Creative EXPRESS Case Study
Meiko UK Limited
Meiko UK Limited
THE CHALLENGE - In 1997, Meiko UK embarked upon a project to integrate these needs as far as possible into one IT system, and became one of the first UK adopters of Navision Financials, software that since Navision’s acquisition by Microsoft in 2002 has achieved popularity as Microsoft Navision and most recently Microsoft Dynamics NAV. 2002 was also the year that Peter Barry joined Meiko UK as financial director, with additional responsibility for IT. “I quickly realised that the IT system I’d inherited had not been fully or satisfactorily implemented and as a result was only achieving a mere fraction of its true potential,” Barry recalled. Rapidly dispensing with the services of the incumbent system integrators, he appointed in their place local Microsoft reseller Creative Computing Solutions, initially tasking the company with completion of the original project.
“In the five years that I've been at Meiko, we've taken the essential leap from an unsupportive and barely reactive contractor to one that understands and takes an interest in our needs, is loyal to its original undertaking and continues to make proactive suggestions for mutual benefit. This is what makes projects more feasible for SMEs like Meiko UK; the value for money equation makes it possible to justify the cost.”
Peter Barry FD
Meiko
THE SOLUTION - The first step for Creative was to enable Meiko’s service operation software - Service Director - to interface with Navision so that the largest database in the company was accessible for invoicing to be automated. Up to this point, all invoicing information for service activities was being re-inputted manually, at a time when 16,000 service visits a year were being made; the result was that invoicing was often up to seven weeks in arrears. The cost of writing the necessary software was recovered virtually overnight, Creative having established itself in the process as the service provider of choice for maintaining and developing Meiko’s IT systems.
The scope widened in 2004, when Meiko moved into much larger premises needing installation of a complete communications infrastructure. Creative put in telephone, queuing and email systems and continues to maintain these, as well as Meiko’s servers and other parts of the IT network. Meiko currently uses Dynamics NAV to manage its financial records, stock control, purchase orders and sales order processing, and to access essential management information in the form of customised reports.
The scope widened in 2004, when Meiko moved into much larger premises needing installation of a complete communications infrastructure. Creative put in telephone, queuing and email systems and continues to maintain these, as well as Meiko’s servers and other parts of the IT network. Meiko currently uses Dynamics NAV to manage its financial records, stock control, purchase orders and sales order processing, and to access essential management information in the form of customised reports.
THE BENEFITS - To keep abreast of the changing business landscape, various development work is carried out for Meiko by Creative on a rolling basis, particularly on the reporting side. “Every business has its own critical success factors and key performance indicators, which are constantly shifting,” Peter Barry commented. “These KPIs don’t necessarily exist in a standard reporting package, so reports have to be written that tell you what you need to know about your business so that you can manage it. While those things can’t easily be quantified in terms of cost saving, they benefit the business by enabling us to manage it more effectively and reduce risk.
“In the five years that I’ve been at Meiko, we’ve taken the essential leap from an unsupportive and barely reactive contractor to one that understands and takes an interest in our needs, is loyal to its original undertaking and continues to make proactive suggestions for mutual benefit,” he continued. Such a package of benefits is unlikely to come cheap, but according to Barry, Creative has a much more realistic charge rate than some other companies that command ‘ridiculous’ figures for consultancy.
“This is what makes projects more feasible for SMEs like Meiko UK; the value for money equation makes it possible to justify the cost. But there can also be hidden costs if people don’t get things right first time - not only is it tiresome, but it also means unforeseen and undocumented expenditure in terms of management hours. With Creative, we know that if we ask for something to be done it will usually happen according to plan - often that simply involves calling someone in for a day of consultancy, during which several items are attended to, saving a lot of aggravation. And if there is the occasional problem, which is inevitable considering the number and diversity of systems we have in place, it’s quickly and expertly resolved by helpful people.”
THE FUTURE - “We're always talking to Creative about what’s new. Our next big upgrade is likely to be to Dynamics NAV version 5; beyond that we may also look to expand functionality - we’re considering such things as remote working over the web, and enabling customers to see their own accounts on the system - probably over the next two to three years or so,” said Barry. In the meantime, Meiko is now making up to 27,000 service visits a year... and the IT system is still keeping pace.
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“In the five years that I’ve been at Meiko, we’ve taken the essential leap from an unsupportive and barely reactive contractor to one that understands and takes an interest in our needs, is loyal to its original undertaking and continues to make proactive suggestions for mutual benefit,” he continued. Such a package of benefits is unlikely to come cheap, but according to Barry, Creative has a much more realistic charge rate than some other companies that command ‘ridiculous’ figures for consultancy.
“This is what makes projects more feasible for SMEs like Meiko UK; the value for money equation makes it possible to justify the cost. But there can also be hidden costs if people don’t get things right first time - not only is it tiresome, but it also means unforeseen and undocumented expenditure in terms of management hours. With Creative, we know that if we ask for something to be done it will usually happen according to plan - often that simply involves calling someone in for a day of consultancy, during which several items are attended to, saving a lot of aggravation. And if there is the occasional problem, which is inevitable considering the number and diversity of systems we have in place, it’s quickly and expertly resolved by helpful people.”
THE FUTURE - “We're always talking to Creative about what’s new. Our next big upgrade is likely to be to Dynamics NAV version 5; beyond that we may also look to expand functionality - we’re considering such things as remote working over the web, and enabling customers to see their own accounts on the system - probably over the next two to three years or so,” said Barry. In the meantime, Meiko is now making up to 27,000 service visits a year... and the IT system is still keeping pace.
More information...