Novensys - Case Study Danubius

"The difference between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and cheaper software from a smaller supplier is that the latter is not autonomous and doesn't have a modular structure. In time, the companies choosing that software will reach the conclusion, that they should have chosen the ERP solution from Microsoft right from the start, considering it being more convenient from the quality/price and efficiency/productivity ratios point of view", stated Velin Ganev, Executive Director at Danubius.

About the company

As partner of companies with worldwide operations, such as Datecs LTD or Ingenico, Danubius is one of the main companies importing fiscal equipment, banking equipment, accessories, consumables and spare parts on the Romanian fiscal solution market.

Having its head office in Bucharest and a branch in Craiova, the company operates at national level through a broad network of distributors and authorized service technicians.

Our client's situation

In time, Danubius owned two other local Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions and both proved to be inefficient. By comparing the TCO, response times and, respectively, service times and prices, company managers reached the conclusion that the solutions didn't deliver benefits proportional to the financial investment. A calculation made by the company revealed that the amount allocated in time for the two ERP solutions was by far too big compared to the features they offered and to the business needs they fulfilled.

"The difference between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and cheaper software from a smaller supplier is that the latter is not autonomous and doesn't have a modular structure. In time, the companies choosing that software will reach the conclusion, that they should have chosen the ERP solution from Microsoft right from the start, considering it being more convenient from the quality/price and efficiency/productivity ratios point of view", stated Velin Ganev, Executive Director at Danubius.

Another factor that determined Danubius managers to choose a high-performance ERP was the lack of flexibility of the previous solutions, the company being highly dependant on the suppliers of those solutions.

"Before focusing on Microsoft Dynamics NAV we also considered other solutions, but those were either not adequate for our internal business needs, or they were not offering all the features we required. We held a meeting with our partners from the company Datecs and their recommendation weighed heavily in choosing the ERP from Microsoft", explained Velin Ganev, Executive Director at Danubius.

With the decision of purchasing a new and better ERP from the costs point of view, company managers started to prospect the market and took several solutions into consideration.

"We reached the conclusion that we needed a better business management solution after detecting several problems along the supply chain. We analyzed statistics and generated reports and found accounting errors that were far from being negligible. We were looking for a flexible solution that would be independent of programmers, a modular solution that is user-friendly, that enables upgrades and modifications", pointed out Velin Ganev.

The solution

The Danubius challenge - Implementing an intelligent information management solution

Novensys consultants, who were brought in to diagnose the current situation of information flows, of the needs in matters of data to sustain the business processes of Danubius and of the additional requests generated by business growth, concluded the need for a solution that:

• complies with Romanian legislation;
• has a high degree of flexibility, enabling upgrades for new solutions;
• has a convenient TCO, as well as convenient costs of consultancy and maintenance;
• covers the following business areas: financial management, sales and marketing, service;
• is user-friendly.

Considering the above mentioned requirements, Novensys consultants recommended Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

After discussing it with its business partners, Danubius chose Novensys to be the implementation partner for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Amongst the references qualifying Novensys for this job, worth mentioning are:

• Over 30 implementations of ERP solutions by Novensys, for top companies in Romania;
• Novensys' position as favourite partner for companies - leaders in their industry (Microsoft,  Motorola, Zebra, LS Retail), enabling access to top technologies and offering the best terms of price, delivery, implementation and maintenance;
• The complete portfolio of information management solutions offered by Novensys: from hardware systems, consumables and hardware infrastructure to software solution for Enterprise Resource Planning, Supply Chain Management and Customer Relationship Management;
• The Novensys support lines (over the phone and online) at the customer's disposal 24 hours a day, with guaranteed response times and the possibility to extend the support period.

"We were contacted by several companies implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV and we chose Novensys because we wanted an experienced company with a solid portfolio. Novensys consultants were at our side at every step of the implementation and proved to be professionals. When it comes to a complex solution such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV, simply implementing it is not enough. Therefore, I think that the expertise and know-how of the Novensys consultants were key factors in the success of the whole process", added Velin Ganev.

"Danubius didn't have a consistent information system. Business operations were run decentralized, being carried out by every single department separately, while the financial department was collecting the results. The challenge for Danubius was to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning solution, which would unify and speed up business processes, while at the same time providing real time access to mission critical business information", stated Alina Ardeleanu, consultant at Novensys.

The Novensys solution - Automation of information resulting from business processes

The business areas of Microsoft Dynamics NAV implemented at Danubius are: financial management, sales and marketing and service.

Being more than just a high-performance accounting tool, the financial management module enables the company to:

• view up-to-date financial information integrated with marketing information, to support the business' decision making processes;
• automate most financial practices and procedures, defining the desired control level;
• record and store financial information in a general accounting module, including tables of accounts, balances, tax reporting and much more;
• create accounting periods based on the business' fiscal cycle;
• manage cash and bank accounts.

"By implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV with Novensys, we managed to eliminate a lot of downtime though the automation of processes which were previously done manually. For example, we greatly improved the invoicing process by working with fewer documents in hard copy. Everything became clearer and we can trace at anytime what, when and where has been sold", pointed out Velin Ganev.

By having relevant information on every customer group at our disposal, we can make faster smart decisions, increasing both company efficiency and customer satisfaction.

In order to establish durable bonds with our customers, the sales and marketing module can be used to:

• organize and trace sales campaigns;
• identify sale opportunities;
• automate sales processes;
• configure automatic mementos.

"We are proud of our broad network of distributors and of being trusted by close to 190.000 customers. We have to start doing something to gain their loyalty and the sales and marketing module of Microsoft Dynamics NAV will help us achieve this goal", explained Velin Ganev.

A growing business relies on customer loyalty. Therefore, we consider after sales services to be a key factor in a healthy business growth. The service management module improves customer satisfaction and maintains operation profitability, by:

• delivering superior services to customers, allowing us to live up to and exceed their expectations.
• improved cost control.
• services resources management for maximum efficiency.

"The service operations for cash registers are a profit center for our company. Currently, these operations represent some 5%-6% of our turnover, but we are hoping for an increase of this share through the service management module", stated Velin Ganev.

Benefits

The implementation of the ERP solution Dynamics NAV by Novensys led to:

• an increase of 20% in productivity and increased competitiveness by means of improved business process efficiency;
• twice as fast decision making and response to competitor challenges, by  profiting from new market;
• fast access of employees to different information, from stock levels to sales orders and marketing campaigns, all these from a single, consistent  database;
• maintaining permanent contact to customers, suppliers and business partners;
• goods flow optimization;
• improved visibility over processes throughout the company;
• fast analysis and reporting;
• elimination of time consuming activities;
• lower risk of inaccurate reports;
• organization according to efficiency principles.

"I am very pleased with the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV by Novensys. It is a reliable and flexible solution that I recommend to out business partners", added Velin Ganev.