with other business systems and vertical solutions available in their industry, Left Bank’s President, Stacy Sandler has this to say:
“There are other systems out there that are specifically designed for our industry, but when we talk with our counterparts who use these systems, there are frustrations they have that we don’t. Getting live information, creating custom reports, and ease of training and upgrading are all things that we value in Genesis.”
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