As strong technophiles, we are always keeping up with developments to offer the most up to date solutions for our clients projects. But maybe not always so good at maximising the efficiencies on our own processes.

With our commitment to provide exemplary service to our customers as our business grows, we have been reviewing our internal processes to ensure we are harnessing technology to streamline and improve our efficiencies.

The Issues

Often when running a company it is hard to take time out to make improvements in your own business. Much easier to focus only on managing the day to day priorities. However, we recognised that the accounting software we were using was starting to become more of a hinderance than a help.

The data held in the system was basic, providing little transparency on our performance, accounting and also stock management.

It was also very time consuming. We realised we could free up time to manage and grow the business by sorting out a more efficient, accurate system.

The Solution

We wanted a professional approach to finding the best solution for our business. Plus to ensure a smooth implementation with seamless transition to minimise any impact for our customers. With this in mind, we brought Outside the Bubble on board. Emma’s expertise is in using financially based commercial insights to transform businesses. She has a wealth of knowledge and practical experience in establishing the best support platforms and tools.

SAP B1 was identified as the best software to meet our needs now and also support future growth. It is a single source for us to manage and access all the data we need to run the business efficiently and also to drive growth. Processes such as accounting and financial management are streamlined and simplified. Up to date, useful insights are available at the touch of a button.

Initially we discussed with Emma our strategic direction and incorporated this into the plan for SAP B1. It was crucial to us that the software was scalable and could grow with the business as well as produce the financial data and metrics we needed.

The SAP B1 project took 6 months from kick-off to training and implementation, managed with the support of Prosephra and Heather Hann. With her processes, extensive knowledge and commercial insight we were able to maximise usage of SAP B1’s capabilities. Plus we also customised some functions to meet our specific needs.   

The impact

Although it was a big investment in terms of both time and money, we have already started to see the benefits. We’ve produced our first set of management accounts, and can finally see the business financially mapped out with some insightful data.

Operationally it has made a huge difference as well,  enabling us to create documents and transactions quickly and freeing up time to work on other priorities. We estimate that implementing SAP B1 will annually save around 6 weeks of admin hours.

We’re committed to continue to develop how we use SAP B1 to realise even more efficiencies and increase productivity throughout the business. And also to look at what other processes we can improve through using different technologies.