SSM Coal, a leading Dutch coal commodity trader, needed an integrated and easy to manage multi-language solution capable of handling numerous different business functions including specialised commodity trading processes. Its solution saw the use of a common back-office platform for its international business needs, supported by the strength of Kit, a specialised vertical solution.
Challenge
Two false starts and three years of frustration ended when SSM Coal, a leading Dutch coal commodity trader, began using Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains software. That was how long it took the company to find an integrated solution with the features and functions needed to harness and manage the information processed by its offices in Europe and the rest of the world.
"Our first solutions provider went bankrupt, so we had to start over," recalls Peter van der Zanden, Group Controller at SSM Coal. "A second provider withdrew because they weren`t confident their solution could handle our needs. It was frustrating."
The SSM Coal group is a carbon-commodity trading house with an annual turnover of $1 billion and 165 employees. Through its offices in Holland, Belgium, Germany, UK and France, and its global network of subsidiaries, SSM Coal offers a complete range of services relating to coal trading, including transportation and shipping, transshipment and stockpiling, processing and distribution. It also operates its own shipping department that engages in ship brokering, as well as offering logistic, financial and insurance support to customers.
To cost-effectively tackle the complexity of its diverse business processes, the group structure blends de-centralised executive offices with centralised support. Together, all of these factors represent a big challenge to any business solution.
"Commodity trading is a highly specialised sector, and being successful isn`t made easier when different offices operate in different languages," explains Peter van der Zanden, Group Controller at SSM Coal. "We needed a single solution that could help everyone fulfil their unique function, and at the same time ensure we could all access the same data and streamline our information management."
Solution
In finalising a solution suited to its need, SSM Coal chose Kit Software, a Scottish-based company with 20 years experience in physical commodity trading solutions. Kit is available in SA through business solutions provider, the Business Unusual Group (BUG), the local VAR responsible for selling, installing, implementing, training and providing support for Kit.
Dion Retief, marketing director of BUG, believes that more local commodity-based businesses could see the same benefits as SSM Coal.
"Kit is a multi-currency, multi-commodity package solution that delivers up-to-date and accurate information from a single central source of trading information," explains Retief. "Importantly, Kit is Web-enabled and this allows you to streamline your administration function by eliminating unnecessary duplication of effort and facilitating automated forwarding of key business processes to the appropriate personnel. It also provides real-time position monitoring of commodities, contracts and stock holdings; as well as accurate profitability calculations on every aspect of the contract, from initial trader estimates through to final actual figures."
Retief adds that Kit is modular in design, allowing users to select the modules they require to manage the risk profile of their respective organisations. It`s also commodity neutral, allowing users to manage the risks facing a wide range of commodities with one solution, and it integrates well with other widely-used IT products.
Having satisfied itself that the company had finally found both a solution that met its needs, and a partner that could help it implement it, SSM Coal worked with Kit on the exact specifications. In addition to choosing a number of standard core modules from the Microsoft Business Solutions series, SSM Coal also requested some complex customisation of the treasury aspects of trading functions.
SSM Coal elected to use the General Ledger, Multi-currency, Receivables Management, Collection Management and Payables Management modules from Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains. Kit supported the specific commodity trading functions.
Results
The new solution is quickly proving its worth. Previously, employees could spend a lot of time compiling the reports and overviews essential for on-the-spot, responsive decision-making. Today they are able to quickly drill down into specific information deposits to compile the market snapshots they need.
"In the old system there were just a few fixed reports. Now everybody can quickly make customised reports," explains Van der Zanden. "And with the latest report generator it is easy to export data to Microsoft Excel or Access if you want to e-mail it to some one."
Reasonably priced, Kit can only benefit the local commodity industry. Says Retief, "Traders in the South African market are finding they need an all-encompassing solution that can meet their needs from the time a bid is made through to actual shipping of product. Kit offers that solution."
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