Achieves multi-company consolidation.

In the initial years, Techmart juggled with several siloed business applications until they realized the benefit of having one integrated system and zeroed in on Microsoft Dynamics AX.

The Need

Although initially, the primary objective of implementing an ERP system was effective financial management and reporting, they later understood the potential of ERP to streamline sales and distribution operations, thus enabling the sales team and driving their output. Moreover, for a company like Techmart that deals with several brands and has multiple legal entities, it was important to have a robust solution that could handle multi-company consolidation and give the management brand-wise visibility in terms of inventory, allocation, and accounting. At Techmart, all activities, starting from buying to warehousing and selling, were performed brand-wise. In the warehouse, goods were often bundled for promotions, and in such scenarios, capturing costs accurately was crucial. As far as reporting was concerned, it had to be quick and easy to extract relevant data, and at the same time, be available to seamlessly send to principals through EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). The ERP system was also expected to support integration to various other systems such as eCommerce platforms and data capturing systems.

Business Challenge

The primary objective of implementing an ERP system was to handle multi-company operations, including consolidations, budgeting and management reporting. Managing controls by brand with regards to permissions, budgeting and support allocations was yet another crucial requirement. Additionally, there was a need for a single, holistic system for stock management, rebates management (sell-in, sell-out, sell-through), price list management, centralized material planning, integration with multiple applications and Electronic Data Exchange between principal and retailers.

The Solution

Being a Microsoft Gold Partner, Microsoft Dynamics was the obvious choice and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 was found to be the most suitable option.

The below-mentioned business functions are handled through the AX system at Techmart:

• General ledger
• Accounts receivable and payable
• Bank management
• Budgetary control
• Share service support
• Management reporter
• HR and Payroll
• Organizational and workforce management
• Employee self-service portal
• Business Intelligence and Reporting
• Standard, ad doc and analytical reports with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
• Role tailored, predefined, multidimensional data cubes
• Dashboard views of key performance indicator
• Inventory and warehouse management
• Stock planning and visibility
• Stock reservations
• Procurement and sourcing
• Direct and indirect procurement
• Supplier relationship management
• Vendor rebate management
• Project Management and accounting
• Project invoicing
• Sales management
• Customer rebates management
• Trade agreement

Benefits

• Microsoft Dynamics AX allows the creation of unlimited Financial Dimensions, which has enabled Techmart to capture details of every transaction and achieve brand-wise dimension accounting.
• End users are assigned dimensions and this in turn decides the user permissions. Thus, users are authorized to access only the dimensions that are allocated to them.
• Multi-company financial consolidation has improved visibility into financial operations, thereby boosting the performance of the organization as a whole.
• Unifying of COA (Chart of Accounts) has simplified group-level reporting.
• Electronic approvals of documents such as purchase, sales, and inventory transactions have saved time and resources, minimized errors, increased efficiencies, and most importantly given the management a much better control over the business operations.
• Microsoft Dynamics AX has aided in accurate costing, and the vendor rebate functionality has helped Techmart to better manage their supplier rebate programs and increase profitability.
• Quick reporting has helped Techmart in improved and informed decision-making.
• The management can now view and analyze sales data by brand and channel.
• Electronic Integration with other systems such as van sales, data capture systems and eCommerce platform has helped to streamline operations and have a single view of data, thereby simplifying data analysis and reporting
• Microsoft Dynamics AX has given the management visibility on stock aging, by brand.
• Database management and security by brands.
• Daily/weekly or monthly sales data can be emailed to end-users.

About Techmart

Techmart is a leading distribution company in the Middle East region focusing on Accessories (Telecom & IT) Product categories covering 12 countries across the Middle East & East Africa. Techmart partners with global brands such as Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, SanDisk, Belkin, among others.