It’s 9.15am and Nectar’s warehouse manager Ronald Camilleri sits down with a cup of coffee. He’s smiling – and it is not because the coffee is particularly good. It’s because until recently, he would not have been able to take a break until around 11am.

Part of his job for the past 14 years has been to set up the route for around 24 trucks a day, delivering food and beverages to as many as 700 different outlets. In the past, he relied on a manual system, sorting invoices literally into piles.

But then, Nectar decided to automate and engaged Crimsonwing to create a solution based on Dynamics AX 2012, which would look after everything from route management to stock control.

“Work started in mid-January and it was not easy at first as we kept coming across additional elements that we wanted. But mid-February it was up and running and the difference is amazing. The route is worked out without human error and each van gets its own list. And so far we are only using the route management module. There are many other features that we haven’t even started to use yet!” the 39-year-old said.

It is easy to see why Dynamics is Crimsonwing’s biggest growth area.

“In the Microsoft world, Dynamics AX is the top ERP product,” Crimsonwing’s head of Dynamics Stephen Abela said.

Dynamics, in a nutshell, takes various activities like human resources and payroll, sales and stock control, financial reporting and customer relations, and offers them in one package – and because it is an integrated solution, each of those functions can be correlated to any other, something which is not possible when each activity is run on separate software.

Many systems give you data. What we give you is information. What does it mean in practice? It means that a manager can distinguish between the bestselling item by quantity sold and the bestselling by profit margin!

In fact, the Marsa-based software company has taken on 40 new employees to cope with the surge in business – and the majority of them are working on Dynamics.

The product comes in three different ‘flavours’, ranging from the GP and NAV versions, which are suited to small and medium-sized enterprises to the top of the range AX which offers an array of functions that make it ideal for companies with a growth strategy. Some of the larger companies on the island, like Bank of Valletta, Malta International Airport and Melita use Dynamics.

“The scope is impressive. For example, you can bolt on a business intelligence module which provides managers and decision-makers with an instant snapshot of the key performance indicators,” Mr Abela explained.

“Many systems give you data. What we give you is information. What does it mean in practice? It means that a manager can distinguish between the bestselling item by quantity sold and the bestselling by profit margin!”

In the challenging competitive world, information means being able to spot trends quickly, so that you can react quickly, he explained.

“For example, if you have a promotional campaign, you can monitor how effective it is and decide whether to extend it.”

However, it is not only large companies that can benefit. Mr Abela stressed that even SMEs need to know more about their performance than their accounts and their stock levels.

“They can start with a basic solution and then add to it as they grow. And it is very user-friendly so they do not even need to have a dedicated IT specialist to be able to use it,” he said.

The client list shows the versatility of the product. Nectar uses it as a route management system for its delivery vans across Malta, while a leading retail property manager in London uses it to manage its property leases. For food production companies, like Maypole and Golden Harvest, it handles not only production but also distribution, taking into account factors like expiry dates.

The product is constantly being expanded to cope with new areas. For example, in the UK, another module called Printvis is being offered for the printing industry, encapsulating everything from advertising bookings to the auction of printing jobs. The next area that Crimsonwing will delve into is retailing in large supermarkets, and it is also marketing a membership solution for associations and other non-profit making organisations.

Of course, the greatest deterrent for businesses who want to move to Dynamics is the headache of migrating data from the various systems.

“We understand this. It is a barrier, but we see this as a very important part of our implementation,” Mr Abela said. “On the other hand, customers also realise that having old software is a problem in itself that they will sooner or later have to tackle – especially companies which use homegrown software that is no longer supported.”

For Nectar’s Mr Camilleri all this is very interesting and exciting. But the bottom line is simple: He has saved hours of tedious work, hours that he can now spend doing something more productive. Once he has finished his coffee...