Testimonials & Case Studies

Wintle Heating & Plumbing (client since 2023)

Wintle Heating & Plumbing, established in 1966, has grown to be one of the largest combined heating, plumbing, and electrical contractors within the Anglian and East Midlands Area. As a consequence, in growing the business, the company faced challenges in managing a wide range of services and suppliers across multiple locations. Ensuring fiscal controls, standardising purchasing practices, and maintaining efficiency across various departments were becoming increasingly complex.

Tom Wintle, Commercial Manager at Wintle Heating [&] Plumbing, recognised the need for a more streamlined and efficient purchasing system to replace their existing processes. Their goal was to implement a solution that could provide greater control over approvals and reporting whilst keeping IT overheads low.

R&S Building Services Engineers (client since 2016)

R&S, founded in 1986 provides a wide range of engineering services for commerce and industry from their headquarters in Staverton, Gloucestershire. The company primarily serves commercial and industrial clients around the South West and South Wales but have travelled the world for clients, many of which are ‘blue chip’ organisations. The Company currently employees some 36 staff, including senior engineers, who have a wide range of expertise in building services, petrochemical, process, mechanical and electrical engineering.
Project work varies in size and nature, ranging from the installation of one-off air conditioning units to designing and installing complete factory facilities infrastructures. The largest project to date had a value of c. £2.5m.

Back in early 2016, Alex Norton (R[&]S Director) contacted Cloud B2B, with regard to introducing an on screen Purchase Order and Supplier invoice system, to replace a paper based system. After a number of discussions and demos, Alex opted for the full Purchase Order and Supplier Invoice system, using the concurrent user licence model, to ensure all relevant staff had access to the system.

Sinclair Group (client since 2019)

With a reputation for excellence, The Sinclair Group, operational since 1945, are the largest motor retailer in South Wales with 20 branches offering 9 new vehicle manufacturers brands as well as a wide range of used cars. In 2019 Sinclair took the decision to source a Purchase Order software solution, to replace more manual driven purchasing practices, in order to have greater approval controls and reporting.

Mark Rosser (Group Accountant) with Karen Jones (Group Purchasing Manager) and Sophie Tucker (Management Accountant) wanted to prioritise sourcing a private UK based Cloud Purchasing Solution, to cater for the wide spread of users in different locations, as well as providing the savings on internal IT support overhead, that a hosted solution gives.

Their research (Google of course!) brought them to Cloud B2B’s web site and the range of Purchase and Purchase to pay solutions on offer. Their initial research of the site indicated that Cloud B2B could offer the range of functionality required – including key reporting facilities – as well as a system that offered a flexible licence model to minimise cost per user .

The YMCA (client since 2013)

The YMCA is the largest and oldest youth charity in the world. Starting in London in 1844, the YMCA now has 121 branches in England, with some 45 million members in 119 countries.

A change in structure brought together Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds and Lowestoft branches in East Anglia, as the Suffolk YMCA. These changes gave the opportunity to review the use of systems across the 3 branches, to look at gaining any possible efficiencies. One area that stood out was the need to co-ordinate the purchasing function across the locations. The paper based PO system of using spread sheets was slow in terms of getting approvals for orders, and not always up to date. Add to this the fact that as many as 50 people may need to raise purchase orders in the 3 locations, meant a new system would need to account for a number of challenges.

Sarah Nicholls (YMCA Finance and IT Manager) was therefore mindful that she would be best served by a web based system to replace the current paper output. This would mean that staff at the 3 branches could have access not only at their location, but could deal with actions required even when they were not at their location. Sarah commented:

Barnsley Football Club (client since 2018)

Barnsley F.C. currently play in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Tykes" (as well as The Reds) the club holds a record of having played over 70 seasons in the second division. The Club was founded in 1887 by Reverend Tiverton Preedy, under the name Barnsley St. Peter's and their home ground since 1888 has been Oakwell, now a multi-purpose sports venue.

The name 'Oakwell', originates from the well and oak tree that were on the stadium site when first built, but also generally refers to neighbouring venues which form the breadth of the Clubs facilities. With a capacity of 23,287 in an all-seater stadia, it is often termed a 'classic' football stadium and one of the few remaining grounds to have its floodlights on corner pylons. It was also the first stadium in English football to have a designated stand for disabled supporters
The club also has a very active charity arm -Reds in the Community- involving supporters and the wider community.

In[nbsp] December 2017, it was announced that the majority shareholders - Patrick Cryne and family -[nbsp] had agreed to sell a majority stake in Barnsley Football Club. This was to a consortium involving Chien Lee of New City Capital, Paul Conway of Pacific Media Group, Indian businessman Neerav Parekh and baseball legend Billy Beane. The new consortium holds 80% of the shares and the Cryne family holds 20% of the shares of Barnsley Football club.

CGLMC Ltd – Carnoustie (client since 2017)

The game of golf has been played in Carnoustie for well over four centuries. The first indication that the game was being played in the Angus town can be found in the Parish Records of 1560 when the game of ‘gowff’ was mentioned and there is every indication that the game has played an important part in the town’s life ever since.

Carnoustie’s Championship course has become regarded as one of Britain’s finest, and most challenging, tests of golf. It is, in short, it compares with anything found elsewhere in the world.

For CGLMC Ltd, running a major golfing venue like Carnoustie, requires a range of financial controls, and at the end of 2016, the Finance Department contacted Cloud B2B solutions with a view to installing an electronic cloud based Purchase Order and Supplier invoice system. With 3 courses and 4 departments spread across the site, previous paper based systems were no longer practical for the organisation.

From the first demonstration, as many staff as possible were involved in the process that led to the Specification and design of the system. A whole range of issues from budgetary controls, to purchasing and invoice workflow approvals for both Orders and Supplier invoices, and even how to deal with complex fuel purchases, were covered. Importantly, system users have the ability to upload supporting documents to support the PO’s such as delivery notes, quotations.

Branston Golf & Country Club (client since 2016)

Branston Golf & Country Club first opened in 1975 opposite Drakelow Hall, and is recognised as one of the leading golf clubs in Staffordshire. Overlooking the picturesque River Trent, the club has continued to develop over the years, with the most recent addition being The Pavilion which opened in 2005, to add to the wide range of facilities such as the gym, pool, and spa and impressive Club House.

Offering a wide range of function options, as well as charitable events, the running of the courses and the Clubhouse with all it’s facilities, puts pressure on having the correct procurement process. In 2016, Branston’s Financial Controller Kevin Atton, contracted with Cloud B2B to supply a comprehensive cloud based Purchase Order and Supplier Invoice system.

All purchase Orders are put on value based workflow approval, with the CEO currently the last approver in the internal chain. Once approved the PO is automatically sent as a PDF, to the supplier. Supplier invoices are imported into the system, indexed, and sent to the PO creator for approval, or to request additional information. The system automatically allocates relevant nominal codes to purchases, via the configurable Budget Module.

Shark Ninja (client since 2015)

Shark Ninja, formerly Euro-Pro Operating LLC (established 1993) is the maker of class-leading Shark® vacuums and the innovative line of Ninja® kitchen appliances, with the goal of giving today’s busy consumer better and more efficient products that fit their lifestyle. Since launching in 1993, offices now stretch over the United States, Canada, the UK and China, with the ever increasing product range stocked by major retailers around the globe.

Back in the Autumn of 2014, Liz Kaplan (then divisional financial controller) was looking to instigate a new way of creating and handling both Purchasing and Supplier Invoices for their fast developing business. Having found DOL’s Cloud based Purchase Order and Supplier invoice system via the internet, a series of remote GoTo Meeting sessions convinced Liz that the core system, with development, would meet the company’s needs.

‘ I was looking for not just a system to meet our immediate requirements, but for a company that could offer the flexibility to develop their core offering to meet our specific – and changing- business process’s. I’m pleased to say that Cloud B2B could do so, and continue to assist us on a monthly basis with new developments that we identify’.

Lilian Faithfull (client since 2013)

Lilian Faithfull Homes has been meeting the needs of elderly people who require care for over 65 years. And with that wealth and breadth of experience, currently operate 4 separate homes, based in elegant heritage buildings, within 1.5 miles of the centre of Cheltenham. The Company’s philosophy is all based around people-centred care, extended to supporting the families of residents.

Running 4 separate homes has it’s challenges, and back in the Autumn of 2013, Martin Hughes (then Head of Finance and IT)- who’s department was awarded Finance Team of the Year 2013 (public sector and voluntary)- felt that a full electronic Purchase Order system would add an additional layer of control and speed to the successful running of the operation in each of the homes.

Martin and his colleagues approached Cloud B2B Solutions via Google search, and following a number of remote demonstrations were pleased to place an order for a customised version of the Purchase Order software.

Stagecoach Rail (client since 2017)

International public transport group Stagecoach Rail has become an early adopter of a new cloud-based system to automate its purchase invoice approval process. By adopting a cloud based product from Cloud B2B the Stagecoach Rail Business Development (SRBD) team has been able to reduce supplier payment delays by allowing invoice approval anytime and from any location.

Additional benefits include more efficient invoice processing, with better traceability and auditability.

SRBD was faced with challenges as its geographically dispersed team was not available to sign off paper invoices manually. In addition, authorised invoices then had to be sent for payment to the Head Office in Perth – leading to delays in settling supplier invoices.

Innovative solutions available for all organisations

At Cloud B2B Solutions, we pride ourselves on delivering practical, cost-effective systems tailored to each client's unique needs. Our core products have been refined through real-world use, meeting the demands of various organisations, but we also recognise that every business faces evolving challenges. That's why we're dedicated to innovation, whether through customising existing systems or developing bespoke applications. For example, in the logistics sector, we've created tailored solutions to enhance efficiency. Across industries, we ensure our systems are adaptable, scalable, and designed to empower businesses while keeping costs manageable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What cloud-based services/products do you offer?

We offer a range of cloud-based business management services such as:
• Purchase Order and Invoice management software with optional goods receipting functionality.
• HR & Employee management software to manage employee information.
• Expense Management systems to track your company expenditure.
• Contracts Management software to create and track progress of your contracts.
• Document Management systems to secure your files.

What if I want to make changes to the system after it has gone live?

If you would like to make changes to an existing, live system, this can be carried out on an ad-hoc basis in which we discuss your required changes and provide a quotation depending on the anticipated level of customisation. We will then build the changes and subject to your approval, will arrange a time to implement these onto your live system.

How do we pay for our system?

We invoice the systems on a monthly basis and produce the invoice 60 days prior to the due date. Payment can be made via bank transfer.

What is concurrent licensing?

Concurrent licensing is a software licensing model where a company buys a limited number of licenses that can be shared across multiple users, but only a specified number of users can access the software at the same time. For example, if a business has 5 concurrent licenses, up to 5 users can use the software simultaneously, while any additional users would have to wait until one of those 5 slots become available.

This model is cost-effective for organisations with a number of users who do not need to use the software all the time, allowing them to avoid buying a license for every individual user.

How does system support work?

Every system comes with access to our system support portal with two users being given access to this. Within this portal you can raise support tickets, view billing information and administer your details

Each system is supplied with an initial 'bank' of support time allocated to it, this bank is included within the cost of the annual support. If you exceed the annual support bank, more time can be purchased on an ad-hoc basis.

For more information on this, please click here.

Product range