How Fala Limited Leveraged SAP Business One as a Scale Multiplier: A Case Study
Client: UK Based Client
Introduction
Fala Limited is a UK-based AIDC (Automatic ID and Data Capture) hardware services company. They provided various services related to barcode scanners and other hardware, including equipment rentals
upgradation packages, equipment repair, buybacks, and other related services.
A primary mission of Fala is to improve the service life of barcode equipment long after the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) has ceased to provide repairs, warranties, spare parts or updates. They are motivated by a strong business ethic of sustainability and environmental protection, which is why they set up the business in the first place, with an eye on reducing total emissions from the retail sector.
At a certain point, Fala hit the normal problems of scale and felt like they had hit a plateau in terms of managing their expanding operations. Realising they had to look to technology to realise their dream of making every retailer and logistics firm in the UK more sustainable, they turned to Silver Touch Technologies to help them implement SAP Business One as a solution.
This case study will examine the problems faced by Fala, how SAP helped tackle them, and Silver Touch’s overall management of the whole procedure.
Problems faced by Fala
1. Inventory Tracking
The biggest problem faced by Fala was the management and tracking of inventory. Considering their business model, a primary concern for Fala was tracking the model, condition and other details of every single item that entered their warehouse, being able to quickly and transparently assign work orders.
1. Employee Tracking
Another issue Fala was encountering was the accurate assigning and tracking of employee time. Assigning the correct employee with the correct skills to each specific task and tracking how long certain problems took to fix was a huge issue for Fala management. In times of high workload, the situation could become chaotic and almost impossible to manage.
1. Customer Management
Fala also required help with a proper customer relations management suite. Due to their high number of customers, and the varied requirements, locations and devices of each customer, tracking customer data efficiently was a vital yet often underserved task. Fala aimed to dominate the AIDC market, and for that, they needed a competitive edge in customer relations.
How these problems were solved by using SAP Business One
When the company contacted Silver Touch Technologies for the installation of SAP Business One, they were, of course expecting productivity gains, but even Fala’s management was shocked at how quickly and expediently SAP Business One was able to resolve issues and eliminate pain points.
Inventory Management
Case in point, the eternal problem of warehousing and inventory tracking faced by Fala went away almost overnight. With the help of SAP Business One, they were able to track in real-time where each item was, where it needed to go, what work was to be done on it, and other details. By using this data, they were able to drastically improve turnaround times and reduce inventory loss. Not only did this let them handle higher workloads, but it also improved the quality of the work and provided data to analyse points of inefficiency.
Employee Management
Fala was also able to improve employee productivity significantly with the help of SAP Business One. By letting management oversee which employee was working on which task, log employee work hours precisely and double-check assignments, there was a drastic improvement in both employee productivity and employee job satisfaction. The new, more ordered process was also better for employees by reducing overtime, stress and better recording and disbursement of wages.
Customer Management
Lastly, the huge improvement in their customer relations management capabilities has enabled Fala Limited to grow in leaps and bounds after SAP Business One implementation. Now the Fala customer service department can easily track work orders, deliveries, invoices, customised requests, complaints, reviews and statistical data for each client, providing them with a better, more personalised service. This has contributed to a huge leap in customer satisfaction and has improved Fala’s client retention, customer acquisition costs and reviews.
As we can see, SAP Business One was a huge boost to Fala Limited’s operations, and while the software itself was a primary factor, we must also take into account and analyse the implementation of it by Silver Touch Technologies, looked at in the next section.
Working with Silver Touch- A holistic SAP service provider
Fala employees almost universally praised the experience of working with Silver Touch Technologies on the SAP Business One Project. Particular areas they singled out for praise included the quick response time on all queries Fala had, a strong understanding of their needs, coming from the several years of experience Silver Touch had working with similar firms, and the willingness to provide deep customisation options to meet Fala’s present and future requirements.
A representative from Silver Touch was attached to Fala on a 24/7 basis, and this agent went around speaking to Fala employees, observing their business process, and having lengthy, detailed consultations with management to help come up with solutions. What really impressed Fala was that the Silver Touch rep did not just suggest reactionary solutions to their stated problems but was quite proactive as well, going above and beyond his mandate to suggest further efficiency-boosting measures that had not even occurred to Fala themselves.
Another area in which Fala gave a glowing review of Silver Touch was in after-sales support. It has been rightly pointed out that any software service is only as good as its after-sales support, and Silver Touch received full marks in this department as well. They provided in-depth training to all employees in the various aspects and intricacies of SAP Business One, as well as refresher courses on any subsequent updates, and were also quick to respond to any requests for technical support from Fala.
Fala upper management Robby Wilkins and owner Dragan Svetkov, who were kind enough to provide their insight for this case study, said that they both were extremely happy with the outcomes of working with Silver Touch to implement SAP Business One and that the business is now ready to expand in scale and profitability because of it.