H&H Distributing: Brewing a long-term success story with OSAS

On August 1, 1974, Harry Hoch, Sr. purchased the rights from an Anheuser-Busch distributor in Grand Island, Nebraska, and H&H Distributing was born. The company has gone from selling a few hundred thousand cases of beer in the early ‘70s to selling over 2½ million cases a year today. Aiming to exceed customer expectations with every transaction, H&H is a regional powerhouse with one of the best-organized brewing companies in the world behind it.

H&H Distributing manages a refrigerated warehouse and inventory control to ensure the freshness of their products. H&H uses a route accounting system certified by Anheuser-Busch for their sales and inventory needs.

To address the accompanying need for accounting and payroll software, H&H has relied upon OSAS software from Open Systems for 30 years. H&H relies upon OSAS to provide a stable accounting platform that can synchronize well with their other software. With long-time technology partner Jerry Clinch of Business Computer Consultants, Inc., H&H has stuck with OSAS and reaped the benefits of a stable, familiar, and adaptable software solution.

Adaptability helps with changes from the home office

Being a best-selling distributor for Anheuser-Busch, H&H uses the brewing company’s software to stay in compliance. “Anheuser-Busch has a lot of programs of their own that they require us to interface with,” says Diane Carroll, Controller for H&H Distributing. “They are constantly looking at our data.”

OSAS software includes flexible import and export capabilities, allowing custom mapping to adapt to different kinds of databases. H&H takes advantage of this functionality to streamline the accounts payable entry system by copying invoices right from the Anheuser-Busch database, as well as importing General Ledger information.

Relying on the stability of Open Systems

Plenty of competitors have come along in the last 30 years, attempting to sell H&H on other accounting packages that link to the Anheuser-Busch systems. “Our owners are so thankful that we have never attempted that!” says Carroll. “Most of the competitors don’t understand payroll and general ledger, nor do they have the support to stay current with ever-changing tax tables and IRS regulations. That’s why I’m sold on and 100% confident in OSAS.”

With full support and tax updates, OSAS is kept current and up-to-date to help companies stay compliant. “I honestly do not have problems with Open Systems software,” says Carroll. From the era of green-bar printed reports to modern Excel exports, H&H Distributing has stayed with OSAS as times have changed.

“H&H Distributing have always been ready for the installation of new version of OSAS,” says Jerry Clinch. This commitment has allowed H&H Distributing to take advantage of new functionality that comes with updated releases. “When OSAS added the ability to email payroll vouchers, H&H Distributing were my first client to go with it,” says Clinch. “Diane said that it saved her many hours a month in processing her payroll. They are very cooperative and a pleasure to work with.”

Taking advantage of additional training and support

In addition to receiving training and guidance from Jerry Clinch, H&H Distributing also takes advantage of the Open Systems Customer Conferences. Carroll will be attending the conference in 2014, and has attended conferences in the past. With a software suite as fully featured as OSAS, there is always something new to learn.

“I know there are a lot of functions that I’m not using that I should be, and using them would probably make my job a lot easier,” says Carroll. With breakout classes, visiting exhibitors, and plenty of chances to network, the Open Systems Customer Conference is a useful tool for users to get the most out of their OSAS systems.

Though the reliability of their system means they don’t need many service calls, Carroll appreciates the support and expertise of her technology partner, Jerry Clinch. “He understands accounting,” says Carroll. “He understands where we started from.”

Flexibility + adaptability = long-term success

As H&H Distributing continues to serve their customers, they are taking advantage of OSAS’s flexibility to adapt to new systems while enjoying the ongoing stability it has offered for over 30 years.