Vollers’s digital transformation: More efficiency thanks to Dynamics 365 Finance

The challenge: Manual processes make flexibility difficult in a volatile business field

Vollers is one of the leading commodity logistics service providers for the storage, management, quality control, cleaning, and flavoring of goods—especially coffee, tea, and cocoa. The company handles the entire logistics process for its customers, including customs clearance and warehouse management. The total value of goods stored in Vollers’s warehouses, spread across 13 locations in Europe, is high. “This is testament to the trust our customers have in us. They can rely on us to manage their goods securely and to a high standard at all times,” says Johannes Hartholt, Head of IT at the Vollers Group.

However, the business environment for commodities is extremely volatile, with prices changing rapidly in line with factors such as weather conditions or global demand. “The goods we store can serve as collateral for loans that our customers take out with banks. That makes us central to their financing process,” Hartholt says. “If prices suddenly rise, for example, we have to be able to react quickly for our customers. To do this, we need to be able to manage inventories and qualities correctly and transparently at all times.”

In the past, however, managing inventory, entering master data, managing customs documents, insurance documents, and proofs of ownership, as well as controlling and monitoring quality control and warehouse management were still partly carried out manually. “But manual processes are always prone to errors and are often extremely inefficient,” Hartholt says. “So, we needed a real transformation—and an efficient, standardized, reliable, and robust ERP system that was capable of handling these high goods values. Our old ERP system based on Microsoft AX 2012, which was highly customized to our needs, is no longer supported.”

As a company, Vollers is pursuing a cloud-first strategy. In the future, all IT processes are to run primarily in the cloud, not only technically but also operationally. That’s why Vollers decided to rely entirely on Microsoft Azure and implement Dynamics 365 Finance. Christian Vollers, Co-Managing Director and owner of Vollers, emphasizes: “The implementation of Dynamics 365 Finance was the first step toward the complete digitalization of our company.”

The solution: Efficiency, transparency, and a comprehensive digital transformation thanks to Dynamics 365 Finance

Thanks to the new cloud basis and Dynamics 365 Finance, Vollers now has significantly more transparency and control over inventories, quality, and financial data and can react quickly and flexibly to changes in the market and business environment. The cloud also makes it possible to scale resources as required—without having to invest in expensive hardware—and thus creates the basis for future growth.

A key aspect of the digital transformation is the optimization of master data processes. Today, centralized processes manage and synchronize customer master data automatically. This greatly increases data quality and also enables faster and more precise data processing. Hartholt explains: “Only authorized persons can create and maintain master data. By recording and managing data centrally, we ensure the consistency and accuracy of the data.” In addition, master data is synchronized between different systems. This ensures that all departments and locations have access to the same up-to-date data.

However, data synchronization and exchange take place not only within the company’s own systems but also between its own ERP system and those of its customers. This is made possible by a digital interface called “V-Interface.” “By integrating V-Interface, our customers receive real-time updates on their inventory, bookings, and other relevant information. This improves transparency and enables better planning for us and our customers. Thanks to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, we have raised our efficiency to a new level,” says Johannes Hartholt. The user-friendly interface also contributes to this: For one thing, it makes operation immensely easier for Vollers employees and, for another, it guides users intuitively, quickly, and efficiently through the individual process steps.

Another example of the successful implementation of the new cloud technologies is the use of the Power Platform to record container data in the warehouses using handheld devices. These devices are equipped with scanners to capture barcodes and QR codes on goods and containers. This enables inventory data, location information, and the status of the goods to be transferred to Vollers’s ERP system in real time. Hartholt confirms: “The seamless integration of the various Microsoft technologies increases the quality of our inventory management and the satisfaction of our customers.”

Vollers will continue to focus on driving forward digitalization and continuously improving the efficiency of its business processes in the future. In the coming years, the plan is to map the supply chain and sales process in Microsoft Dynamics 365. “By automating and increasing efficiency, we can save around 70,000 working hours per year in the long term, which our employees can devote to other value-adding tasks,” Hartholt says. “This helps us counter the shortage of skilled workers.”