Message from Keith Danby - CEO IBS-STL UK

I have to confess that I am new to communication by blog but there is always a first time!

Last week I was in the UK office and set a goal to speak to 12 of our key customers. My goal was to apologize personally to each of them for SAP problems our customers encountered before Christmas in particular and some extend even now in the two months into the New Year.

I also wanted to listen to the customers about the problems that they are confronted at the moment. It will be no surprise that there was a pattern to each of their comments. For your information these are the areas that where raised.

Reliability. Of course all customers are keen to see STL Distribution offer a reliable service. Although the service and improved considerably in the last few weeks I have admit it is not where it needs to be. I would estimate we are currently getting out 95% of the orders for same day dispatch. In a few weeks I hope this will be back to the 100% that you expect.
Fill rate. This has been poor in the past few months. Our normal goal is between 88%-92%. In the weeks leading up to Christmas it has been low 70%. Steve Apted joined STL Distribution as Head of Supply Chain Management having spent 30 years in this discipline. He has made some early gains but I think it will be several months before it is where we want it to be. Our goal for 2009 is 95%.
Back Orders. I realise this has been a real frustration to our customers. The leadership team has been focusing on this area in the past week and we hope to see some improvement in the next few weeks. We think we have solved this area but we need to do some adequate testing before we are completely satisfied.
Pricing. I understand many have experienced problems with the pricing of Zondervan and other US Supplier books. We apologize for this and we are trying to address this area quickly. Steve Apted and the Buying team are focused on resolving this area.
Website pricing. I am aware this is another area where you are experiencing problems and we hope to also have this area resolved very soon.
Credit Notes. Our Distribution team has introduced a 24/6 shift system to speed up this process.

This is some list but I want to thank you for your patience and assure you that we are doing all we can at this time to get back to a credible service.

In the meantime thank you for your business and support.