Autobar Finland puts the customer in focus with ASP solution from IBS
Customer Story
Autobar Finland’s customers want even more detailed reports and information on available services from the vending machine giant. The company has saved money and improved customer service by using IBS Enterprise as an ASP (Application Service Provider) solution—and gained a more efficient and risk-free way to run its business.
Jaana Seppänen, Financial Director of Autobar Finland believes that an ASP solution is better, cheaper and quicker in the long run.
Autobar Vending and Food Services is one of the largest vending organizations in Europe. The group provides equipment, ingredients and training right across the vending sector – and can provide tailor-made solutions for every beverage and snack requirement. Autobar Finland is a subsidiary of the Autobar Group and is Finland’s leading vending company.
Autobar Finland provides vending machines for hot and cold beverages, snacks and confectionary as well as spring water. The company’s main product is food service designed to give its customers and their customers a better working day.
Autobar Finland, based in Vantaa, employs 120 people with a turnover of EUR million 16,5.
Out with old, complex processes
Competition in the vending market is fierce. The best way to win success and profit is to stand out from the competition by broadening customer choice through a comprehensive range of products and services. These days, customers demand even more detailed information and reports about the services that Autobar can offer.
Making new acquisitions and combining operations with another company has resulted in a 60 percent growth factor in the last few years for Autobar. This speed of growth brought the realization that Autobar’s old IT system, which had been highly modified over the years, was outdated, too cumbersome and inflexible. “We realized that even a tailor-made system had its disadvantages. As the system was modified to fit every little exception, our own internal process became increasingly more complex over the years,” explains Jaana Seppänen, financial director at Autobar.
This problem became worse when the company investigated how difficult, costly and time-consuming it would be to add new functionality such as electronic billing. With 40,000 invoices to produce per year, this was a fundamental requirement, particularly for larger customers.
Autobar wanted to ensure that any new system would be flexible and scalable to meet future requirements without heavy investment in hardware and infrastructure. In addition, the company wanted to purchase a standard system requiring few IT and data management skills to run it, without being tied to a new system that differed from the rest of the group.
Seppänen continues, “In hindsight, we could have saved ourselves a lot of time and effort if we had upgraded our ERP solution earlier. Even so, we are delighted with the results so far. Its refreshing to see how little effort is required to extract data from a state-of-the-art IT system.”
Access to data anywhere
Autobar looked at two other vendors, but IBS was the first to offer the use of its integrated supply chain solution as an ASP (application service provider) accessed via a web interface. The IBS Enterprise software purchased by Autobar covers distribution, financial management, business intelligence and reporting as well as electronic billing.
“ASP is the future. As we are part of an international group, we don’t want to tie ourselves to an ERP system that differs from the rest of the group in the long term. An ASP solution allows us to grow and use our IT infrastructure more freely,” concludes Seppänen.
IBS supply chain management software has been developed to help customers increase profitability by boosting sales, reducing costs and tied-up capital, shortening lead-times, improving customer service, increasing efficiency and quickly accessing decision-support information.
IBS e-billing is scalable and adaptable, designed as an easily integrated and flexible Internet-based complement to Autobar’s business operation. IBS e-billing allows customer invoicing via email, as PDF or XML attachments. XML transmission also allows Autobar to capture and transmit the actual physical format of its invoices. The solution provides an option to produce paper invoices, as well as the ability to send electronic invoices, with the opportunity to print paper copies at a later stage.
Savings from timely upgrades
With ASP, large IT cost investments are a thing of the past, and yet Autobar has access to the latest versions of IBS Enterprise software. ASP is an easy and efficient way of using software solutions. The upgrades and maintenance are the responsibility of the provider and the software can be accessed anywhere at any time, requiring only an Internet connection.
“In pure financial terms, timely upgrades rarely come cheaper than this. But even more important are the business benefits that can be gained from a modern IT system,” says Seppänen.
Benefits and value
Autobar is very pleased with its decision to purchase IBS Enterprise software using its ASP service. Unlike the old system, the service is fast and all staff can work simultaneously, even from home when necessary.
IBS Enterprise has greatly improved the company’s business performance measurement and financial control. Integrated planning and control have helped Autobar improve profits, letting staff focus on critical success factors.
Autobar has gained immediate benefits from IBS’ ASP solution, as the software is priced on a fixed-cost basis. The company is now aware of exact monthly costs without having to make provisions for upgrades, as this is all part of the IBS solution. From a long-term point of view Autobar has also saved costs because newly acquired companies can use the same standard software, without making changes to the system.
When it comes to e-billing, the company no longer has to physically copy, send or store invoices. “After implementing IBS e-billing we have saved 50 percent on our invoicing costs,” explains Seppänen.
After such a good experience with IBS, Autobar will probably never buy a system of its own. The company is in a no-risk situation with Return On Investment (ROI) realized within two years. The future is very positive for Autobar with the IBS solution in place.
Name: Autobar Group Finland Oy Region: Finland Operation: Vending b-to-b services Products: Vending machines Employees: 120 Revenue: EUR 16,5 million Website: Autobar Group Finland Oy
Issues
Fast-growing company
More demanding customers
Old IT system too cumbersome and inflexible
Invoicing process difficult, costly and time-consuming
Need to reduce IT costs
Need for a standard system, with no long-term risk.
Solution
Standard business software solution using ASP service
Sales order management
Distribution
Warehouse management
Business intelligence
Financials
Electronic billing.
Capabilities
Company performance measurement
Access to latest system upgrades
Solution used over the Internet
Full control of IT costs
No IT investment required for hardware and infrastructure
