Kenneth Ayres fits its complete I.T. functions in one new package

Originally a manufacturer, Ayres has now diversified its business offering to encompass a number of PVC and paper packaging and storage products, through the introduction of imported lines to complement those manufactured by the company. Ayres is locally owned, with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and has a turnover approaching $10 million.

After deciding its DOS-based financial package required upgrading, Ayres took the opportunity to stand back and consider the options besides the Windows version of the incumbent system. The impetus to evaluate a range of other solutions, according to Ayres’ Accountant, Ross Gulliver, was that “To upgrade to their [existing supplier’s] Windows product was basically a case of starting from scratch financially. Therefore, [we were] free to buy the best value-for-money solution available.”

Ayres was able to prune the contenders to a shortlist of three, using the products’ functionality, flexibility and value for money as the key evaluation criteria. The short-listed solutions were evaluated in a rigorous manner for four months. The users at Kenneth Ayres were unanimous in their selection of Greentree because of its “contemporary design, proven CBA heritage, flexibility, required investment level, and very competent and professional support from the Greentree Business Partner”.

In developing their implementation plan, Ross and Ayres’ key management worked closely with the Greentree Business Partner, and together decided upon a phased implementation with Payables, Purchasing and GL in phase 1 and Receivables, Sales Orders and Inventory in phase 2. The necessary hardware and network upgrades were also treated as separate phases to be bedded down before moving to software. Ross also made a conscious effort to involve users heavily in the selection and implementation process, as he believed that it would “give them ownership and confidence” and help to mitigate the risk of adverse reactions to the new system by users at the operational level. The implementation proved to be a resounding success, with the phased approach a critical factor in the rollout progressing smoothly.

Twelve months on, Ross feels confident that Greentree was the ideal solution for Ayres, citing a number of factors that have benefited the organisation’s process efficiency and allowed it to take its customer service to the next level. Of most benefit to Ayres, in Ross’s opinion, is Greentree’s native integration to Microsoft Excel. From an internal perspective, Ross believes “the ability to slice, dice and dissect the data using the Excel tools is exceptional. With our previous system, I spent the majority of my day generating static Dataflex reports; Greentree’s integration to Excel has made a dramatic impact on the amount of time we spend analysing data and resolving issues”.

Externally, Greentree has helped Ayres overcome a number of issues in dealing with its suppliers and customers. Ross notes that Greentree has significantly enhanced its ability to add value to its customer relationships. “We generally have long-term, repeat business customers. With Greentree we can present our customers with an order history for any period and in any format required, generally within half an hour. Using our previous system, these summaries took closer to a day to complete.”

In Ross Gulliver’s eyes, the stability of the system is critical, as the organisation does not have a dedicated IT specialist in house, and “when IT things go ‘pear shaped’ it is a big deal”. He quips, “Good software just sits in the corner and does its job without my help. Greentree just sits in the corner and does its job without my help!”

Ayres’ choice of Greentree is also being vindicated as it begins the process of bringing the entire IT function into one package. After completing the 2003 financial year-end, Greentree’s CRM and Sales & Marketing modules were implemented along with the WebStore for internet sales. Following that, Ayres was to begin the implementation project for Payroll and evaluate Fixed Assets as a further addition to the system.