MYOB Advanced guides global business through foggy times

Nicholas Sinterklaas heads up one of the oldest businesses in the world. Centuries ago, he established his global manufacturing and distribution business at the point where the Earth’s axis of rotation meets it surface, and the business now delivers goods to approximately 1.9 billion customers around the world.

A stack of stock problems

Nicholas used to only receive orders by mail. His customers would send him letters with a list of the items they would like to receive. Orders via post gave Nicholas time to ensure he had enough stock to meet demands. Now customer orders are mainly received online and via SMS – often at the very last minute. This has made it difficult to maintain adequate stock levels.

“We have to make sure we meet customer demands and expectations,” says Nicholas. “This was nearly impossible with the time-consuming manual processes we originally had in place. One year, we barely managed to meet the huge demand for ponies – both rocking and the real thing. We were also producing more bicycles, robots, game systems and mobile devices than ever before. Oh, and those baby dolls that pee. They’re always very popular. We can’t manufacture those fast enough.”

As customer demands grew, it put a strain on every facet of the business. Processes grew more and more complex. Nicholas decided it was time to invest in a business management system that could meet his current needs while being flexible enough to meet future demands.

Nicholas met up with Mr I. C. Snow from SnowBusiness, an experienced MYOB Partner. He evaluated a range of products and MYOB Advanced came up on top like an angel Christmas tree topper.

Moving to MYOB Advanced has been the turning point Nicholas has been looking for. “It has made my business more mobile than ever before,” he says. “Whether I’m eating chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen of a New York apartment or diving down a chimney in Ittoqqortoormit, Greenland, I can access information in real time from my smartphone.

“With the MYOB Advanced client self-service portal, I can see every transaction whenever I want. I can manage and track stock across locations and if I see a problem I can ask my sassy general manager, Sugar McSparkles, to look into it.”

MYOB Advanced is a gift

“We used to have our own servers. They were huge, complex and made out of candy canes and plum pudding. The staff constantly complained about how difficult the servers were to maintain,” says Sinterklaas. “And, boy oh boy, they were expensive to run. I never had any money left over to take Mrs Sinterklaas out to her favourite Vietnamese restaurant. We’d stay home on Saturday nights and eat Maggi 2 Minute noodles.”

After implementing MYOB Advanced, Nicholas enjoyed a huge improvement to his cash flow. “I didn’t have to worry about any large up-front investments or costly maintenance fees,” he says.” The straightforward monthly pricing plan allowed me to better plan and manage my business expenses throughout the year. Now I can afford to buy each and every staff member a new pair of tight, green Lycra leggings every winter.”

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