OfficeNational, the largest independently owned provider of office products in South Africa, has selected HansaWorld enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to run its national operations.
Managing Director Ryan Bidgood says OfficeNational needed a business solution that would improve efficiencies for its 57 retail outlets and 500 staff around South Africa.
"We evaluated several different ERP systems over six months and did a full interrogation of the HansaWorld system one of our suppliers was running, before deciding to implement it."
Bidgood says the integration between HansaWorld's Web shop functionality and its business software database was a major factor in OfficeNational's decision. "Because the Web system and the business software access the same database, we can maintain our Web shop with completely up to date stock and price information, without ever needing to synchronise between databases."
Over 70% of OfficeNational's sales are to commercial customers, making online buying particularly important. Walk-in retail customers account for only about 24% of sales.
All the systems evaluated had similar standard accounting features, but Bidgood says OfficeNational was attracted by HansaWorld's modular layout, the HansaWorld Application Language (HAL) and pricing. "We needed a system that made commercial sense for all outlets to implement," he says. HansaWorld's mix of functionality and price made it a good fit for our business."
The first of OfficeNational's 57 retail outlets went live on 1 July and the second will go live on 1 August.
Next Bidgood plans to look at electronic ordering from its suppliers and business dashboards for the outlets.
"The second phase of implementation will begin once the support office and two outlets are implemented and fully operational," says Bidgood.
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