Johannesburg, 25 Oct 2013
Market leader within the southern African animal feed industry, Meadow Feeds has consolidated and optimised its entire business intelligence environment, with the assistance of IT solution provider and long-term partner, Datacentrix.
According to Meadow Feeds' management information systems executive, Reinald Bormann, the company's updated business intelligence solution has allowed it to consolidate databases, work faster and more efficiently, and access more valuable information.
"Not only have we been able to combine seven databases into one, we are also able to quickly and easily access sales and financial data, as well as production information, on a daily basis - right down to ingredient level," he explains. "Our current business intelligence infrastructure incorporates five business information areas at present, with plans in place to expand this further in the future."
Bormann explains that, using its new analytical front-end tool, Meadow Feeds has not only doubled its user base and improved transparency, but has also saved on administration time, as the thin client set-up enables centralised management and improved collaboration.
"Moreover, the upgraded solution has enabled us to fine-tune our annual budgeting and forecasting, allowing us to drive the business to greater efficiencies. In fact, information that would normally take a financial person days to consolidate - as budgeting is usually done outside of the ERP system - can be completed within a very short time-frame now.
"We truly are using the features of this solution to the fullest, having loaded our strategic plans onto the system, meaning that four years' worth of data is online at any time."
He believes, however, that the greatest benefit delivered by the new infrastructure is that the organisation can derive more value from its Microsoft SQL technology investment.
"As a Datacentrix client since 2004, Meadow Feeds has enjoyed a close working relationship with the organisation, one that allows us to constantly improve our business intelligence solution, based on our specific and growing needs," Bormann adds.
According to Datacentrix business intelligence and analytics business unit manager, Charl Joubert, Meadow Feeds will be further extending its business intelligence infrastructure with the addition of a simulation tool to improve financial planning in terms of forecasting and budgeting. "The new tool will allow Meadow Feeds to simulate business scenarios and immediately see the financial impact on the business," he explains.
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