Over the years Telefonija, a Belgrade-based telecommunications company, has succeeded in both growing its business at an amazing rate and outgrowing the disparate and disconnected IT systems that formed the backbone of its operations. They needed a solution that would bring together their existing customer base, their projects, and a detailed overview of all business processes. Telefonija invested in a complete business management solution based on Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision® (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™). This system was designed and implemented for them by Adacta Execom, a local partner with a proven track record across the entire region. What was once the bottleneck for an ambitious and aggressive leader in telecommunications in Serbia and Montenegro has become an empowering tool that has not just solved the problems and limitations of the past, but has also opened doorways to a more efficient management of resources.

Situation

A joint stock company for engineering and sales of telecommunication equipment and services, Telefonija of Belgrade, with 243 employees, is rated as one of the leading companies engaging in telecommunication engineering in the region.

AD Telefonija offers complete solutions in the areas of consulting, design, and installation of local and access telecommunication networks by implementing both cable and wireless solutions. Furthermore, the company provides Internet services through BeotelNet. In 2003, AD Telefonija embarked on a project for producing cash registers. In addition, AD Telefonija represents and distributes equipment for world leaders in the area of telecommunications, such as Ericsson, NERA, Wincor Nixdorf, Tyco, Raychem, Alvarion, Aperto, and ASCOM Transmission.

The old system solution at AD Telefonija was unable to keep pace with the company’s sudden increase in business volume or to provide all the necessary information about different aspects of the business. That solution consisted of separate program units that were disconnected from each other. Unsatisfactory functionality, inconsistent data, and inadequate business processes, which had been adapted to the inflexible software, were only some of the ailments of the old information system. Moreover, there was a large dependency on the software supplier and its goodwill.

“All [the] big systems we worked with, principally Telekom Serbia, have drastically increased their volume of investments over the past several years,” says Branimir Boskovic, President of AD Telefonija. “As a consequence, our volume of business in dealings with them increased as well, and we arrived at a situation where we had doubled our yearly transactions and the volume of our business. We understood very quickly that our old information system was not adequate. For 10 years, our programmers had mended, upgraded, and customized that old system to meet certain standards, including the transfer from MS-DOS® to [Microsoft®] Windows®, etc. In the end, it looked like a big patchwork, as if you had an old, ragged suit with many patches.”

“Also, the end of every year, when we did our annual balance sheet, represented a period of trauma and a state of emergency for the company. People avoided working on it, because they knew it was a miner’s job, meaning that someone had to work hard on it and do many things manually,” adds Boskovic.

In order to normalize and professionalize this situation, it was necessary to do the following: integrate financial information, and standardize and expedite business processes. A solution had to be found that would produce maximal benefits, introduce the best and latest technology, minimize the risks during the lifecycle of implementation and utilization of the business solution, automate business processes, and achieve control over all levels of business.

Solution

“Before making our decision about a system solution that we would implement in our business,” explains Boskovic, “we did an analysis of other business management solutions. The decision to implement Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision® was made because we believed that this solution was able to fulfill all our present and future needs and track the development of the company to its expected size, as well as provide all the necessary information about business operations.”

The business management solution, based on Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision® software, is a complete and flexible business accounting solution, covering activities in manufacturing, commercial, and service companies.

The product line of Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision, localized with respect to language and accounting, offers a variety of solutions for businesses and enables better cooperation between customers, employees, partners, and suppliers. The product line serves a wide ranging area of processes, starting from management of finances, through participation in the supply chain, including complete customer relationship management (CRM). Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision enables total management of relationships with all business partners (customers, suppliers, sales representatives. and so forth). All application solutions are connected to a general ledger, which represents the central application, and which is integrated with all other areas.

This solution is known for its ease of use, being adjustable to the user’s needs, and its connection with the Microsoft environment and tools. That is why Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision is a good starting point for the world of e business. One of the most important advantages of Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision is the simplicity and clarity of programming code, which enables Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Partners to quickly and efficiently customize and upgrade functional solutions according to the user’s specific needs.

As a result, the implemented business solution brings together the world’s best business practices, integration of business processes, advancement of business, adaptation of global solutions to the specifics of the local market, as well as a long-term partnership (in maintenance and continuous upgrade of the system).

AD Telefonija gave special attention to choosing a partner whom it would trust with such a complex job. The selected partner was Adacta Execom, a member of Adacta Group, the most experienced partner for the implementation of Navision in the region. Adacta Execom, with President Bogdan Obradovic at the helm and also serving as the project lead, has proven worthy of this trust from the day the contract was signed through the completion of the installation of the entire system.

Adacta Group does business in three countries: Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro, and it is the leading Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Partner in the region, with nearly 100 successful installations of Navision.

“We have the largest and most technologically skilled team for sales, business consulting, implementation, and development of the Microsoft Navision solution, as well as for customer support. We have successfully completed numerous organizationally and technologically demanding installations of the Microsoft Navision solution, and we also own the biggest share of the market in the region,” says Obradovic.

AD Telefonija bought a license for 31 simultaneous users. Currently, there are about 70 users of the system. Of special importance is the fact that the employees of Telefonija were provided with all the necessary training to use and upgrade the system on their own.

The project was realized in three phases over nine months. The company’s entire business was covered (Finances and Accounting; Fixed Assets; Sales—Commerce, Internet, Purpose-Specific, Technical Operations, and Design Services; Manufacture of Fiscal Cash Registers; Work Orders—Commerce, Internet, Purpose-Specific; Situations and Small Investments, INO Business; Cashier’s Office; Payment Operations and Banking; Personnel Records; Traffic Department; Central Records; Acquisition—Acquisition Department, Commerce, Purpose-Specific, Internet, Technical Operations; Warehouse Operations; Payroll). What is important to emphasize is that from the moment the implementation of Microsoft Navision was completed, Telefonija did not use any other software in the covered areas. The phases of implementation were completed: analysis, design, development, and installation. The project has now entered the maintenance phase.

“I have to say that this was a very stressful experience for us in the company, for various reasons,” says Boskovic. “The first reason, perhaps the most important, is that we were implementing this new solution in the middle of our business expansion, and I would describe that as being like changing a tire on a car while at full speed. Because of the increased volume of business, frequent changes in legal regulations, and now the installation of PDV, our people and the people from Adacta Execom had a difficult task in changing the system on the fly. Of course, I think that this was done in a quality manner and systematically by Adacta Execom, because they first began with the most important areas, which were bookkeeping and accounting. A very precise implementation plan was drawn up for each department, and our staff was trained in working with Microsoft Navision, taking into account the fact that the majority of our people were being introduced to such an application for the first time.”

“After the successful deployment of Navision over the entire company’s business, the obligation of Adacta Execom was to ensure the completion of all goals and tasks that were outlined. According to our experience, when the users fully master a solution, then new ideas arise. Through continual support to the client, Adacta Execom is making sure that such ideas are accepted and later implemented in order for Navision to continue to be an optimal solution,” says Obradovic.

Benefits

The concluding solution supports all business functions and enables the connection of business processes with accounting; the entire company’s business is truly integrated. The key indicators of business operations have become clearer. Strategic business management, consolidation of business, and business planning were made possible. Workflow was reorganized in accordance with standards, and the auditing of the business at all levels of management has increased dramatically. Finally, the solution is ready to support all future legal changes in accounting and financial operations.

“Now we can precisely see where the bottleneck of our business is and who has not been prompt in following up with papers, documentation, and procedures within the business of Telefonija. That was not possible with the old system—nobody knew who entered what, where something was. Now, however, it can clearly be seen who entered a specific piece of data and when and if we are behind. We now know exactly who is behind and where the problem areas are in the business chain,” says Boskovic.

“Since we are now able to see where the bottlenecks are,” adds Boskovic, “we solve such problems by personnel and organizational changes. Looking forward, Microsoft Navision will help us become more efficient, with regards to processing speed and response to the market, when a customer is at stake. In fact, that is already happening. This year, we had several big projects, including our fiscal processes. At one point, we had 10,000 clients who bought cash registers from us, and we needed a system to easily manipulate a large number of transactions, with only one program.”

In addition to these factors, positive economic outcomes include an increase in productivity and in the quality of business processes (and in achieved savings); an increase in the quality of decision making (enabling the company to deal with its core business topics); increased monitoring of the market (and a better and stronger relationship with customers and suppliers); increased knowledge in the sense of sophistication, accuracy, and promptness of information; an increase of sales leads and profitability; an increase in innovation; and with all that, the creation of economic advantages and forces.

In short, changing a tire while at full speed was worthwhile.

Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics™ is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Adacta Execom products and services, call or visit the Web site at:
http://www.adacta.co.yu.

For more information about AD Telefonija products and services, call or visit the Web site at:
www.telefonija.co.yu

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This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

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