Modernising core technology systems for the future

Our clients new head office and distribution centre - a high tech oasis in the Newcastle suburb of Cardiff - reflects the business acumen and success of its founder and Managing Director. The custom built and ultra modern facility reflects the very best in technology, both for internal systems and the products it distributes nationally, as our client has grown to become the premier distributor of mobile phones and genuine/quality accessories in Australia.

 Central to the business moving forward and sustaining its growth, our client decided to take a giant step and combine the flexibility of moving to new premises, including greatly expanded warehousing facilities and a substantially larger service department, and at the same time acquire a new business software solution, with a mySAP All-in-One solution to be implemented by SMS Enterprise Solutions.

The choice of the SAP solution was a long, detailed process but the Managing Director wanted to make sure he would have the best possible solution for his company, a philosophy he maintains when sourcing products to distribute. “The three systems we previously were using were not integrated and our core business was being severely affected several times a month by downtime” says the Managing Director, “With SAP I knew we would have a Partner for life and a world-class, reliable solution”.

However many of the company’s business partners and acquaintances warned that they thought the SAP solution was far too big, difficult to implement, expensive and more than the staff could handle. However, working closely with SMS Enterprise Solutions and SAP, the client realised the advantages far outweighed the scepticism. “Many of our suppliers are SAP users – this will bring to us many immediate savings and benefits, on top of that SAP is the most scalable solution in the market giving the client scope for expansion as we grow the business”.

The initial implementation was for the financials, warehouse management, as well as service management components for its expanding service and warranty department. Future growth will be catered for as the company moves towards a projected role as an end-to-end logistics provider, where they see a great deal of growth and potential.

Our clients Accounting and Logistics Manager was deeply involved in the selection of the SMS Enterprise Solutions / SAP solution. They evaluated different offerings over a 12 month period, reducing the choices to a short-list of four. “SAP was more expensive than the others, however the competitors’ promises to change their solutions to suit our needs, thus creating a unique version was worrying, imagine the potential version incompatibility and upgrade problems. I was also worried that their promises wouldn’t be met in the future when circumstances changed” she said.

The client also sees the savings the company will realise when its suppliers and also many customers will all share similar SAP solutions. “We can now finally reduce our fax orders, as electronic exchange of orders between systems will reduce administration, increase accuracy of orders and improve product tracking, thus allowing us concentrate on the more important aspects of the business”.

The system was successfully rolled out, with SMS Enterprise Solutions staff training and preparing the twenty five staff who work on the system post implementation. All groups within the business will be going live simultaneously as they begin a new chapter in the company’s evolution. “When we started the company in 1987 with two staff we never thought we’d grow to the size we are now have. With the SMS Enterprise Solutions / SAP solution in place, we now have the potential to grow exponentially over the next few years” says the Managing Director.

REALTECH Australia was acquired by SMS Management & Technology to form SMS Enterprise Solutions in October 2006