George Stock & Company Ltd better known as STOCKS, is a well respected automotive product supplier operating in New Zealand for over 70 years. A family owned business for its first 50 years, STOCKS is a successful company with a strong reputation for providing quality service and ensuring the business is in step with modern business and marketing trends.

The wide range of products and services offered by STOCKS, however,  has led to a complex business structure. To effectively manage this, STOCKS required a management accounting system that supported this structure and one that provided a customised accounting and reporting solution for all its business groups. 

STOCKS adopted Dynamics AX in 2002 to provide this functionality and to ensure the company's technology platform was supporting its business growth.

Making the choice
For over 16 years the company's management accounting function had been well serviced by a DOS-based system. The end of that product's life cycle was the driving force behind an investigation into a suitable replacement. STOCKS managing director Bill Strand, explains;

"Our system performed the rudimentary tasks very well," he says, "but lacked the flexibility and in-depth reporting we required. Our business has grown at an alarming rate and our existing system just couldn't accommodate this volume of growth."

Strand says STOCKS were reluctant to change prior to Y2K, and began its solution scoping exercise in early 2000. "We took a thorough look at the different market offerings over a four month period," he says. "It was important to find a product that reflected our business structure and one that could accommodate our growth."

STOCKS eventually opted for Dynamics AX supported by Auckland-based IT company Koorb Consulting.  "Two clear factors influenced our decision to go with Dynamics AX," says Strand. "It was obvious the product had the functionality we required but the recommendation of our partner Koorb was also important. The flexibility of the system's architecture was immediately apparent and we could see its potential for handling the unique complexities of our business."

He adds, "We wanted a product that had a long lifecycle ahead of it but that had a proven record for stability. Even though Dynamics AX is at the beginning of its development lifecycle, we found it to be a solid platform with an impressive local reputation."

Increased insight
In terms of understanding their business operations and trends, Dynamics AX has transformed the way STOCKS report on its financial performance – and has given the company an increased operational insight.

"The system has enhanced our flexibility and delivered a markedly improved reporting function," says Strand. "We now have the ability to cross reference the performance of different areas without having to re-enter the data. The software does all the thinking for you."

"Dynamics AX is delivering a new insight into how our business is operating financially. We have new and in-depth parameters of performance that show us where things are going well and, just as importantly, areas of concern."

Customer queries in real-time
STOCKS is the sole agent and distributor for 98 percent of all products held. The company has a complex pricing structure across multiple product divisions and a wide range of products ranging from expensive garage equipment to low cost commodity items such as wheel weights.

The new solution is helping STOCKS keep track of these products and ensures product availability and price is current and accessible to call centre staff.

"We have five staff in our call centre handling around 700 calls a day," says Strand. "It's everything from customers wanting a quick response to product price and availability queries. With Dynamics AX as our underlying information tool and with further development from Koorb, we can now supply that information in real time to customers and suppliers."   

Outsourcing adds value
STOCKS has chosen to outsource its IT infrastructure to GDC using using iVASP to deploy Dynamics AX over Terminal Services. Strand explains the advantages of this approach.

"With our old system, we were probably more vulnerable than we realised. Before Dynamics AX, our daily transactions were stored on a tape that was physically removed from the premises each night. Now all our sensitive and vital information is safely recorded and stored with GDC."

Stand says STOCKS has also found the IT support from GDC to be valuable. "We don't have a dedicated IT staff member so it's important all our staff have access to support when they need it," he says. "More importantly, it allows the team to focus on their roles rather than worrying about IT issues."

Providing a technology platform for the future
According to Strand, Dynamics AX software is providing his company with a solid platform for future growth. "From a competitive perspective, and to give our staff the support they need, we're always looking to how we can best incorporate technology into our business. In the near future we will look to implement some form of CRM software and have our sales people connect wirelessly.

"Remote access to Dynamics AX will replace the need for them to hand write invoices and will ultimately increase their productivity. Currently we operate two mobile service divisions with five trucks operating in the field and we'd be looking to implement the same process with them."

Koorb Consulting managing director Nick Houlbrooke, adds, "Aside from the information quality gains, STOCKS are realising goals for more effective product planning and replenishment to meet their customer needs.  In the long term this will have significant impact on the success of the business. Future e-commerce and mobility plans will fall into place supported by the constructive start they have made to their enterprise information asset."

For more information about this case study contact
Anne Frith
09 362 5865
askdynnz@microsoft.com
Microsoft New Zealand
PO Box 8070, Symonds Street, Auckland

August 2004

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