We ABSOLUTELY think Alox is cool software to run your distribution shop! And "whoa, that's cool!" is a pretty common reaction when we are showing folks our system. So we're not at all afraid to stand up and say "Yeah, this is cool stuff!" Here are some of the reasons we really like it:
We've driven forklifts and it shows in the software.
We've worked in the warehouse. In receiving, doing the purchasing, cutting checks, getting the deposits made. And we still do, with Alox Labs, a real functioning fastener supply store that runs all our latest software. This means that "what happens in the real world" is very much on our mind because we're seeing it day in and day out.
We don't expect users to be accountants.
The forklift driver shouldn't need to know what General Ledger code is for "damaged deliveries". The office manager shouldn't need the GL code for variations to cancel a check. The purchasing manager shouldn't have to reconcile an account just to add a shipping expense to a PO. These things get get up in the beginning, and then Alox gets out of the way and lets people do their work
Flexible setup.
There are twenty to thirty core different types of things that need to be configured: addresses, payment types, lot codes, delivery methods... We made them all customizable from scratch. If have 14 different kinds of addresses you need to keep track of, go for it. Only cash, that's fine. Cash, credit cards, checks, wire transfers, and bitcoin? Ok, set it up that way. We have lots of experience in an area where every single customer wants it set up differently, but they don't have the budget for custom code, so we built that flexibility in from the start.
It is FAST.
Web pages are slow to load. They just are. Decades later and we're still waiting several seconds for pages to load. Without getting into the technical weeds here... the Alox ERP doesn't use ANY web pages. It's actually an app that runs in your browser. The end result is the ease of use of web technology, without all the waiting.
It doesn't suck.
Let's face it, there are many tasks that are a grind. What's surprising is when these tasks overlap so clearly with things that computers are amazing at. Like adding numbers, or searching for relevant data. Work will always be work, but it sucks when you're wasting time doing something that a computer really should be doing for you.