Shaneel Group Solved Warehouse Visibility Issue With SAP Business One: Case Study

Client: UK Based Client

Introduction

One of the most common problems faced by rapidly growing startups, small and mid-sized businesses is the issue of outgrowing the existing ERP system.

This is exactly what happened with the Shaneel Group. As a wholesaler, retailer and distributor, visibility of the inventory levels is perhaps the most important criterion for Shaneel Group to have a robust internal process. Yet the information bottleneck created by its existing ERP system resulted in the group’s inability to have clear visibility into its inventory levels.

About Shaneel Group

Shaneel Group is in the sweet business of selling perfumes. They are a market leader in the fine fragrance industry with their own retail and wholesale outlets. The group boasts of at least six companies doing business in various aspects of the fine fragrance industry. Established in 1986, Shaneel Group has performed exceptionally well, thanks to the phenomenal leadership qualities displayed by the Mehta family.

The Pain Points

The biggest pain point for Shaneel Group was the fact that they kept losing visibility on their company warehouses as they kept growing and bringing in newer products to sell.

The lack of visibility in their warehouses resulted in-

• The conflict between what the customer wanted and what the group wanted to sell. Since they didn’t have clear data on which products were going out of the warehouses faster than others, they had no idea which perfumes were demanded the most by customers.
• They didn’t have any idea about which perfume brand was selling more than others. They had no data on which brand drove the most amount of profit.
• This inability to have a clear picture of inventory resulted in logistics-related and order fulfilment issues. There was the problem of understocking popular items and overstocking slow-moving ones.
• Lastly, all the above put strain on the group’s delivery efficiency.

The Solution & the Outcome

Shaneel Group zeroed in on Silver Touch Technologies as their ERP implementation partner. After requirement analysis, it was mutually realised that SAP Business One would be the perfect fit for the group of companies.

SAP Business One is a special ERP for growth-focused small and mid-sized businesses like Shaneel Group. The ERP provides each and every functionality that businesses like Shaneel need. More importantly, since the entire setup can be implemented as a SaaS solution or hosted in cloud platforms, SAP Business One can be scaled as the business grows.

The features of SAP Business One that immediately helped Shaneel Group were –

Smooth Flow of Information From Inventory to the Sales and Purchasing Teams

The root cause of the lack of visibility into inventory levels was the fact that there was a bottleneck that caused business information to not flow consistently across departments. SAP Business One resolved the issue. All of its modules are well-connected with one another. The term “single source of truth” has now become a cliche, but we still need to mention this when discussing the features of SAP Business One. The ERP makes sure every department has access to the same data keeping data duplication at bay.

Unparalleled Collaboration Among the Sales & Purchasing Departments and the Warehouses

Since there is no information bottleneck anymore, the purchasing department – both for the wholesale and retail arm – have a clear picture of the stocks of each perfume and cosmetic product and place purchase orders accordingly. SAP Business One offers a robust purchasing platform that is not just connected with the inventory but with the finance department as well.

• Every transaction triggers an update to the appropriate general ledger.
• Every transaction automatically creates A/P Invoice
• Every delivery of ordered items to the inventory automatically triggers the creation of a Good Receipt PO.

The same thing happens when the sales team sells a perfume. The sales department has complete visibility into the inventory. Hence it can confidently promise delivery within a certain date.

Data-Driven Insights on Fast-Moving and Slow-Moving Items and the Revenue Per Brand

SAP Business One is a powerful ERP that analyses enterprise data and comes up with data-driven insights. It now comes up with such data-driven insights for Shaneel as well. The intelligent system shows which products are moving fast and which are slow-moving products. The system further shows revenue and profit reports that are segregated by brands.

Enabling Predictive Analytics

Taking data analytics one notch up, SAP Business One has further enabled Shaneel Group to accurately prepare for a rise or fall in demand. The system analyses the historical data and provides sales forecasts for the future.

The Scalable System Has Future-Proofed the Business Process At Shaneel

SAP Business One is a highly scalable system that can easily keep pace with the superfast growth of the Shaneel Group. Now that SAP Business One leverages the flagship in-memory database – Hana, it has become more powerful than ever. Shaneel Group is all set for the future when its enterprise data will grow huge.

Working With Silver Touch Technologies

What separates a reliable ERP vendor from the rest is its expertise and a track record of 100% successful implementation.

Silver Touch Technologies is well aware of the statistical analysis that says 75% of ERP implementations fail. So, no matter how good an ERP is, the implementation can make or break the whole project.

Silver Touch Technologies performed a thorough requirement analysis – as Mr Dilesh Mehta, the CEO and Chairman of Shaneel Enterprises, said, “Silver Touch Technologies studied the DNA of the company.”

When it came to implementation, the ERP vendor ensured that the company and its decision-makers were included as stakeholders in the project.

At Silver Touch Technologies, the implementation team comprises both functional and technical consultants. This is why the team could address both business and technical issues.

Implementation is incomplete with post-implementation support. Silver Touch Technologies keeps all its communication channels to provide support while navigating a new ERP system.

All in all, it was a fruitful collaboration between the two companies.