Case study Security installation

Every quote was built by hand from 10,000 products in spreadsheets, and only the experienced staff could price a job.

We replaced it with a quoting tool that holds every vendor's catalogue and builds the document itself. The product knowledge now lives in the system, not in two people's heads.

UK security installation business CCTV, access control, alarms Bespoke quoting tool
70%
faster to produce a quote

Quotes that used to take hours now go out in minutes, accurate and in the house style.

10,000+

products from every vendor, searchable in one catalogue

Zero

copy-paste between spreadsheets, product data flows straight into the quote

Day one

quoting for new starters, the system holds the product knowledge

You will know this one

“The one person who knows the prices is out on a job, so the quote waits.”

“Three suppliers, three price lists, and none of them agree with the spreadsheet.”

“A new starter cannot quote on their own for months.”

The client

Quotes were built in spreadsheets, with product data pulled from supplier PDFs, price lists and emails. The catalogue spanned more than 10,000 products across multiple manufacturers, and pricing a job depended on knowledge that lived in one or two people's heads.

What we built

One quoting tool that holds every vendor's catalogue. The team searches once, the system prices the job, and the document builds itself.

  1. Sales team

    Find the products

    one catalogue

    Every product from every vendor is searchable in one place, with current pricing and specifications.

  2. Automatic

    Price the job

    margin rules

    Margins, markups, labour and totals are calculated by the system. No formulas, no manual arithmetic.

  3. Automatic

    Build the document

    house style

    The quote comes out as a branded PDF in one click, in the same format every time.

  4. Management

    Keep it current

    role-based access

    Product data, pricing rules and margins are managed centrally. Updates reach everyone instantly, and sensitive pricing stays protected.

pills = runs in the background, nobody has to start it

From a different Alpha Labs project

“Joe provided expert advice and technical support on a complex project that ran over several years. His knowledge and insights were invaluable in seeing it through to a successful conclusion.”

Project Lead Professional Services Client

Is this how quoting works in your business?

If pricing a job depends on a couple of experienced heads and a spreadsheet, the next step is a conversation, not a proposal. Thirty minutes. You walk me through how it runs now, and I tell you where the time is going and whether software is the right fix.

Book a 30 minute discovery call

No cost, no obligation. Or call 01494 413 331.

calendly.com/alphalabs/system-discovery-call · alphalabs.net

What happens on the call
  1. You talk me through your process as it actually works today.

  2. I point out where the hours are going and what a fix would involve.

  3. You get a straight answer on whether this is worth building, including if it is not.