Business Value
Understanding what value, or returns, you can expect from implementing SAP Business One in your organisation requires analysis of three key areas: the current inefficiencies you want resolved, the changes you are willing to make to adopt more efficient processes and the cost of implementing and living with SAP Business One.
"With an integrated view of your company you can make smarter decisions – the kind of decisions that ensure profitable performance."
Step through the tabs below to understand how we work with you to establish what business value you can achieve by working with the team at Business Evolution Group and implementing SAP Business One.
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You need to make significant business change happen, this is why you are here reading this. All of our customers come to us with the challenges they are facing in growing their business because their current system, or lack of, is holding them back.
What are your motivators for change?
- Is your team spending too much time checking, balancing, reconciling, duplicating informaiton?
- How many spreadsheets do you work with? How often are you finding errors?
- How long does it take to get REAL management reports out?
- How many jobs or billing opportunities do you lose because the bit of paper was lost?
- Have you been trying to close a big deal when your accounts team is pestering that same customer for the $25 short on their account?
- What about that software you got that one-man-band to write for you that you now can't contact?
- Do you just order stock because you don't trust the system figures?
- How long is it taking to get your month end processes complete before you can start processing the next month?
- Is your business growing such that you need to let more people enter their data, but you want to ensure you have the right controls and alerts so you stay on top of things?
- Are you exporting or importing and need better foreign currency control?
- Is your current system outdated?
- Are you receiving poor support?
Sound familiar? There are many reasons to move, but the key is calculating how much these inefficiencies are costing you in lost productivity, lost sales, additional purchases, cashflow and just holding back your business growth.
Business Evolution Group Process for Identifying Value
We at Business Evolution Group are experienced business and management consultants. Our various backgrounds working in companies or other consulting firms has given us a wealth of knowledge to help you not only implement the SAP Business One technology effectively, but also to ensure you are working toward changing your business processes to get the best benefits possible.
How do we do this?
- From our initial contact we want to hear about your business need, what your people are doing now and where you want to be.
- Through our presales process we help you identify key areas for change and prove to you through demonstrations and examples from existing customers how you can achieve that by working with the team at Business Evolution Group. We also have a ROI Calculator which is great if you need this information for Management or Board approval.
- The initial part of the implementation project focuses on the TO BE business process design. This is where we workshop with your team members - shop floor to board room, what is happening, why it's happening and we test options for change which are then recommended in our Project Charter and Key Business Process design document which is yours to keep.
- Then throughout the project we are continiously monitoring the validity of these changes, ensuring the system is configured to support these, validated using scenario based testing and it is endorsed in your end user training.
- Once live we have regular account meetings with you and as part of our Service Level Agreements we have design review services which continuously look for opportunities in your business to refine what you are doing.
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If you've decided to move your company to an integrated business management solution such as SAP Business One, planning ahead for the resources required to implement a new solution will help you avoid any potential surprises.
We price our services and the SAP Business One software competitively, so if you need a solution like SAP Business One the services and software costs should be priced exactly the same way for any similar product.
See our implementation scenarios below for some estimates for three different types of companies implementing SAP Business One. Do contact us to discuss pricing specific to your business.
The cost of the software – typically calculated by the number of user licenses you need – is one of several items for which you will need to budget. Depending on the complexity of your solution, there may also be costs related to migrating your data to the new solution, customizing the user interface, and aligning the solution with your existing applications. In some cases, this may be as simple as exporting QuickBooks information to SAP Business One. In more complex implementations, you may need to work with the Business Evolution Group team to ensure that financial, customer, inventory, and other information that resides on legacy systems can be migrated to the new solution efficiently.
As a small or midsize business, you will be working with us to develop and install your solution, as well as manage long-term service and support. While Business Evolution Group will oversee implementation of the SAP Business One application, you will also need someone in-house to manage the consultant relationship and ensure that the project timeline is moving forward. This may fall to your IT Manager, Accountant or Operations Manager, or to another project coordinator.
You also will need to budget for training and education. As is the case with any new technology implementation, proper training reduces user resistance to the transition and ensures that employees can take advantage of the solution's full potential.
Implementation Scenarios
Let's take a look at three characteristic scenarios for implementing the SAP Business One application. Please talk to us about actual implementation costs for your organisation in your location.
Basic Implementation
A small, local provider of tax and financial services with annual revenues of about $4 million selects SAP Business One. This is a small implementation, with a license for only three users. Since it is for a services provider, it requires a simple configuration of only basic financial and CRM capabilities. There is no or very little need for customization, data migration, and no integration, so the entire installation can take as little as 1-2 weeks effort with 3-4 training days.
Implementation Estimate $23,000 to $35,000 or potentially less than $900 per month with financing.
Typical Implementation
A $16 million apparel distributor has outgrown its QuickBooks or MYOB solution and decides to upgrade to the SAP Business One application. The company needs a more integrated solution; the configuration includes financials, CRM, inventory, purchasing, and production modules. The implementation requires some limited customization for reporting and user interfaces. Financial data must be migrated from QuickBooks, while contact information must be integrated with data that resides in Microsoft Outlook. Implementation could take a few weeks or more including training days for the company's employees.
Implementation Estimate $35,000 to $75,000 or potentially less than $1450 per month with financing.
Comprehensive Implementation
A national manufacturer with annual revenues of $40 million has specific supply chain management requirements that it needs the SAP Business One application to meet. With 15 user licenses, the SAP Business One application's configuration will include financials, CRM, inventory, purchasing, manufacturing resource planning (MRP), and human resources management. This complex implementation – which may take as long as three months – will require extensive customization in areas such as workflow, alerts, reporting, and managing multiple locations. Existing accounting, customer, inventory, and materials data needs to be migrated from custom legacy systems. The solution also must work seamlessly with other solutions, including Microsoft Outlook, project scheduling applications, forecasting software, and the systems of key business partners.
Implementation Estimate $75,000 to less than $200,000, or potentially less than $2500 per month with financing.
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What kind of payback should you expect from your company's investment in the SAP Business One application?
Return on investment (ROI) is a technique to help you understand the benefits your business will reap from a specific implementation project – that is, how long it will take your company to profit from its investment.
To get a clear picture of the benefits your company can expect from implementing SAP Business One as your business management solution, you'll first want to understand the impact of your current issues on your bottom line, as well as your goals for implementing SAP Business One. For instance, your company may want to reduce billing errors and speed up receivables collection, or to streamline sales to improve revenue per customer. By quantifying these benefits, you'll get a better idea of what your payback will be.
Some typical areas of benefit may include:
- Productivity – Streamlined business processes may allow your employees to accomplish more in less time.
- Labour costs – Automating certain applications can reduce the number of people required to support your business.
- Financial performance – More accurate financial reporting can speed receivables collection or give you a more accurate picture of your short- and long-term balance sheet.
- Inventory management – Keeping a closer eye on inventory can speed inventory turns and reduce the amount you must spend on slow-moving products.
- Pricing – Real-time financial reporting may give you a clearer picture of your overall costs and help you improve margins on your products or services.
- Customer revenue – By using CRM to recognize customer needs, you can increase revenue per customer, or reduce customer turnover rates.
- Technology maintenance and support – Less money may need to be spent on maintaining out-of-date legacy systems, improving your bottom line.
- Process improvements – You may be able to eliminate certain costs through automation; for instance, electronic billing can reduce paper invoices, mailing costs, and even certain bank deposit fees.
Some Industry Specific ROI Scenarios
Wholesale Distribution: Creating Efficiencies to Increase Margins
A company that distributes books and periodicals to supermarket chains has grown organically, but hasn't thought strategically about its operational systems. As a result, it is unable to clearly analyze links between customer orders and shipments, resulting in a loss of margin and unnecessary investments in inventory. It needs to use SAP Business One to give them an overview of the business – specifically trends in customer demand and supply – to help them improve inventory turns, improve margins, and increase overall customer revenue. The benefits it may analyze include:
- Margin visibility – Getting a clearer picture of inventory costs compared to sales prices may result in an increase in margin.
- Improved revenue per customer – More accurate warehouse reports can help identify out-of-place inventory and other issues that can reduce revenue.
- Labour savings – More accurate shipments can reduce returns, allowing the company to hire fewer people for the returns department.
- Reduced inventory – Improvements in inventory can speed up turns, or allow the company to carry a greater number of lines.
Technical Servicing: Speeding Up Installation and After Sales Support Services Increasing Customer Satisfaction
A company which sells, installs and services air conditioning products has grown from a couple of vans to servicing the whole region. As a result, they lack visibility of what has been sold, whether they have any spare parts, what is under warrantee and who they should be contacting for the annual service. When their customers call they can't update them on where the job is at, or if a technician will be there in 5 minutes or 5 days!! They need to use SAP Business One to track the sold items, manage warrantees, record and schedule servicing, keep track of stock in the warehouse and technician vans and ensure they improve their margins. The benefits it may analyse include:
- Improved revenue per technician - Properly tracking and scheduling work and providing accurate information to technicians will reduce the times an incorrect technician is assigned, or the right parts are not taken on site. This flows back to more billable hours than rework.
- Improved customer retention and revenue per customer - reminders for annual servicing will allow work to be scheduled in quiet periods and enable further services to be sold to the customer.
- More efficient collections - If the technican has the right information and the right parts to do the job the first time, the customer has a greater chance of paying on time first time.
- Reduced Inventory - Tracking your stock in your warehouses and in vans enables greater visibility and less investment in unnecessary stock purchases. It may also decrease stock pilfering if it is an issue.
Professional Services: Speeding Up Collections with More Efficient Billing
A consulting company needs a better way to document its billable hours, improve its receivables and generate more revenue per customer. It expects to use SAP Business One to help manage the organization's contracts better, improve the accuracy of its invoices and improve overall customer retention through better service. Potential implementation benefits include:
- Improved revenue per consultant – Up to 5% of potential revenue may be lost due to consultants' not fully billing for the work they do. Automating the process may reduce this amount by 0.25% or more.
- Improved customer retention – Improved record-keeping and management of customer contracts will improve the service offered.
- More efficient collections – Properly tracking projects and providing more accurate invoices can reduce the number of billing disputes and increase the speed of receivables.
- Labour savings – Improved processes may reduce the need for support staff by one full-time employee.
Retail: Matching Inventory to Customer Needs
A small home furnishings retailer maintains three stores and a Web site. It has no companywide view and wants to install an integrated system such as SAP Business One so that it can match stock at its outlets with that of its Web store. It also needs to identify out-of-date items more quickly, so it doesn't have to discount old merchandise too heavily. Finally, it wants a clearer picture of customer buying behavior to help it choose more profitable inventory that will better match customer needs and help increase its customer base. Its benefit analysis might include:
- Increased number of customers – How many additional customers will it acquire or retain each month through its improved service?
- IT maintenance costs – Linking the Web site to the store inventory can reduce charges to update its Web site frequently.
- Reduced stock – Better purchasing can reduce the amount of "out-of-date" merchandise that is sold at a discount.
- Improved revenue per customer – Matching customers to available stock can help improve overall margins.
- Administrative savings – Less money will be spent on data entry, faxing, and warehouse downtime.
Manufacturing: Replacing Legacy Systems to Integrate the Supply Chain
A maker of small industrial refrigeration units is running multiple custom-developed systems. It realises that the business cannot grow without an integrated system. It wants to use an integrated business management solution to improve information flow between the different aspects of the business. It hopes to reduce inventory, improve employee productivity, and make sure it takes advantage of all revenue opportunities with its customer base, including service revenues it is missing because it can't identify customers whose equipment is out of warranty. Its benefits analysis can include:
- Labour costs – Improvements in efficiency may help it reduce the number of employees needed on the shop floor.
- Reduced inventory – More accurate reporting helps reduce inventory.
- Improved procurement – The ability to view previous purchases and monitor supplier performance will help reduce purchase costs.
- Improved revenue per customer – By selling additional service contracts, this manufacturer improves overall revenue.
- Reduced paper costs – Better communication between systems eliminates the need to print and deliver work orders.
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
What's inside:
• 2009 Year in Review
• SAP Business One Version 8.8 now in Ramp Up – the next new major version of SAP for you.
• SAP Business One 2007A Feature Packs – want to delete any accidently created warehouses?
• Hi 5 Awards
• Inaugural SAP Business One User Group to be held in Auckland on 12th Nov
• News on the Archer Home Front.
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Monday, March 09, 2009
Automate the delivery of your documents and reports to customers or suppliers.
Save time, save money and increase customer satisfaction!
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Monday, May 26, 2008
It doesn't matter how big or small you are, whether you have a sales and marketing team of 5 or 500, few organisations would put their hand up and say they didn't need to improve their CRM results!
This Focus on CRM article will cover some of the ways you can use SAP Business One to better enable your CRM strategies.
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
This checklist below should give you a quick guide to ensure you have your SAP System and Support sorted for while you are on holiday, or general Business Evolution Christmas closedown.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Streamlining your business means reducing costs and increasing the amount of time you can spend focusing on outperforming the competition and growing sales – without increasing your head count. The right business management software can help you do just that, and you’ll see results that directly affect your bottom line.
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Wonder how American Digital Systems (ADS) used the SAP Business One application? The software helped ADS foster innovation, reduce costs through replacement of physical inventory processes with an inventory aging procedure, and increase revenues primarily through recovery of unaccounted revenues.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
“What we wanted was integrity of data and cross-company reporting that was easy to use and SAP came up trumps at a price we could afford.
SAP not only gives us a common system for all our subsidiaries, it is also scalable with many features and industry solutions that can be integrated and tailored as the business grows.”
Colin Cadigan, Chief F...
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Monday, June 22, 2009
HeatStore General Manager Wendy Dunn says the company required a flexible business management solution that would accommodate their specific needs without blowing the budget before launch day.
“As a start-up company, we were not in a cash-rich position, but we didn’t want to compromise on the quality and integrity of the software at the core of ...
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
You’ve worked hard to build your business, and you’re ready to take it to the next level. Chances are that recent changes (such as new lines of business, management, and approaches) require you to manage your entire company differently. Technology can help increase quality in all business areas – including customer service, accounting, and more – a...
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
EvanCarmichael.com, the Internet's leader in small business motivation and strategies, provides thoughtful insight for small business owners about business management software. Learn what highly successful entrepreneurs and growing businesses already know about how business management software can help you grow your business by streamlining busines...
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Choosing the right business software is important, but choosing the right team to implement your system is even more important.
You can buy SAP Business One, through Business Evolution Group.
Because we are dedicated to helping customers solve their business problems and optimize their operations through the right software solution, you can rest assured you'll get the implementation and maintenance assistance you need, right when you need it.
Contact us to discuss your requirements and we will work with you and your team to establish if we can add value to your business.
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