BSS

BSS at a glance:

Part of the Travis Perkins Group, BSS is a national distributor of commercial and industrial pipeline and heating solutions. With over 52 branches and two national distribution centres, it supplies a wide range of specialist products to trade professionals across the UK.

Operating at this scale - with high-volume orders, complex pricing structures and critical customer timelines - demands absolute clarity, control, and agility in back-end systems. That’s why BSS chose to start their transformation journey.

The challenge:

As one of the UK’s leading plumbing and heating merchants, BSS has built its reputation on deep product knowledge, strong supplier relationships, and service excellence across its branch network. But with customer expectations rising and the pace of change accelerating across the industry, the leadership team knew that staying at the forefront of the market would require more than just experience, it would demand the right technology. 

Recognising the need to take the next step on their digital journey, BSS set out to replace its core business systems and ERP with a solution that could support smarter decision-making, improved visibility across the branch network, and greater operational agility. The goal was not just to replace what had come before, but to embrace a platform that would future-proof the business and unlock new opportunities for growth.

The solution:

BSS knew that, in order to realise their objectives, they needed more than just software – as Graham Eccles, Finance Director for BSS explained ‘we wanted a system that dealt with the specific challenges that builders merchants face daily’.

BSS knew that to maintain its position as the number one provider in its sector, a radical shift was needed - not just in technology. They needed a solution that would deliver out of the box, reflect the realities of merchant life, and be led by a team who knew the industry inside out.

Klipboard ERP One was selected because it delivered exactly that: a cloud-based, merchant-specific platform with robust functionality available out of the box. It provided the commercial tools BSS needed - from purchasing and pricing through to inventory, sales, and finance - without the need for heavy customisation. 

Graham Eccles described Klipboard’s industry knowledge as ‘the key reason we selected them for our ERP project’.

For BSS, this was not just a software upgrade - it was a foundational shift to a platform that could support future transformation and growth – and they needed a partner that understood the world they operated in.  

The approach:

BSS delivered the project methodically, and in three phases. Specialist Klipboard consultants worked closely with BSS’s internal delivery teams on the implementation journey to ensure success of the project. 

While much of the deployment was out-the-box, there were a number of pre-existing business critical systems that BSS had to integrate with the ERP One platform to ensure a successful deployment.

We were having difficulty figuring out how to integrate so many other separate systems we use to run other parts of our business. Klipboard gave us access to their webhooks platform and that enabled us to integrate to these platforms with ease. This enabled us to fully integrate and automate data exchanges from our existing platforms and workflows directly to and from ERP One.

Graham Eccles - Finance Director at BSS

BSS worked with Klipboard to implement ERP One across all 52 locations and distribution centres in a single deployment. 

The outcome:

The Klipboard - BSS project has been a remarkable success. James Mitchell, Klipboard CEO for Europe, commented:

This was an amazing project to be part of. The collaboration between BSS and the Klipboard team was exceptional, with a highly engaged project board that worked closely together. The Klipboard implementation teams achieved, in collaboration with the BSS roll-out team, a delivery that was both focused and successful. The level of change management BSS applied was one of the most effective we've seen at Klipboard. It played a crucial role in enabling a smooth rollout across all 55 BSS sites, and their central distribution hubs. 

With ERP One now at the heart of their operations, BSS has a future-ready business management platform that not only delivers operational efficiency today but provides them with a strong foundation for rapid innovation. It has unlocked the ability for BSS to scale effortlessly, and plug in new digital Klipboard solutions, like Klipboard eReceipts, Klipboard Money and our other mobile apps, into their ecosystem as needed.

BSS noted several key improvements to customer service levels because of the platform, with Julia Lovett, Process and Engagement Lead for the ERP One project commenting  ‘We are able to service customers more quickly at the trade counter because of ERP One’s intuitive UI and trade counter search features that make finding the right product much easier for our colleagues.’

She also noted how the system had improved the business’s ability to quickly onboard staff, saying ‘what would have previously taken [them] months of training now can be achieved in days - with new starters able to process purchase orders on their first day due to the system's ease of use’. 

BSS also noted that ERP One had significantly improved the way they processed Special Pricing Agreements (SPAs) and Rebates, with the system now automatically applying rebates and pricing rules to purchase orders so teams can see their impact on margin before an invoice is generated – something not possible before the ERP One deployment. 

The future:

Product Owner at BSS, Lisa Taylor said that ‘the product is going to bring more value as time goes on. Now we have deployed the core ERP solution, we are excited to work with Klipboard to build out a suite of supporting products that can further optimise our business operations’.

This includes the impending deployment of eReceipts, a mobile app that instantly processes receipts from purchase orders into ERP One, as well as a host of other mobile apps across warehouse management, delivery, transport management and more.