The business-wide benefits of
Discover how PJ SAS eliminated manual reporting and increased business visibility by transitioning to a more user-friendly system
Sydney-based PJ SAS has been a major importer and wholesaler of general merchandise for 25 years. 100% Australian owned and operated, they currently supply over 4,000 different merchandise products to major supermarkets, variety stores and distributors across Australia and internationally.
The scale of operations at PJ SAS is significant, as is their employee base and inventory, making for complex processes and management requirements. With so many moving parts, clear visibility and control over the business is vital for smooth day-to-day operations, and facilitating future growth. Unfortunately, this is something PJ SAS had started to struggle with.
A Micronet customer for 10 years, they were familiar with ERP and its ability to control complex inventory, pricing and supply needs. However, had begun to see inefficiencies in their system that were hindering management and reporting, including
Time-consuming reporting process
Difficulty extracting correct, up-to-date data
Difficulty extracting correct, up-to-date data
Inability to analyse performance and forward-plan
“It was very hard to monitor how the business was performing in real-time. Once we got the data out, it was more of a historical view. We couldn’t plan anything from it.” – Steven Butler, Finance Manager
The idea of a new, more efficient system had been on the cards for a while, and it had reached a point where a decision needed to be made. PJ SAS reached out to Drew Arthur, MD at Micronet, to discuss their options.
The right fit and a smooth transition
Drew introduced them to HARMONiQ, Micronet’s latest ERP software solution designed to meet the needs of modern business, and provided them with a demo of the new software so they could see it in action. They walked away from the demo excited with the new product, but still wanted to do due diligence and reached out to other providers for quotes and demos. What they saw led them to believe they didn’t need to look elsewhere – HARMONiQ was clearly the right choice for them.
The transition to HARMONiQ happened to align with the build of PJ SAS’s new e-commerce site. Despite the pressure of two major projects happening in conjunction with each other, the entire transition process was smooth. The HARMONiQ team worked alongside the website builders to ensure cohesion and integration. They were also on-site for the week of the go-live to straighten out any teething problems in the system.
“I’ve been involved in a couple of other ERP transitions in the past, and they haven’t gone this well.” – Steven Butler, Finance Manager
PJ SAS put the implementation success down to the HARMONiQ team’s preparation and experience. They had a clear process and checklists in place to take PJ SAS through the whole move, and to ensure data was seamlessly mapped from the old system to the new one.
There was a small amount of trepidation from staff at the idea of a big change, as there often is when you introduce something new. But it didn’t last long.
“When staff realised that HARMONiQ was a world apart from Micronet, and the number of things that they could do in the system, they really took it on.” – Steven Butler, Finance Manager
The result? Quick & seamless visibility, business-wide
Seven months on, PJ SAS are utilising HARMONiQ to its full potential, and reaping the benefits. They have not only been able to rectify the issues they were previously experiencing, but have discovered advantages they didn’t even know they needed.
Quick and Easy Reporting
Monthly management reports that used to take three days to prepare in Excel are now available at the touch of a button. This has made information more accessible and reporting a lot more efficient, freeing up managements’ time.
Customised Dashboards
HARMONiQ has allowed them to set up dashboards completely customised to their business, their teams, and the information most important to them. They now have 15 different dashboards showing details for everything from profit and loss to outgoing delivery scheduling and overdue orders.
User-friendly Flexibility
In Micronet, there was little functionality to edit data once a sales order or invoice had been closed. Now, the finance team has the flexibility to edit and make changes to data directly in the system. It’s a much more user-friendly and intuitive system that offers the flexibility complex organisations like PJ SAS need.
Live Data
HARMONiQ gives them access to live data, something they were able to use to their advantage during COVID-19. It gave them hourly visibility over sales, eCommerce hits, payments, purchasing and more, allowing them to analyse business performance and make decisions very quickly.
The ongoing relationship and support they’ve received from the HARMONiQ team have been a clear benefit as well. They have fortnightly catch ups with their rep, and when they have an issue, they get instant feedback and assistance.
Overall, it’s the snapshots of real-time information from across the business that has made the biggest impact for PJ SAS.
“We now use our HARMONiQ dashboard for our monthly board meetings. We go through financials, sales, purchasing information, stock holdings, it’s fantastic. It’s been an absolute game-changer for us.” – Raymond Abdow, General Manager
Although it’s always hard to change, they’ve realised change is a good thing and is required to move business forward. Making a change and deciding to implement HARMONiQ, along with the new e-commerce site, has allowed them to grow and prosper.
“We’ve seen significant growth over the last seven months, and I’d have to say HARMONiQ has played a part in that.” – Raymond Abdow, General Manager
If it’s time for your business to transition to the next generation of more user-friendly, intuitive, transparent and transformative systems — It’s time for us to talk.
