Syndicate Sales provides a range of floral hard goods products to wholesalers, supermarkets, and mass merchant retailers worldwide. To manage business-critical information, the company relied on JD Edwards from Oracle running on the AS/400 platform. This solution was accessible to only a few employees, and Syndicate Sales employees were forced to rely on the IT department for routine reports. After considering a number of enterprise resource planning solutions, Syndicate Sales determined that Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV would support its business and make information readily available to a greater number of employees. Since implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Syndicate Sales has improved customer service, gained insight into operations, and achieved the level of analysis and reporting that it needs to adapt to changing business needs.
Business Needs
Established in 1946, family-owned Syndicate Sales leads the floral hard goods industry. The company provides a range of floral products, including floral foam and plastic and glass vases and containers to wholesalers, supermarkets, and mass merchant retailers across the globe. The Indiana-based company has 270 employees and maintains expansive operations that include distribution, importing, and manufacturing. The company manufactures nearly one-third of the products it sells and generates between U.S.$50 million to U.S.$100 million in sales per year.
For enterprise resource planning (ERP) functionality, Syndicate Sales relied on JD Edwards from Oracle running on the AS/400 platform. While the system performed most functions adequately, Syndicate Sales business managers and sales people relied heavily on IT staff to generate routine reports and extract information in response to queries.
"IT was the only department that could effectively extract business data and provide reports,” explains Joe Dishon, IT Director of Syndicate Sales. “On top of that, reporting was not fast. Depending on the number of requests, reports could take anywhere from 24 to 36 hours to deliver.”
The complexities of the JD Edwards system made finding information in the system a cumbersome and time-consuming process. In many cases, information had to be pieced together from many different areas of the system, and then entered by hand into a Microsoft® Office Excel® spreadsheet. “We complete an average of 140 orders per day,” says Mark Bilodeau, Controller at Syndicate Sales. “When you take into account the size of our inventory and the fact that each order can consist of up to 300 items, the difficulties that the sales department face are clear.”
In addition, Syndicate Sales was concerned about how well JD Edwards would support its growing business. Over time, the system became so heavily modified that the company could not take advantage of new revisions, which would allow for the use of new technology.
Syndicate Sales understood that it needed to deploy a new ERP solution. “To make informed business decisions and operate efficiently, you absolutely must have access to information,” says Dishon. “And with JD Edwards, we couldn’t effectively get our people the right information in a timely manner.”
Solution
Syndicate Sales management evaluated a number of ERP solutions, including Made2Manage, before coming to any conclusions. “Every solution made the convincing argument that our costs would be cut; but for us, that wasn’t the primary issue,” explains Dishon. “We needed to be assured that everyone could easily use the solution and have easy access to information to make sound business decisions.” Upon careful consideration, the company chose Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV for its similarity to other Microsoft products and for its ability to adapt to changing business needs.
During implementation Syndicate Sales realized the potential for Microsoft Dynamics NAV to manage more of the business than the previous ERP system. For example, the company deployed the Payroll module to more efficiently manage its own payroll processing—a service that had been outsourced at a high cost.
Syndicate Sales deployed every module of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, with the exception of Jobs. This resulted in a centrally managed solution that spans the entire company. To date, 110 employees use Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0 at Syndicate Sales.
Benefits
With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Syndicate Sales staff have achieved newfound accessibility to business information. This helps the company increase responsiveness to customers, gain insight into operations, and achieve the analysis and reporting that it needs to drive continued success. “Microsoft Dynamics NAV enables us to approach every new situation with great confidence,” says Bilodeau. “We know that our information is accurate and up-to-date.”
Improve Quality of Services
Centralizing management of business processes and data in Microsoft Dynamics NAV helps Syndicate Sales increase operational efficiency and improve customer service. “Microsoft Dynamics NAV has tied it all together—from manufacturing and distribution to sales and customer service,” says Marzullo. “This gives everyone access to the same, consistent information throughout the organization.”
Dishon adds, “We've always been a customer-centric company, but with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, we can now provide information to customers in a faster manner and at a higher quality than ever before.”
Gain Business Insight
Now Syndicate Sales employees easily access the business information that they need, which significantly eases the task of reporting. Says Bilodeau, “When I get inquiries from across the company, I can quickly create a report or drill down into business information and answer the question.” Before Microsoft Dynamics NAV, this process took upwards of 36 hours.
Through an intuitive user interface and the ability to work with data in familiar business applications, employees benefit from overall ease of use. “Microsoft Dynamics NAV enables us to quickly export business data to organized spreadsheets,” says Dishon. “The data connections between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and the applications we use every day allow our employees to work with data in the programs they’re most comfortable with, while ensuring that information remains up-to-date.”
Adapt to the Needs of a Growing Business
With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Syndicate Sales has found a single solution that can manage all aspects of the business. Integrating formerly disparate processes, such as payroll, simplifies management and delivers tangible cost savings. For example, the company saves U.S.$40,000 per year by implementing the Payroll module.
In contrast to JD Edwards, the Syndicate Sales IT department finds Microsoft Dynamics NAV easy to update. Through the Business Ready Enhancement Plan for Microsoft Dynamics, Syndicate Sales receives regular updates, including a yearly tax update which helps the company ensure that it adheres to regulations. “Even though we have modified Microsoft Dynamics NAV, upgrading it is a snap,” remarks Dishon. “This gives us the ability to take advantage of new technology as it is introduced.”
