Since Richard Jay Laundry Equipment began working with award-winning Arrow business partner Evolution Business Systems, this national company has significantly improved the efficiency, accuracy and security of its Arrow Financials software, slashing time-consuming tasks from hours to seconds and applying auditing controls that protect the integrity of the company invoicing system.

Evolution Business Systems customer case study

EBS sharpens Arrow for Richard Jay

Company

Richard Jay Laundry Equipment Pty Ltd

Industry

Distribution and service of commercial and industrial laundry equipment

Services

Same-day Arrow Financials support

Executive summary

Since Richard Jay Laundry Equipment began working with award-winning Arrow business partner Evolution Business Systems, this national company has significantly improved the efficiency, accuracy and security of its Arrow Financials software, slashing time-consuming tasks from hours to seconds and applying auditing controls that protect the integrity of the company invoicing system.

Business problem – Richard Jay wanted more from Arrow Financials

Richard Jay Laundry Equipment was established in Adelaide in 1969 and the company has since become a national operation with branches in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

The company specialises in the supply of laundry washers, dryers and associated products to commercial and industrial markets. As well as distribution of its brands, Richard Jay offers comprehensive customer support through laundry design consultation, financial options and after
sales service support with substantial spare parts stock holdings.

The privately-owned business has used Arrow Financials to manage its operation for the past seven years.

Richard Jay’s newly appointed Company Accountant Mary-Lynne Cattanach said: “Our problem was we were doing things the long way around,” she explained. “We weren’t aware of the capabilities of Arrow and there were many things we thought were impossible to do.”

Technology solution – EBS optimises Arrow performance for Richard Jay

Richard Jay was excited to learn that Evolution Business Systems had launched its same-day support services for Adelaide based businesses using Arrow Financials software in early 2010.

At a meeting with Evolution Business Systems, Ms. Cattanach outlined Richard Jay’s requirements to optimise the performance of its Arrow Financials system.

“We gave them a list of what we wanted, some of which were immediate needs and others ongoing improvements,” she said.

One of the first priorities for EBS was to assist Richard Jay to automate some of its common and time consuming accounting processes. For example, the company had manually faxed out as many as 100 remittance advices to its suppliers each month, a cumbersome process that took several hours, plus the required follow-up when a fax failed.

EBS set up Arrow Financials so that all remittance advices are now distributed by electronic mail at the press of a button.

It also replaced fortnightly mailing of pay advice slips to employees with an email notification system.

Another priority was applying stronger security control to the system, to ensure that an invoice could not be altered or deleted once it had been created, without the appropriate authorisation. This was required for both the integrity of account-keeping as well as minimising any potential for fraudulent activity.

As well as strict “lock” controls on the ability to alter invoices after printing, EBS created a program to “unlock” invoices, requiring super-user authorisation by Ms. Cattanach.

EBS also assisted Richard Jay to standardise electronic forms generated by Arrow so quotes, invoices and purchase orders are consistent in fonts and visual appearance.

Business benefits – Automating common processes cuts tasks from hours to seconds

Ms. Cattanach said the benefits of working with Evolution Business Systems were immediate and significant. “Things that used to take hours can now be done in seconds,” she said.

“Our investment in EBS support services has more than paid for itself. The automation of common, repetitive processes has significantly increased our team productivity, made our system much easier to use and improved our data integrity,”

“Creditor remittances used to take three hours every month with one person faxing the advice forms to about 100 suppliers.

Not only did it block up the fax machine, but when a fax went to the wrong number, that person had to follow it up to correct the error, which took more time.

“Now pressing one button does it instantly and all the remittance advices are sent out by electronic mail – it’s done in just seconds. Likewise, it could take an hour every fortnight to mail out pay advices whereas now it’s an automated process by email.”

Ms. Cattanach said EBS had delivered greater peace of mind by increasing security controls on the Arrow Financials database.

“Invoices can no longer be changed once entered without authorisation by myself ensuring our data integrity,” she said.

“Another improvement has been with Arrow backups. These used to take a long while to run, sometimes half an hour or more and, when we tested the system, it did not restore the test database properly.

EBS provided us with their Action Pack which makes it instant to back up Arrow and to restore it as well.

“Also, by helping us to standardise the formatting of all our forms, which we did not know how to do easily before, EBS has helped us to look more consistent and professional to our customers.”

“The people from EBS have been able to help us with everything we wanted. They get back to us in a timely manner and have been able to fix all problems we have straight away.”

“As well as being willing to visit our office to discuss issues, they are available by telephone and can also provide us with support through remote access.”

Ms. Cattanach said EBS had established itself as Richard Jay’s trusted support partner for Arrow Financials. “It has been a very good experience,” she said. “We look forward to working with EBS to continue improving how we do business, which includes emailing all invoices before the end of this year.”

More about Evolution Business Systems

Evolution Business Systems (EBS) specialises in business solutions that free you up to focus on managing your business. EBS does this by automating your core business processes and integrating your specialist business applications with the right financial management solution. With deep expertise in leading financial applications including Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV and Arrow Financials, EBS works alongside their clients to understand their business and vision, and offers solutions to support these both now and into the future.

EBS has a detailed implementation strategy that is tailored to customers in terms of timelines, requirements, responsibilities and risks and as well as project variations and external requirements. With extensive experience in implementing business solutions you can rest assured that EBS will deliver your solution successfully.

Evolution Business Systems Pty Ltd
PO Box 1115, Camberwell, VIC 3124
p 1300 303 973 f 1300 858 973
e info@ebsys.com.au
w www.ebsys.com.au

Twitter