Sonata's matrix for Trintiy

One of the most important challenges for SMBs is managing the business effectively. For that to happen, automation and right solutions are vital. In order to address the requirements, software selection is another key area that the SMBs ponder over a long time. Trinity Touch, a UK based discreet manufacturing company, recently expanded in India for manufacturing high-quality products in India.

Earlier, Trinity was using in-house developed Oracle based ERP, but then, as its business expanded, there came the need for better software to avoid manual intervention and increase productivity, be it financially or operationally. For Trinity Touch, the right thing to do was to deploy SAP Business-All-in-One application. Sonata Software, which Trinity selected as its implementation partner, had a great deal to go for implementing.

NECESSITY
Trinity expanded enough, thereby it transformed to a different level. For making changes in terms of growth, the current software was not enough to enable growth. So there was need to deploy such a tool which can basically reduce overall IT problems and use the manpower effectively. So they chose SAPÂ’s Business-All-In-One software, which is focused for SMB customers.

“At Trinity Touch, we are managing manufacturing and distribution operations from multiple locations in India. Though we were earlier using our in-house developed Oracle based ERP system, but it was felt that there was a need for an integrated system which should incorporate the financial accounting aspects in order to have better control over the business operations as we were in the expansion process. Then we found SAP, the leader in enterprise business software with functionality based on industry best practices, as the perfect choice for fulfilling our needs,” said Ramesh Kumar, Manager-IT, Trinity Touch.

ROLE OF SONATA SOFTWARE-—THE IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER
The discussions about the project started in May, 2009 and the go-ahead came in June, but the project finally started in July, 2009. Basically with SonataÂ’s expertise in this industry with SAP package perspective, Trinity saw the capability along with leadership, efficiency and value for money. Thus Sonata implemented SAP software replacing home-built software based on Oracle ERP. Trinity wanted to have some kind of visibility across business location, integrate their business, managing global inventory and sales as these were few key areas. It took 16-18 weeks for the implementation with a team of 5 members.

Muralikrishna K Mysore, head, SAP practice, Sonata Software said, “"Right from project preparation to going live and post implementation support was part of the engagement. For the last 2 years we have supported and trained them. We are the preferred partner for SAP.” But just giving Trinity a solution was not the end, and therefore Sonata faced some key challenges." Muralikrishna added, “When you implement a ERP and replace a existing system, the tendency of the people, who are used to the legacy of system and organizational manpower, were little skeptical; that whether implementing it would reduce the need of manpower.

Convincing organizational employees was a great challenge and we were able to do that. Educating and convincing SMB customers to opt for SAP is a great challenge.” Commenting on the effectiveness of SAP, Muralikrishna said, “"SAP is only for larger customers—the myth is gone. They are the leaders in enterprise business management software and the functionalities, as per the discreet manufacturing industry is concerned, the company proved the best practices available to support the growth and business expansion. Also, there is a lot of scope for integration with SAP to other software or non-SAP software. All was possible with this tool and most importantly, the availability of business data was controlled and centralized. These are the key areas which actually tilted Trinity’s software selection.”"

THE OUTPUT
Post-implementation, though the IT cost has been increased, but at the same time, they had a host of operational benefits such as, responses to daily customer queries and weekly report preparation was 97% faster, creation of monthly analytical reports was 95% faster, daily delivery tracking was 96% more efficient and sales was 75% faster apart from inventory and manual intervention reduction amongst others.

"“This solution had an overall low cost of ownership including the initial cost considering the other available solutions in the market. Also, not just the initial cost, this solution was implemented in just 4 months with minimum customization. Sonata delivered everything on-time, within budget and ensured that the IT team deployed stays lean,"” added Kumar.

Adding the advantages on the strategic front, Kumar added, “On this front, better product quality leads to greater customer satisfaction and a stronger reputation with customers. There has been elimination of manual effort on one hand, while there is a high availability of data for meeting business objectives, greater security and control of critical data; ensuring tighter coordination across geographies. Inventory reduction and shorter sales and payment cycles have contributed to our overall financial growth.”