Sunraysia improve efficiency of international operations

Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Sapphire has announced that it is to supply and implement SAP Business One to Sunraysia for use in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong.

Sunraysia develops and markets a range of healthy and delicious fruit juices to leading retailers and distributors across the UK and Asia Pacific region. They source their ingredients from multiple countries working in their suppliers' local currencies; production and logistics are out-sourced.

The incumbent financial accounting system at Sunraysia had been in place since the company was a small business. Now that Sunraysia operates in several different countries the team found it too limited in terms of running their business; additionally they weren't confident that the system was sufficiently robust enough to cope with their growing requirements. The old system was unable to handle real time changes when buying in different currencies and the team needed a true and accurate picture of their financial accounts at any given time.

Sunraysia was faced with the option of extensively customising the existing financial management system, or the implementation of a new solution. Justin Presser, Managing Director at Sunraysia, reviewed several potential solutions and looked at Sage Line 200, Sage Line 1000, SAP and Oracle in detail. A final comparison of Sage Line 200 and SAP Business One was undertaken to determine which would be the most suitable for the business.

Commenting on the decision Justin said: "Ultimately SAP Business One was the best fit for Sunraysia's requirements as it is a globally supported solution that can grow with the company. We wanted a solution that is industry standard and supported in many languages and currencies. Initially there was a concern that the magnitude of an SAP solution might be too much for us, but SAP Business One is a good fit for a company of our size."

The scope to customise SAP Business One was also a factor in the decision. "We were after a system that would do what we wanted, rather than the other way around," said Justin, adding "a good solution should make our way of working more efficient, rather than us having to fit in with how the solution works by changing systems and processes already in place."

Product features that made SAP Business One the right choice for Sunraysia included the fact that it is a global multi-currency system that can hold information on all aspects of the business operation, including financials, commercials, supply chain and CRM with real time reporting and analysis.

Justin commented: "We'll be able to quickly and easily report in real time; the management team will be freed up to focus on business decisions, using accurate information to effectively drive the business forward."

Of Sapphire Justin said: "The way that Sapphire managed the process was a big influence. We were impressed from the initial enquiry right through to signing. Sapphire was professional and diligent throughout - there was no issue raised that wasn't addressed in a thoroughly professional manner. Sunraysia is a process driven company and we were pleased to see Sapphire's own system driven approach."

Ian Caswell, Sapphire's Managing Director, said: "We are delighted to be working with Sunraysia on this international project. SAP Business One is a great fit for organisations with operations around the world - regardless of size - as it is a true multi-currency and multi-lingual solution that can accommodate the statutory reporting requirements of over 40 different countries."

Justin concluded: "Sunraysia is very KPI [Key Performance Indicator] driven and when SAP Business One is live we anticipate that the transactional side of our operation will be more efficient. We expect SAP Business One will deliver improved operational efficiencies and across the world and are happy to be working with Sapphire. We were, and continue to be, impressed with the approach and the people."

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