SAP Business All-In-One: Encompassing all SMB Solutions

One of the
most important challenges for SMBs is managing the business
effectively. For that to happen, automation and right solutions are
vital. In order to address the requirements, software selection is
another key area that the SMBs ponder over a long time. Trinity
Touch, a UK based discreet manufacturing company, recently expanded
in India for manufacturing high-quality products in India. Earlier,
Trinity was using in-house developed Oracle based ERP, but then, as
its business expanded, there came the need for better software to
avoid manual intervention and increase productivity, be it
financially or operationally. For Trinity Touch, the right thing to
do was to deploy SAP Business-All-in-One application. Sonata
Software, which Trinity selected as its implementation partner, had a
great deal to go for implementing.

NECESSITY

Trinity
expanded enough, thereby it transformed to a different level. For
making changes in terms of growth, the current software was not
enough to enable growth. So there was need to deploy such a tool
which can basically reduce overall IT problems and use the man power
effectively. So they chose SAP's Business- All-In- ne software,
which is focused for SMB customers. “At Trinity Touch, we are
managing manufacturing and distribution operations from multiple
locations in India. Though we were earlier using our in-house
developed Oracle based ERP system, but it was felt that there was a
need for an integrated system which should incorporate the financial
accounting aspects in order to have better control over the business
operations as we were in the expansion process. Then we found SAP,
the leader in enterprise business software with functionality based
on industry best practices, as the perfect choice for fulfilling our
needs,” said Ramesh Kumar, Manager-IT, Trinity Touch.

ROLE OF
SONATA SOFTWARE-THE IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER

The
discussions about the project started in May, 2009 and the go-ahead
came in June, but the project finally started in July, 2009.
Basically with Sonata's expertise in this industry with SAP package
perspective, Trinity saw the capability along with leadership,
efficiency and value for money. Thus Sonata implemented SAPsoftware
replacing home-built software based on Oracle ERP. Trinity wanted to
have some kind of visibility across business location, integrate
their business, managing global inventory and sales as these were few
key areas. It took 16-18 weeks for the implementation with a team of
5 members. Muralikrishna K Mysore, head, SAP practice, Sonata
Software said, “Right from project preparation to going live and
post implementation support was part of the engagement. For the last
2 years we have supported and trained them. We are the preferred
partner for SAP.” But just giving Trinity a solution was not the
end, and therefore Sonata faced some key challenges.

Muralikrishna
added,
“When you implement a ERP and replace a existing system, the
tendency of the people, who are used to the legacy of system and
organizational manpower, were little skeptical; that whether
implementing it would reduce the need of manpower. Convincing
organizational employees was a great challenge and we were able to do
that. Educating and convincing SMB customers to opt for SAP is a
great challenge.” Commenting on the effectiveness of SAP,
Muralikrishna said, “SAP is only for larger customers-the myth is
gone. They are the leaders in enterprise business management software
and the functionalities, as per the discreet manufacturing industry
is concerned, the company proved the best practices available to
support the growth and business expansion. Also there is a lot of
scope for integration with SAP to other software or non-SAP software.
All was possible with this tool and most importantly, the
availability of business data was controlled and centralized. These
are the key areas which actually tilted Trinity's software
selection.”

THE OUTPUT

Post-implementation,
though the IT cost has been increased, but at the same time, they had
a host of operational benefits such as, responses to daily customer
queries and weekly report preparation was 97% faster, creation of
monthly analytical reports was 95% faster, daily delivery tracking
was 96% more efficient and sales was 75% faster apart from inventory
and manual intervention reduction amongst others. “This solution
had an overall low cost of ownership including the initial cost
considering the other available solutions in the market. Also, not
just the initial cost, this solution was implemented in just 4 months
with minimum customization. Sonata delivered everything on-time,
within budget and ensured that the IT team deployed stays lean,”
added Kumar. Adding the advantages on the strategic front, Kumar
added, “On this front, better product quality leads to greater
customer satisfaction and a stronger reputation with customers. There
has been elimination of manual effort on one hand, while there is a
high availability of data for meeting business objectives, greater
security and control of critical data; ensuring tighter coordination
across geographies. Inventory reduction and shorter sales and payment
cycles have contributed to our overall financial growth.”