Abyss really gets its skates on with MYOB Exo

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Published on the 13/05/2010 | Written by MYOB

AT A GLANCE

Abyss Distribution

INDUSTRY

Importer / Wholesaler

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

In a period of intense growth, Abyss was looking to reduce reporting errors, invoice faster and, ultimately, shift more stock out the door.

SOLUTION

MYOB Exo

THE BENEFITS

Improvement in the reduction of invoicing time and errors
Capacity is down to the ‘size-colour matrix’, which saves Abyss 10 of hours in data entry every week
Accurate, three-dimensional knowledge of all our stock which allows for improved stock-turn or margin as required

FOR MORE INFORMATION

MYOB//
E: biggerbusiness@myob.com
NZ: 0800 696 239
AU: 1300 555 110
https://www.myob.com/

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Abyss Distribution, an Australian importer and wholesaler of skateboard gear like Protec Helmets, Coal Fashion and Fila in-line skates, needed to bump up system performance to cope with its fast growth…

Currently in a period of intense growth, Abyss is looking to reduce reporting errors, invoice faster and, ultimately, shift more stock out the door.

The story
Abyss had been running MYOB Premier for a number of years. However, as business grew, so did the size of Premier’s data file. And, without the capacity for a style, colour or size matrix, invoicing was becoming slow and unwieldy.

Size wasn’t the only issue. Abyss needed to run other programs alongside Premier, such as Sales Matrix, EDI and Scan Packaging. In addition, Premier wasn’t capable of integrating with additional third-party software at this level.

Choosing a new system
Abyss’ MD Paul Horsey looked at a number of potential successors to Premier, including SAP.

He admits that, in addition to stock-purchasing, currency and invoicing, much of his focus was on finding an integrated ‘size-colour matrix’ module.

“There’s always a huge amount of duplicate data-entry involved when you sell so many similar products by size and colour. The only way to seriously improve our invoicing speed, as we saw it, was to use a size matrix module. The problem was finding one that was fully incorporated within a sales order and accounting software package.”

In the end, Horsey settled on MYOB’s Exo (formally MYOB Exonet), but not until he’d spent the best part of 14 months researching the market.

Of the factors influencing Abyss’ decision, Horsey says one of the main reasons he opted for Exo was that it was owned by a trusted brand like MYOB.

The ‘size-colour matrix’ also played a big part. Because, unlike competing software packages that use a ‘size-colour matrix’ from a third party, Exo has this functionality built in.

“But the bottom line is the system met our budget,” says Horsey.

Software only half of the solution
Despite Horsey’s systematic approach to choosing a new system for his business, he admits that, in many respects, the right software is only one half the solution.

The other half, he says, is the company you partner with to implement and support your chosen solution.

Horsey decided to work with Exoserv because of its history of working with accounting and business software, and its reputation as one of the best in the business.

“From the outset, they really understood our business and grasped the issues,” says Horsey.

“Better still, they appreciated what we wanted to get out of the system further down the line – not just in the immediate months following our switch to Exo.”

Horsey says that Abyss’ system requirements would have presented a real challenge for any systems implementer. But Exoserv consistently delivered “over and above” what was required.

“They not only complied with our requests for new invoice forms,” he says. “But they were proactive in suggesting alternatives to the design of our system that we either hadn’t thought of or just couldn’t envisage”.

The big switch
At 3pm on a Friday, Abyss shut down its old system.

EXO was up and running by 9pm the same day.

When pressed on the issue of usability, Horsey prefers not to draw comparisons between old and new. If people have got used to using one system over a number of years, he reasons, it’s unrealistic to expect them to be instantly comfortable using something else.

“We accepted from the outset that with a new system in place, we’d be doing things differently.”

Abyss took a fresh approach with training too.

Instead of putting everybody through generic training for the entire system, Horsey split users into logical groups and trained them to use only the aspects of Exo directly relevant to their role.

The customer service team was trained in creating sales orders, invoicing and paying off debtors, while the head of finance was trained in all aspects crucial to managing the ledger. Horsey himself focused on learning how to create product codes and inward purchases of stock.

“Splitting our training three ways meant we could comfortably be operational with Exo in three to four days as opposed to weeks,” says Horsey.

“That’s not to say that there weren’t any bumps in the road, but, as long as we could create invoices and keep our stock moving out the door, we weren’t too concerned. Exoserv was always quick to respond, and any background issues were normally resolved within 48 hours.”

Size and colour of improvement
Some 12 months down the line, Horsey is in no doubt about the benefits of Exo. The most glaring improvement is the reduction in invoicing time and errors, he says.

“We’re in a period of strong growth at the moment and there have been peak months when we simply couldn’t have raised the number of invoices we did, or shifted as much stock out the door, had we not been using Exo.”

A large part of that increase in capacity is down to the ‘size-colour matrix’, which saves Abyss 10 of hours in data entry every week. But, according to Horsey, it’s also down to the increased visibility Exo gives them.

“Pop-ups alert our customer service team as soon as there’s a possible issue with a debtor, which means we can now make decisions about credit based on actual information.”

“It’s the same deal when we’re trying to identify the sales performance of individual products. Because Exo allows us to report by product, segment, sub-segment or even gender, we’ve got accurate, three-dimensional knowledge of all our stock and we can take the necessary action to improve stock-turn or margin as required,” says Horsey.

Growing the future
While Horsey is impressed with Exo’s standalone functionality, he believes its biggest selling point is its capacity to integrate with other software.

“We’ve being using Sales Matrix for around five months now,” he says, “and we’ll soon incorporate EDI and Scan Packing. We’re also investigating a web-based product that allows our customers to place orders directly from our website.”

The ability to link additional software to the system means Abyss can augment product and sales reporting, and continue to expand as a business.

“Which means that as well as being a sound investment, Exo’s given us a platform to grow our business tenfold,” sums up Horsey.