Case Studies

Countrywide Farmers

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↓ Countrywide Farmers Case Study

Countrywide Farmers plc is the largest farmer controlled farming and rural supply business in the UK.  Its roots are in the farmer cooperative movement but it is a modern, forward looking business that services the needs of farmers and the rural community.  It is the major truly independent supplier to its marketplace, and its shares, which are not stock exchange quoted are owned by 11,000 farmer members.

Countrywide Farmers plc's Annual turnover exceeds £125million and they employ over 800 people.

It has three major trading activities:

  •  Agriculture Supplies
  • Energy - supplying fuel, gas, electricity and telecoms and associated services to the rural community
  • Countrywide Stores - 32 Country Stores focusing on the everyday needs of the rural community

(This case study concerns the Countrywide Stores division which is based at Defford, near Pershore.)

Back in 2002 the Countrywide Stores' were concerned that their existing EPOS systems were unreliable, difficult to support and expensive.  They had begun the process of looking for an alternative system and had identified a possible solution from Poise Associates.  Steve Rice, Special Operations Executive, recognised that there was a risk involved in going ahead without an independent view of the appropriateness of the Poise Solution to Countrywide's business, and contacted CCL, having had them recommended by a colleague. 

CCL's consultant Robert McWha undertook a software evaluation and arranged for a structured demonstration of the relevant modules of the software.  After a rough costing had been provided a Conference Room Pilot was organised.  Steve Rice commented "CCL's CRP Script forced Poise to demonstrate the features that we were interested in.  Without CCL's help we would not have had as much confidence in dealing with the Software supplier and not have been able to get what we wanted out of the process." 

After a successful CRP, CCL assisted Steve with the production of a Board Justification Report which ultimately resulted in approval to move forward to formal financial and contractual negotiations.  "At this point, David Whiston, CCL's Projects Director, became involved and proved invaluable steering us through the Heads of Agreement and other discussions with the Lawyers, enabling us to reach a very satisfactory conclusion" Steve said.

"The implementation project is now almost complete" said Steve "the system is continuing to improve and develop.  Poise have been very responsive to our requests to change elements of the software especially as they are a small supplier dealing with a very large project."

Robert McWha has continued to be involved throughout the implementation process, providing support to the Steering Project Group and helping to keep the project on track. 

Steve Rice, Special Operations Executive

Countrywide Farmers