2 page Case Study - Posted 7/12/2007
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Leading Mobile Manufacturer Experiences Exponential Growth with Scalable Solution
i-mate™ has quickly become one of the world’s leading experts in the production of Windows Mobile® wireless devices and software solutions. Since 2001, its business has grown exponentially, selling high-end smartphones and Pocket PCs. To support its rapid growth, i-mate™ implemented a business management system to track its products and finances. Since then, employees have increased by 200 per cent, and the one solution has scaled to accommodate the fast expansion.
Business Needs
Based in Dubai, i-mate™ became fully operational in 2003. But its growth was restricted by using Microsoft® Office Excel® to order its finances. Markus Wipfli, Financial Controller, i-mate™, says: “To expand, we needed a business management system that would help us grow as a business. A solution that would integrate with our logistics system and offer detailed reporting.”
Employees had major challenges tracking the serial numbers of products. When end users reported a fault, employees used serial numbers to find out what supplier they needed to contact. This became an important challenge for i-mate™. It had to gain the ability to track products per unit.
The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a number unique to every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. i-mate™ needed a solution that would integrate with the IMEI coding on its products to track distribution. Wipfli says: “We needed a complete financial package to track inventory debtors and creditors, improving our performance and helping us to become a global operation.”
Solution
The finance and IT teams looked at a number of options on the market, including SAGE. But, because i-mate™ is a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner and manufacturer of Windows Mobile, it made sense to stay with Microsoft technology. i-mate™ chose Microsoft Dynamics™ GP as the solution to track its finances and products. Wipfli says: “We selected Microsoft Dynamics GP because it fits our needs as a growing business. We knew it could handle inventory in detail, right down to the individual unit. What’s more, it is extremely user friendly.”
Microsoft Dynamics GP provides detailed financial management options that range from general ledger, accounts payable, and accounts receivable modules to easy reconciliation. It lets employees choose the criteria they want to analyse financial data. i-mate™ worked with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Jumbo Electronics to implement Microsoft Dynamics GP. An e-connect integration tool was used to integrate the new system with data generated from the existing logistics solution to track IMEI codes.
Microsoft Dynamics GP would help i-mate™ employees reduce the time it takes to process inventory receipts and order processing transactions. It would also promote the consolidation and timely presentation of financial reports to management.
It successfully went live in March 2005. Today, the solution in Dubai connects to i-mate™ subsidiaries in India, Australia, and the United States. Employees can now easily download information from Microsoft Dynamics GP into Microsoft Office Excel. They can also download an invoice into PDF format for e-mailing to customers.
“The solution is very accommodating,” Wipfli says. “When we get a new customer, we model the appropriate business processes for that customer by adapting an existing process. It is very quick and easy to implement. Current processes are just as easy to update to ever-changing business dynamics.”
Benefits
Since deploying Microsoft Dynamics GP, employee processes at i-mate™ are now much more automated. The system is adapted to fit with business and market changes. Employees now control data reporting and can track each device through IMEI codes, which results in faster customer response times to any issues that arise.
“When we implemented GP, we were a very small business with 60 employees,” Wipfli says. “Today, we are a medium-sized company with more than 200 employees, and Microsoft Dynamics GP has helped us get there. It helped us get our business processes in preparation for our public listing on the Alternative Investments Market in 2005.
“Our financial team decides what kind of report we need, and the system does it. One feature we find really valuable is the integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP SmartList to Office Excel. It helps us make significant time savings when reconciling accounts or producing reports. We can export information from the system to formulate multi-level reports the way we want.”
Not only has i-mate™ grown, its vendors are getting much larger. It’s now working with Jumbo Electronics on how it can integrate vendors into the system. Also in development is the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to improve customer management.
- Once it’s complete, i-mate has the option to amalgamate it with its existing Microsoft Dynamics GP solution.
- Employees can decide what the business needs the solution to do.
- Employee numbers at i-mate™ have risen by more than 100 per cent.
- Customer numbers have risen from 25 to more than 300.
- Employee efficiency in the financial team has improved.
- Fast adoption of system with familiar working environment.
- The solution has adapted to accommodate more users.
- Employees have reduced the time it takes to process inventory receipts and order processing transactions.
- The financial team can present multi-level reports to management.
- Successful experience with Microsoft business management software has led the company to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
