Company: Battery-Biz

402%

The total ROI, over a three-year period, from the battery distributor's $643,000 investment in software to boost sales processing and order fulfillment.

Business: Supplies computer and electronics stores with replacement batteries for laptops, camcorders, and other products, primarily imports from Asia.

Headquarters: Newbury Park, Calif.

Key Business Executive/Key Technology Manager: Ophir Marish, chief executive officer

Project: Implement a complete order processing, distribution, and inventory replenishment system.

Objectives: Eliminate barriers to growth by allowing Battery-Biz to handle more orders without a big increase in staff, while using just-in-time reordering to keep products in stock and reduce inventory cost. Marish says results have exceeded his expectations, with the new system allowing the company to quadruple the number of orders it takes a day; and save $400,000 a year on inventory.

Technology Used: Keller Systems' BOS software, Powerbuilder rapid application development tools, Microsoft SQL Server database.

Lesson for Big Companies: One programmer, or a small developer team, may be able to achieve results that a large software company would be hard-pressed to match.