CASE STUDY
with Manager
Demand Manager Mobile Application
“This wasn’t just a digital upgrade - it was about finding a way to make life easier for our sales team while keeping the personal touch our customers value. The new system has delivered that in spades…
The care taken to understand how we work - and how we want to work - was outstanding. This wasn’t tech imposed on us; it was built with us. That’s why it’s been so well received across both our Northern and Southern teams."
Hetal Shah, Head of UK Sales, Vibrant Brands Ltd
Formed through the integration of several respected, family-founded food producers, Vibrant Brands Ltd carries forward a legacy of trust and personalised service.
Many of their customer relationships had been built over decades, with some accounts stretching back more than 20 years. These longstanding connections were a cornerstone of the business, and any attempt to modernise sales operations needed to preserve the warmth, familiarity, and trust that had made those relationships thrive.
It was against this backdrop that Vibrant Brands, supported by eoCiTO, undertook a commercial transformation project to align systems and sales processes across the group. At the heart of this initiative was the implementation of Manager.Software’s Demand Manager Mobile Application, offering Vibrant CPQ (Configure, Price and Quotation) functionality within their Customer Portal.
The project’s aim was not just to digitise and streamline but to do so in a way that upheld the personal nature of how the business interacted with its customers.
Vibrant's commercial operations had evolved differently across its Northern and Southern sales teams, a legacy of the company’s merger history. The Northern team had already adopted parts of the Manager.Software platform for demand capture (Demand Manager) as we had successfully enabled the transition of order processing for two of their main brands; Synergex for TRS and Access Supply Chain (ASC) for Cofresh. The Southern team, however, remained reliant on Sage X3 and heavily manual workflows. Despite their differences, both teams shared a common pain point: the quoting and order process was time-consuming, inconsistent, and anchored in outdated, paper-based methods.
Account managers routinely visited customers with printed catalogues - many of which were out of date - and customised them by hand to reflect the latest product changes or customer preferences. These catalogues were familiar, and the process was tactile and personal, but it also introduced errors and inefficiencies. Orders could contain hundreds of SKUs, and entering them into the system often happened hours after a visit, once the account manager was back in the office or at home. Other methods of communicating order details, such as photographing the paper books and sending the images back to the customer service team via mobile phone, were also being used.
Confirmation of availability, pricing, and delivery timelines typically came long after the customer meeting, causing delays and necessitating repeated back-and-forth communication. Customers were patient - many had deep trust in the company - but both sides knew there was a better, more responsive way forward.
Crucially, any new system had to retain the feel of the old one. That meant the solution couldn’t just be efficient - it had to feel natural to use, even for account managers who had spent their careers working on paper.
eoCiTO led the deployment of a customised solution using Manager Software’s Demand Manager Mobile Application, integrating powerful CPQ functionality into a platform designed to feel like a natural extension of how Vibrant had always done business.
The implementation began with a discovery phase that was both technical and cultural. In addition to engaging the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), eoCiTO spent time with frontline account managers from both the Northern and Southern teams. They conducted in-depth workshops to understand not only what the system needed to do, but how it needed to feel. From the outset, the emphasis was on preserving the essence of personal, long-term customer relationships.
The result was a solution that balanced enterprise capability with human-centred design:
• Visual simplicity: Streamlined screens with clear prompts, making even the most complex quotes easy to build.
• Offline operation: Ensuring uninterrupted access to tools and data, regardless of internet availability at customer sites.
• Device optimisation: Hardware selected to suit field use and long customer visits.
• Workflow alignment: Drafts, amendments, approvals, and conversions built into a logical, familiar flow.
• Live data: Pricing, discounting, and stock visibility all available in real time—no more waiting for office responses.
• Finance integration: Account managers could see statements, credit limits, and transaction history at a glance.
With such a diverse user base, the rollout required careful change management. eoCiTO provided flexible training models—group workshops for collaborative learning, and 1:1 sessions for those who preferred private coaching. The goal was confidence, not just competence.
The application launched with zero operational downtime, ensuring that customer service standards remained uninterrupted during the transition.
One of the project's strengths was its responsiveness to feedback. eoCiTO maintained an open dialogue with users and quickly delivered enhancements that made the system even more tailored to Vibrant’s commercial style:
• SKU information enhancements showing expiry dates and next availability—critical for large, fast-moving orders
• Promotional product prioritisation in catalogue views to support campaign planning
• Auto-cutoff functionality to ensure operational feasibility without disrupting customer expectations
These features not only enhanced functionality but also the sense of control and professionalism that account managers could offer during customer meetings.
The new application delivered measurable improvements within weeks:
• Time savings: Orders that could once take up to 24 hours to confirm were now being processed in under 30 minutes.
• User adoption: Just under half of all Vibrant Brands quotes and orders are now generated directly through the application.
• Improved accuracy: Dynamic pricing and catalogue alignment removed inconsistencies and manual errors.
• Customer experience: Clients enjoyed faster responses and better-informed discussions, without losing the personal feel they had come to value over decades.
• Organisational alignment: The Southern team successfully migrated off Sage X3 and joined a unified, modern sales platform alongside their Northern colleagues.
The successful implementation of Manager.Software’s Demand Manager mobile application, with embedded Vibrant CPQ functionality, represents a landmark shift for Vibrant Brands Ltd. It demonstrates how a technology-led transformation can still honour - and even enhance - the personal, long-standing relationships that define a heritage brand.
By focusing not just on features but on people, eoCiTO and Vibrant delivered a solution that is both forward-looking and firmly rooted in tradition. Account managers can now respond more quickly, with greater confidence and accuracy, while still maintaining the warmth and familiarity their customers have appreciated for over 20 years.
In doing so, they’ve laid the groundwork for future innovation - including B2B e-commerce - without compromising the values that made the business what it is today.
One of the biggest wins for me is seeing even our most paper-reliant account managers using the app with confidence. It’s simple, intuitive, and it lets them focus on building relationships, not wrestling with admin.
The care taken to understand how we work - and how we want to work - was outstanding. This wasn’t tech imposed on us; it was built with us. That’s why it’s been so well received across both our Northern and Southern teams.
eoCiTO delivered a system that truly fits our business. The rollout was smooth, the training thoughtful, and the end result is something the whole sales team is proud to use.
Head of Service Delivery
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Manager.Software website and via our LinkedIn profile, for queries please email info@eocito.com
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