Being the market-leading supplier of herbal breast enhancement products demands an undivided focus on customer requirements for the staff at Erdic, and PostCoder^® has proved to be an important tool in optimising the service they provide. The first point of contact can be vital and instead of having to manually record address details, which might involve asking customers to repeat or spell out certain elements, Erdic's operators now obtain fast and accurate addresses from just a premise name or number and a Postcode. Creating a good first impression is imperative and PostCoder^® helps to ensure that necessary information is processed efficiently, allowing the customer's needs to be addressed at an earlier stage in the call.

"Using PostCoder^® gives us more time to talk to our customers"    Alison Elmer, Erdic

IPRO GmbH, a German company, has been producing professional software for Opticians, Optometrists and Hearing Aid Dispensers since it was founded in 1979. The latest software product, winIPRO, is a Windows-based client/server Patient Management System, and is available from single user level up to multi-branch, multi-user environments.

Initially developed in 1997, the software is today in use across several countries. The most prominent user in the UK is the PG Allder Group with 15 practices. In Europe "Krane optic", which has 100 outlets and is part of the AVA-Group, is working with winIPRO too. As well as these clients, IPRO also has the traditional optician/optometrist customers. winIPRO is an integrated software that interfaces to the majority of ophthalmic technology available on the market. It communicates with Lab devices, or ophthalmic instruments of all types, and integrates with other software systems such as Rodenstock's Speedmaster, Zeiss' Winfral, Haag-Streit's Keratograph and EyeCap, Heidelberg's EyeExplorer.

Today, IPRO has 50 employees and distributes the software throughout Europe and the UK. They have more than 3,000 installations in the UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Andorra, Finland, Poland, Hungary and French Polynesia.

winIPRO is available in five different language versions; English, German, French, Dutch, and Italian. Translations in Finnish, Hungarian, Spanish and Norwegian are currently being produced. Customers can also buy branded hardware such as IBM and HP-Compaq, peripherals like till drawers, receipt printers, and accessories like stock labels, special sheets for ophthalmic certificates and ZIP cartridges.

The PostCoder^® address lookup was added to this software a couple of years ago and fits perfectly into the system. IPRO contacted Allies Computing to look at their solutions and found PostCoder API Compact, a developer's toolkit including a range of examples, met all their requirements. Dr Heinrich Gentner, IPRO's International Manager, says "We have chosen Allies Computing as our partner in Postcode Lookup because it was, and it is still, easy to integrate, easy to upgrade and also an inexpensive solution for our customers"

IPRO used the C++ examples included with PostCoder API Compact to develop this enhancement, which is offered to their UK customers as an optional extra to the winIPRO software. Almost all of their clients have chosen to add this option and feedback is all positive. Most of IPRO's customers comment that it speeds up entry of patient details onto their database.

The IPRO software has been developed in a Windows environment to make it compatible with the requirements of the majority of IPRO's customers.

Clive Williams, who runs a practice in Porthmadog, found the PostCoder^® element of the software "very useful as we were starting a completely new patient database and it made the keying in of all the patient records much faster".

As well as saving time, Address Management within a business contributes to good customer service, accurate addressing for mailings and professional presentation.

Tribal Technology aims to be the first choice for creative IT and information management solutions that improve and transform organisations. They deliver complete business solutions, incorporating both technology and support services to the public and private sector. The solutions aim to maximise the use of information to improve service delivery, back office administration and management planning.

Tribal Technology is the IT and information management division of Tribal Group plc, the fastest growing company supporting the public sector today. The Group's activities cover the full spectrum of strategic and operational support services including consulting, property, technology, resourcing, training and communications.

Tribal Technology's Foundation Software Suite, which is delivered to over 50% of Local Authorities across the UK, uses address management functionality. They recognise that address management is increasingly important to today's businesses in their drive for increased efficiency in speed and delivery of service. Address Management begins with verifying addresses at the first point of contact with customers so that the address can be used throughout the organisation for billing, delivery of goods and maintaining contact with the customer - a key factor in building a long term business partnership.

The Foundation Software Suite incorporates Allies Computing Address Management functionality using PostCoder API.

The Foundation Software Suite, have incorporated address management functionality as part of their total software solution since 1982. In 1999, this part of their solution came up for review and Allies Computing were recommended by one of their Local Authority clients who were already a customer of Allies^®.

"When it was felt that the time had come to replace our existing supplier of address look-up software, we made a conscious decision to use Allies^® based on the overall standard of the software and its benefits to our users" says a representative of Tribal Technology.

Windows was the chosen development environment, because it was the standard environment for the majority of Local Government systems and a widely supported operating system.

The Foundation Software Suite, was originally developed using Visual Basic, .NET and Centura, although across the Tribal Group a range of other Windows development languages are used. PostCoder API offered examples in ten different development languages and gave the developers a range of searching functions, allowing them to integrate address lookup into their management solution with minimum additional development work.

Adrian Whittell, one of the Software development team at Tribal, says "Most of the example applications were used to enable us to fast track the development as much of the existing functionality was able to be duplicated in our own applications. The fuzzy address matching seems to work particularly well. This enables us to match a large number of addresses where the postcode/premise combination is incorrect. We are also able to match an address to an LEA which has also proved useful for our customers."

In addition to functional requirements, with every software purchase, customers need to know that they will be well supported both during the initial development stage and in the future. Allies^® have always offered full technical support with all their solutions (from desktop software to development packages) and provide free evaluations of all applications, so customers can be confident that the software is exactly what they require.

Allies^® sales team worked closely with the Tribal Technology development team from the very beginning to ensure that they were getting the functionality their customers required. The two companies continue to work together on address management and the Tribal Technology development team are consulted during reviews and changes to the PostCoder API software and its additional components.

As Tribal Technology found both the software functionality and the support offered by Allies^® met their requirements, PostCoder API has now been integrated into their Foundation Software Suite.

Adrian Whittell, one of the senior developers at Tribal says, "Over 90% of the Local Authority Management software users take advantage of the PAF^® data through the Allies Computing component, and are always very positive about its functionality"

The PostCoder^® element of the software, utilising a proprietary indexed version of Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF^®) data, offers Foundation Software Suite users the ability to find accurate matches for what can often be poor quality address data coming from a wide range of sources. Its integration directly into the management application allows users to clean data as it is received from source.

In addition, this element has become an essential part of Tribal Technology's Schools Admissions System where accurate addressing is essential. Using the API and Allies' PCGRIDs software, which allows access to and querying of Ordnance Survey's AddressPoint Data (offering .1M accuracy grid references for each address), the system can now calculate the shortest walking distance to a school to within a metre, assisting Local Authorities in assessing appropriate schools placements.

Over the seven years that the two companies have been working together, Tribal Technology's team have found the Allies Computing customer support team "very good, with always helpful and polite staff", whilst Allies^® have found the feedback from the Tribal Technology developers during consultancy "helpful and useful in suggesting new directions and enhancements for our address management solutions". Says Peter Allies, Managing Director at Allies Computing. "We have benefited from working with Tribal Technology on address management and GIS projects over the last seven years and are hopeful that the business partnership will continue for many more."

The government Sure Start initiative, which has regional programmes based at multiple locations around the country, uses representatives to go out and speak to householders in a small localised area every day.

They want their representatives to be able to collect and verify address data in the field, whilst they are with the householder. Software developers CPFR Solutions in partnership with Allies Computing have helped more than 150 programmes nationally to achieve this using a bespoke address management solution.

By downloading only the relevant local address data into their handheld devices each morning, they are able to verify addresses quickly from Postcode and premise at each house where the home owner expresses an interest in the programme. The small amount of PAF^® held on the device at any one time leaves plenty of memory space for recording the other information they collect on the households they visit.

CallScripter, one of the best known call-guiding software packages for call centres, was developed by a company called Ansaback in 2001. It offers intuitive management of customer calls with tailored scripts which can be easily worked through and with the ability to quickly design custom scripts incorporated. Designed by the technical team of a call centre, it has been created from the start with efficient customer and contact management in mind.

One of the features Ansaback wished to offer with the software was the ability to rapidly complete addresses using just the postcode and a premise name or number. In August 2001, the developers contacted Allies Computing looking for a cost effective way to add this into the CallScripter package.

Allies^® were able to provide a full evaluation of their PAF^® based integration software, PostCoder API Professional, at thoroughfare level, and the developers found that they could swiftly integrate this option into the web-based scripting software.

Almost four years on, CallScripter is a widely used product, with hundreds of scripts running in call centres throughout the UK including a well-known Italian sports car company and several UK Utilities Companies. They have continued to offer the rapid addressing feature to all customers for whom postal addresses are a requirement, and this enhancement ensures postally correct addresses are collected fast and efficiently; an advantage to both the call centre staff and their customers.

Alpha has built its reputation on delivering low cost, high quality international telecom services for the consumer market. The Alpha brand was established in 1996 and is now one of Europe's largest alternative telecommunications resellers. Specialising in prepaid telecommunications services, Alpha now commands a major share of the UK prepaid telephony market.

Alpha Telecom is a fully operating division of the TELE2 Group.

Tele2 is Europe's leading alternative telecoms operator offering some of the market's best prices. With their unique values, they provide cheap and simple telecom services throughout Europe. They have over 29 million customers across 25 countries. Tele2 offer a broad range of products and services in fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access, data networks, cable TV and content services. The company was originally founded in 1993 by Jan Stenbeck and has been listed on Stockholms- börsen (the Swedish stock exchange) since 1996.

Alpha Telecom's website offers simple and easy registration for the telephone services offered. An important part of the registration process involves collecting a customer address. It is essential that this address is postally correct, for both billing and registration purposes.

The web form for registration had for some time included an address lookup feature, accessing Royal Mail's PAF^® (Postcode Address File) data to help customers complete the online registration process quickly and efficiently, as well as maintaining the quality of the Alpha Telecom customer database. Initially Alpha Telecom held and maintained their own copy of PAF^® for this purpose. However, they reviewed this part of their data collection and decided to look for an alternative way of managing address collection on their site. They did not want to move away from using PAF^®, as this is the definitive UK Postal address database. However, they hoped to find a supplier who could host and maintain the data for them, whilst offering competitive rates to cover both the PAF^® licence and support.

After conducting some desk research, particularly using the Internet, searching for suppliers of PAF^® solutions, Alpha Telecom came across the PostCoder Web SOAP Service offered by Allies Computing Ltd. They were looking for a hosted PAF^® data address lookup solution, with better pricing and good support service - PostCoder Web SOAP offered them a solution that met all these requirements.

As well as attractive price options, Allies web service offers a wide range of usable examples including the ASP.NET examples which were used by Alpha Telecom's developers. "I found the examples easy to follow and use. We had Allies PostCoder Web service integrated into our website within a couple of hours of registering for the free 21 day trial" says Andy Cook, Developer for Alpha Telecom.

The benefits of moving to PostCoder Web were immediately seen both in cost and time. Having the hosted service meant Alpha Telecom no longer had to worry about updating their PAF^® but continued to benefit from collecting postally correct addresses; doing this at the outset represents a time and cost saving across the board - something that Alpha Telecom had already recognized when they set up their original PAF^® based system. Customers are happier when they don't have to repeatedly type their full address, and levels of first time delivery are significantly higher as a result of consistently postally valid addresses. More recently, verifying addresses has also been recognized to assist in fighting fraud.

One of the more positive things about the Allies^® service from the outset was that it offered a true "try before you buy." All customers are given the chance to run the service live from their site or server for thirty days on a trial basis before committing to purchase.

Paul Musgrave from Alpha Telecom says "We were provided with the free look ups to start, with which we established we could use and integrate the service into our website. The trial was very good and we could see it was exactly what we wanted".

Throughout the mid telecoms industry Windows is more frequently used so it made sense for Alpha Telecom to make sure their software was compatible with the majority. All their software is Microsoft and the main development language is ASP.NET. Like all Allies^® solutions, PostCoder Web SOAP offer examples and Help Files for all the major Microsoft development languages.

Ritchie UK Limited, a printing company, supplies a vast array of paper-based products from colour manuals to betting slips.

Part of their service involves taking orders from Barclays merchants for the delivery of PDQ till rolls. The software for this purpose, used by the call centre staff, was developed in 2004.

The address look up functionality was not always present in their software and was added at a later date. Ritchie UK Limited decided to integrate address lookup into their order entry program in order to optimise their service by collecting postally correct, validated addresses at the outset. The developer of their order programme had never used the Allies^® PostCoder^® solutions previously but this was recommended by a user of his system who had used it at a previous company.

The development team found that the PostCoder Web service was very easy to implement, and they were quickly able to get it up and running with their application.

Ritchie (UK) Limited developers were delighted with the solution. Paul Mathewson commenting, after the service had been successfully implemented, that the technical support was "very helpful" and the service itself "simple, easy to use, easy to implement ... an all round great product". Pricing plans were simple and catered for both small and large usage.

Call centre staff using the application were immediately very pleased with the new function. Particular pluses were that it was easy to use from the start and meant they could not only take orders much faster, but also make sure that the addresses entered are correct and postally valid, without the need to ask customers to repeat or spell things.

Godfrey DIY started in Norwich in 1983 and has grown steadily over that time to become East Anglia's leading independent DIY and garden store.

The company has 6 retail outlets as well as a strong online presence. The product range is broad and competitively priced and includes garden furniture, garden machinery, power tools and decorating products, as well as an impressive selection of home products including flat pack furniture, lighting and window fashion.

Their Web application was developed in-house in December 2006 and serves two objectives; firstly to provide an additional means for existing regional customers to find information (to enhance press and TV advertising) and secondly to create additional sales UK-wide.

When the Website was migrated from a third party to their in-house application, they sacrificed address-lookups initially, but quickly realised how essential address verification was. The main concern was failed deliveries due to incorrectly addressed parcels. This was costing them time and money, as well as inconveniencing customers unnecessarily. Another benefit of the address lookup software is that it has speeded up the checkout process considerably and made it much simpler and quicker for customers to place an order.

"We found Allies Computing's PostCoder Web SOAP service using a Google search. Allies' response was so prompt and positive that we felt we didn't need or want to talk to anyone else! Using SOAP, the Web service uses a protocol that is very easy for our developers to integrate into our PHP application. We also received some very helpful technical advice from Allies^®." Barry Godfrey, Managing Director.

Since adding address lookup back into the Website, Godfrey's Web Despatch team have more confidence in the reliability of the address data. They also incorporated the lookup into their intranet so that they had the ability to verify addresses where customers had modified the address data in anyway.

Along with adding the address lookup to the checkout stages, some other modifications were also made. Since then, there has been a marked reduction in the 'drop out' rate at the various stages of the checkout.

Asked if Barry had any comments about Allies' service or technical support, his reply was "Yes… incredibly helpful and prompt. I was surprised at the extent you were willing to help us."

"We have been using the PostCoder^® address lookup service from Allies^® on our Website and we are very impressed by the ease with which it slotted into our application. With their very helpful support team, Allies^® made the whole process as painless as possible. Now we have address lookup functionality added to our site I am very confident that we have minimised the possibility of customer drop-off at the checkout. The service is very realistically priced, and I regard it as a very effective tool in protecting us against failed deliveries due to addressing errors. "

Merus Software Limited provides software for websites that receive a large amount of transactions on a daily basis. One of their customers is DSGi Business, the leading specialist provider of IT solutions to business and the public sector. DSGi Business is part of DSG International plc (DSGi), who also own other well known brands such as PC World, Dixons.co.uk and Currys, for which Merus runs a total of four websites using its Merus mercatum^TM software.

The Merus software was developed during 2001 - 2005 and it's tightly integrated into a back office system to exchange prices, stock levels, accounts, orders and invoices.

DSGi Business websites sell computers, consumables, electronics and various IT-related products to the UK business and public sector community. They approached Merus in November 2005 to request an address lookup facility within their website and Merus integrated the solution offered by Allies Computing.

Merus did try another supplier of online address lookup initially, but commented that "their API was not good enough and we cancelled a PO that had already been made out to them, to go with the Allies' web service solution."

Merus found the PostCoder Web SOAP service easy to integrate and this was the main reason for choosing Allies Computing over the other supplier. It took them only half a day to have a pilot up and running. They currently develop in Java.

Following the launch of the address lookup service within the DSGi Business websites, feedback has been positive and the level of orders that were previously rejecting by their back office has decreased.

Merus have not yet tested the technical support services that Allies Computing offer, which Christian Dannemann, Managing Director of Merus says "is a good sign. The services you provide have been without fault."

Craig Williams, e-commerce Manager for DSGi Business also comments:

"Allies Computing provides us with a low cost, easy to implement solution that allows our customers to enter the correct address on their orders. The costs involved in miss-shipments and other mistakes in this area can be considerable. Since implementing Allies^® PostCoder^®, we have seen a considerable reduction in these costs."

Chocolate Now! is an internet retailer specialising in luxury Belgian chocolate gifts. They allow the customer to create their own custom box of chocolates online, choosing each chocolate individually and then selecting from a wide range of gift wraps. The gift is then dispatched directly to the final recipient, along with a personal message from the sender.

Because the Chocolate Now! website offers the customer such a wide degree of flexibility, it was not possible to use an off-the-shelf shopping cart so a custom system had to be built from scratch. The shopping cart was originally developed in 2005 and is being continually improved, adding new services and enhancing the customer experience.

Initially customers were required to type the delivery address in manually. However, because over 90% of purchases are gifts being sent directly to the recipient rather than to the cardholder, a significant number of customers were entering incorrect or incomplete delivery addresses. They decided to implement an automated address lookup to try and resolve the issue. Customers now have it made easy - they either simply enter the Postcode and the delivery address is completed automatically for them, or they can enter the address details they know, and the full address and Postcode is looked up for them!

Chocolate Now! chose the Allies^® PostCoder Web SOAP service because of the flexible pricing structure which provides an affordable entry level solution while offering significant discounts as turnover increases. The SOAP interface also allowed them to develop their own user interface using Perl and JavaScript giving the same "look and feel" as the rest of their website.

"The getMatchAddress and getThrfareAddress examples allowed our developers to get a basic system up and running quickly. We then made some modifications to provide our users with an interface that matched the style of our site."
Nigel Croft, Chocolate Now!

Since implementing the address lookup, Chocolate Now! has seen a 50% reduction in the number of non arrivals reported by customers. It has also significantly reduced the workload on administrative staff who were previously performing manual checks on incomplete addresses.

"We have always found Allies^® customer service and technical support to be very prompt and helpful. Once the system was set up and working, we have had remarkably few problems."

"The 21 day free trial was ideal - it allowed us to do our development and perform extensive testing before going live, and to iron out any minor problems before we started paying for the service. We are very pleased with the Allies^® system. It is robust, reliable and easily pays for itself by reducing the number of queries our staff has to deal with."
Nigel Croft, Chocolate Now!

Magicalia.com operates a range of seven passionate sports communities on the internet, including the UK's largest cycling and fishing websites:

On each of their sites they operate large databases of local shops and clubs and destinations to practice the sports. They also offer community membership to their site visitors. The PAF ^® data supplied by us allows Magicalia to match local content (including, shops, news, clubs and other riders, fishermen etc) to each specific site visitor. People use the site to communicate and exchange information with other like minded enthusiasts in their area, and Magicalia benefits by selling "geo-targeted" advertising campaigns to local businesses.

2B Graphics Partnership Limited is a multi-disciplined graphic design consultancy, specialising in the design and production of corporate brand identity and promotional literature, packaging, signage, exhibitions and website construction - from concept to realisation.

Established in 1995, they have built up an enviable reputation for service and quality working together in partnership with a strong client base. They deal not only with local, but also national companies, tackling each project on its individual merits, and pride themselves on working quickly and efficiently with all their customers.

They are situated in the North East of England at Stocksfield just 15 minutes from Newcastle upon Tyne in rural Northumberland. Their office is based amongst farm outbuildings that once served as cattle byres.

Partners in Your Business Success
As their name suggests they see themselves as 'partners' in their clients' business and strive to produce excellent design work that effectively meets clients' needs and objectives. They work closely with senior management to explore and develop concepts to meet the brief which has been constructed and agreed together.

One of their clients, Wellburn Care Homes, are a North East based company whose success has been built on a commitment to the principles of 'care without compromise' and a desire to constantly improve the services provided. Wellburn Care Homes are committed to the highest standards of care for residents and to the provision of excellent facilities. Their homes are beautifully cared for and their staff are committed to providing the best possible care in a warm, friendly and stimulating environment.

Their website was developed by 2B Graphics in 2006/7 to work with and support other marketing activities, primarily to improve the quality of information available to prospective clients and to help them make a very difficult decision in respect of a home for their loved ones.

2B Graphics recommended they used a 'Find My Nearest' type search on their website and they immediately realised the benefits for their customers. The search was used within specific web pages giving location and direction information.

It was agreed the addition of a 'care home finder' would be extremely useful for users of the website, and after a search of the Web, 2B Graphics came across Allies Computing in the organic Google listings and were impressed with the ability of the PostCoder Web Nearest service. Jamie Haldane, of 2B Graphics says "For me to set something up myself would require a great deal of time, with the added pressure of a tight deadline, so this provided me with a simple, quick, effective solution. PostCoder Web Nearest stood out as the most professional product".

2B Graphics found the examples for Google map integration very useful, and were developing in languages such as HTML/XHTML, XML, AJAX, PHP and Javascript.

Customers and employees who have seen the service working on the website have all been very impressed with its accuracy and ease-of-use.

"The service that Allies Computing's staff has provided has been excellent. All correspondence has been polite, informative and accurate. We have not had much need for technical support due to the simplicity of the product but a brief problem at the beginning was dealt with quickly and efficiently", Jamie Haldane.

2B Graphics Partnership and Wellburn Care Homes both expect the use of the website and the integrated 'Find My Nearest' service to become more important as the company grows and the website becomes more popular.

UKphotoevent is a new service that makes photographers easier to find, who have the suitable skills, and who are located near to the event to minimise travelling. There is a growing market for event photography but there are 2 main issues in locating a photographer:

• If a photographer is found but then not available, the client has to search again to find a different photographer, taking up a lot of valuable time
• A photographer may state on their website that they will work in a certain place, but they are actually located in a completely different area

UKphotoevent sought to resolve these 2 issues when designing their service. With the PostCoder Web Nearest service from Allies Computing Ltd they added a search facility to their website making it possible for the client to have a list of suitable photographers with the correct skills with just one click, so saving huge amounts of time and effort.

Without Allies' Nearest facility there probably would be no UKphotoevent in its present format.

"I view the Nearest search facility as the key enabler of what we set out to achieve. In many ways the business is being built around the 'Nearest' search" says Mike Weeks from UKphotoevent.
"From a client perspective there is no searching through lists or endless clicks. With one simple town or postcode entry, followed by a click, clients have a list of photographers in front of them straight away."

The initial enquiry was made to Allies^® because the demonstration on the internet worked and seemed like the best solution to the requirements that were originally considered. There were 2 companies originally approached. Allies^® replied promptly and gave the requested information. During the trial period the support team provided accurate and useful information that helped to produce an implementation of the Nearest system that did exactly what was required.

As a new start-up it is easiest to attract other users if they can see and understand what the business is trying to achieve. For UKphotoevent it is the principle that the nearest photographer will appear at the top of the list and that list placement cannot be purchased. Interested photographers can see this working and easily understand how it can meet the needs of their business.

A further benefit is the management of the database of registered photographers. In principle it can be achieved anywhere that access can be gained to the Internet. The management is simple and can be done at any time online. This means that UKphotoevent do not have to worry about making contact with Allies^® at any particular time of day when they can be better involved with other tasks.

Customers are already seeing the benefits. "One click and I found you - it saved me endless searches on Google" says a happy UKphotoevent customer.

"Not only has PostCoder for Sage Line 50 helped us to accurately find an address, but it has dramatically speeded up order processing by adding the result straight into our Sage package. Our mail order and e-commerce orders can now be dispatched with an accurate postal address reducing the possibility of an incorrect delivery. We wouldn’t be without it!"

Jim Turner, Managing Director, www.natures-own.co.uk