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“Our business involves large orders from major retailers. For example, a batch order from one retailer can consist of 600-800 invoices. With SYSPRO 8, these invoices are generated in three minutes.”
– Trish Pretorius – Internal Sales Manager Moto Quip
Customer Profile
Established in South Africa in 1982, Moto Quip has become a household name in motor vehicle accessories. More recently, the company extended its offering to include home, leisure and travel product ranges. Moto Quip has a substantial turnover, with only 25 permanent employees.
The Business Challenge
Moto Quip implemented SYSPRO 6 in 2007. The system had become outdated and was no longer supported, but in upgrading to SYSPRO 8 the company needed to maintain the high level of automation which had been custom-built into its solution.
The Solution
Normandy Computer Services, one of SYSPRO’s channel partners in South Africa, has provided implementation services and support to Moto Quip since 2007. Together, the two companies successfully upgraded from SYSPRO 6 to SYSPRO 7 and finally SYSPRO 8 over the course of a single weekend, despite the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Outcome
Since implementing SYSPRO 8, Moto Quip has noted a 20%-30% increase in productivity. The company has also integrated its customized, automated add-on systems with SYSPRO 8 from scratch and implemented a standardized program that can be integrated with its sub-contractors’ systems.
Processing large orders at the press of a button
Despite its substantial turnover, Moto Quip has only two staff members in its internal sales department. Trish Pretorius, Internal Sales Manager of Moto Quip, points out that it’s simply not possible for two people to process those volumes manually. “Our business involves large orders from major retailers. For example, a batch order from one retailer can consist of 600-800 invoices. With SYSPRO 8, these invoices are generated in three minutes, whereas with SYSPRO 6 it took 15-20 minutes to pull in 20 orders,” she says.
Moto Quip uses a company called EDI, which specializes in electronic data interchange, to compress the separate PDF documents received from retailers into one Excel spreadsheet that is saved on Moto Quip’s server. SYSPRO pulls the data in from the server as a batch order.
“SYSPRO tells us everything we need to know – which lines were not imported, which lines were out of stock, if there are any errors with purchase orders and so on,” Pretorius says. “It eliminates duplicate purchase orders as well as zero cost prices, so no physical errors can be made.
Managing broad-scale outsourcing
Every aspect of Moto Quip’s business – from loading orders to warehousing, distribution, merchandising and sending remittances to customers – is outsourced. A fully integrated, automated solution is more than critical, it’s a necessity. Pretorius says the biggest challenge in upgrading to SYSPRO 8 was to maintain these high levels of integration between SYSPRO, its customized add-on systems and the sub-contractors.
“It’s a huge exercise to implement all the automated systems in our organisation. Not only did we achieve that, but we’ve standardised all aspects of the solution so that the next time we upgrade it will be seamless,” Pretorius says.
In addition, Moto Quip has met the stringent security requirements of the Bidvest Group, its parent company. Because Bidvest servers may only be accessed within the group, Moto Quip upgraded its servers and hardware first before tackling the implementation of SYSPRO 8.
“We debated whether to use SYSPRO 8 in the cloud or on a physical server. Ultimately, we chose the physical server as we integrate our solution with so many other companies’ systems,” Pretorius says. “Their data is now converted into a specific file which is automatically imported into SYSPRO 8.
Reaping the benefits
The productivity improvement experienced by Moto Quip since implementing SYSPRO 8 is partly due to the superior speed of SYSPRO 8. Productivity in other areas has also improved because there is more time to liaise with customers and follow up on queries.
“The type of information available in SYSPRO 8 is also far greater than in SYSPRO 6. There are many other improvements, such as extended reporting capabilities and the elimination of human error. It’s like using a Bot, without using a Bot,” Pretorius says. Moto Quip is also completely satisfied with the service and support it receives from Normandy Computer Services. “Because we’re such a small company we need full-on support. We’ve been dealing with Normandy Computer Services for a long time and couldn’t ask for a better SYSPRO partner,” Pretorius says.
Normandy Computer Services were also aware of the shift in processes and functionality that came with the transition to SYSPRO 8. Staff needed to be encouraged to embrace the new version and its full functionality. To manage these changes, a test environment was set up and staff were trained on the new capabilities. Training coupled with the support from Moto Quip leadership resulted in a fast and efficient upgrade and faster time to value for the business.
The road ahead
Phase two of Moto Quip’s implementation involves automating its Proof of Delivery (POD) system using QDocs, a document management system which is integrated with Microsoft Office. With SYSPRO 8, the company will migrate physical orders, invoices and PODs into one system. Work in Progress and e-commerce also form part of the second phase.
“SYSPRO 8 eliminates a high number of queries and pricing issues, and it’s a breeze to work with. Our stress levels have reduced significantly. I believe it’s a must-have, particularly with so many organisations struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic,” Pretorius says.
