Dr .Cafe -Yousef AlRajhi Global

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Dr .Cafe -Yousef AlRajhi Global

Saudi Firm Increases Productivity by 25 Per Cent with Enterprise Resource System

Leading Saudi Arabian group Yousef Al-Rajhi Global needed new business management software to support its expansion plans. It chose Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, and, as a result, has improved inventory controls and automated sales, purchasing, financial management, and production. The group has recorded productivity gains of up to 25 per cent.

Business Needs

Yousef Al-Rajhi Global is a well-established group of companies based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which operates in Saudi Arabia, and the Middle and Far East. The group has diverse business interests, with 11 companies in various markets, including retail, real estate, construction, IT solutions, manufacturing, and catering and hospitality.

Its coffee shop subsidiary Dr.CAFE was established in 1997 and now operates from 122 outlets in Saudi Arabia, with franchise holders in Malaysia and Singapore. The brand is particularly popular with young people and business executives.

Yousef Al-Rajhi Global operated with diverse business management systems for its different divisions and in-house designed software for its businesses.

But, with ambitious global expansion plans, Yousef Al-Rajhi Global wanted to standardize on business management software for all its diverse business interests. The aim was to adopt globally accepted procedures in supply chain, inventory control, sales control, purchasing, financial management, and production.

Sayeeduddin Hussain, IT Manager, Yousef Al-Rajhi Global, says: “Our previous enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was inadequate for financial management, supply chain management, and production controls. For example, it couldn’t support customisations of reports for profit and loss accounts. We needed to improve our inventory management, automate sales and purchasing, and streamline inter-company operations.”

Yousef Al-Rajhi Global also wanted to enhance relationships with its customers and suppliers by using trade agreements. Sayeeduddin says: “Our objective was to deploy an internet-based ERP solution to manage inter-company orders within one system. We wanted to achieve better controls with greater visibility of costs and accurate inventory valuations for our different businesses.”

Solution

Yousef Al-Rajhi Global issued a request for proposal to major business management software vendors in Saudi Arabia, and considered solutions from Oracle, Epicor, and Microsoft, among others. The company chose Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 as the best solution to boost productivity, with systems integration by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Maison Consulting & Solutions.

Sayeeduddin says: “Total cost of ownership was not the major consideration—we wanted the best solution available that would provide a complete view of the business in near real time. We also valued the on-the-ground technical support offered by Microsoft and its partners in Saudi Arabia.”

Maison Consulting & Solutions, a member of the Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club, deployed the solution in just 90 days, going live in the last quarter of 2009. It then customized the software to match the specific needs of each of the divisions. Sayeeduddin says: “Streamlining the processes and designing financial reports to suit each business unit took time, and the partner’s involvement in that work was critical to our success.”

The partner also helped with training for more than 100 users, although this work has now been passed to Creative Solutions, the IT company under Yousef Al-Rajhi Global.

Sultan Hamdani, Chief Operating Officer, Maison Consulting & Solutions, says: “Through functional and technical skills transfer, we have ensured that Creative Solutions is self sufficient and ready for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 deployments in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.”

Benefits

Yousef Al-Rajhi Global has achieved full operational control of its diverse businesses, greater visibility of cash flow, and improved work process—and all this at a time of economic uncertainty in global markets. Yousef Al-Rajhi Global companies have customized financial reports, yet the standardized business management software holds data centrally. Sayeeduddin says: “Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has improved our productivity and financial management, and we now have a near real-time view of the business.”

Managing the global supply chain for coffee shops.

dr.CAFE is committed to offering its customers only the highest quality products and services. Its 100 per cent Arabica coffee beans are purchased from all over the world using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 technology to ensure value for money and timely delivery of products to its cafes in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Ensuring real-time access to business data.

The standardised business management system for the whole organization ensures that senior managers can view on a dashboard near real-time data about the performance of different divisions and relationships with customers.

Empowering the IT team with knowledge transfer.

The partner has worked hard to transfer knowledge of technical and functional features of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to the in-house IT team at Creative Solutions. Sayeeduddin says: “We’re now running Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 ourselves, which means we no longer need an implementation partner.”

Helping to improve decision making.

With multidimensional reporting and analysis of business transactions, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 helps managers make better decisions based on accurate inventory valuations.

Customizing reports for each business.

In a highly diversified business such as Yousef Al-Rajhi Global, each company has special needs. Sayeeduddin says: “With our new business management software, everyone gets their own reports in their preferred format without any need for compromise. The business is strengthened by running all the reporting in the same environment.”