Powerful enterprise resource planning (ERP) system cuts out mismatched processes, errors and delays.
Modern accounting features remove manual processes, saving a week of work a month.
One source of truth lets information flow through the business.
In the rag trade for 70 years, M.Recht Accessories supplies anything but the fabric for garments, uniforms, bedding, workwear and safety gear to clothing manufacturers throughout Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.
Over the years, whilst its competitors folded, Davor Dobrovoljni, Head of IT, says M.Recht Accessories has stayed in business by innovating with “new trimmings, new ideas and new markets.” The company now has offices and staff across Australia and Fiji.
While its previous management system had worked over the years, switching to the MYOB Advanced platform has been a game changer, says Head of Finance Tom Junger. It has streamlined the dispersed business without the need to patch together different technology.
“Cobbled together” legacy system too vulnerable
Over 20 years ago, M.Recht Accessories implemented Commerce@Work. The management software did the job but came with major limitations – it wasn’t well supported in Australia, wasn’t cloud-based and required costly servers. When Commerce@Work exited the Australian market, Davor said M.Recht Accessories was left without local support — and stuck with a product last updated in 2004.
As a workaround, M.Recht Accessories bought the source code from Commerce@Work and hired one of its implementors. Over the years, this individual modified the system to deliver the functionality the company needed. Although M.Recht Accessories made the best of things, Tom explains the system was vulnerable to even the slightest hiccup.
“We cobbled things together, but it was very clunky and needed a lot of hardware to keep it all running. Just connecting to the other branches took a feat of engineering. It was a Frankenstein’s monster.”
On the finance side, Tom says there was far too much manual work running even basic functions and reports.
“To prepare a quarterly BAS, we’d have to go back into the accounts and then dump it into Excel. With all the workarounds, it took time to find the information you needed.”
When the coder retired last year, it was time for a change.
A robust product with local support
The new solution had to manage over 18,000 items and a large number of customers, says Davor.
“It also needed to better connect the wholesale and retail sides of the business and manage our extremely complex pricing and commission structures.”
They looked for options and struggled to find what they needed – a powerful system at the right price point with an established presence in the Australian market.
Tom and Davor knew that whatever they chose next needed to be easy to use, especially for the older staff who’d been with the company for decades.
When Davor tried MYOB Advanced Business and MYOB Advanced Payroll, he knew he’d found the platform he needed.
"Everyone could see how much easier MYOB Advanced would make their workday."
- Davor Dobrovoljni, Head of IT, M.Recht Accessories
Tom was particularly blown away by the reporting features. With just a ‘tick and flick’, the accounting team could create detailed reports on any area of the business.
The implementation was supported by the MYOB customer success team who worked closely with M.Recht Accessories to ensure the Advanced platform delivered on the business’ particular goals.
"Through our discovery work, we helped the team realise significant efficiency gains. For example, we were able to use the platform to automate their manual freight and shipping label processes, which was a company goal for 2023," said Mehala Ramasamy, Customer Success Manager, MYOB.
Streamlined and reliable, MYOB reduces workloads and mistakes
While the team at M.Recht Accessories is still exploring the full functionality of the MYOB Advanced platform, workloads have already eased everywhere, from sales and purchases to stock management and payroll.
Davor notes that the platform has completely changed how the business works while minimising admin, errors and re-work.
“In the old system, we’d create an order, print it out, scan it and email it to the client for payment. Now we email straight out of MYOB — the scanning process is gone.”
Accounting functions remove “a day and a half of work per week”
MYOB Advanced Business has already delivered huge efficiencies to the finance team. Basic functionality like banking allocations takes a fraction of the time it once did.
"MYOB Advanced Business probably saves us about a day and a half per week of accounting time. Everyone is happy – it’s all much, much easier."
- Tom Junger Head of Finance | M.Recht Accessories
The system is also fully integrated with MYOB Advanced Payroll, eliminating even more hours of manual work. Before MYOB, Tom and the team would have to do physical journaling between two payroll systems.
“Now, we hit the release button, and things go to the correct account.”
Davor says it’s the many little things that have also significantly improved efficiency. He points to one example – invoice formatting, which used to require an entirely separate system.
“With MYOB Advanced, invoice formatting just happens automatically.”
The usability of the system is also a winner for Davor.
“I love the flexibility given to the end user. I don’t have to ask MYOB to make every change – I can do most of it myself.”
- Davor Dobrovoljni, Head of IT, M.Recht Accessories
M.Recht Accessories customers get faster, better service
Streamlining the business systems has also benefited customers.
“Before MYOB, many things would cause our legacy system to stop. Orders could be delayed, and batch queues locked up just because the printers went down,” says Davor.
"That doesn’t happen now."
MYOB pushes M.Recht Accessories to stay ahead of competitors
Now that MYOB is up and running, the team is looking forward to refining the business model and spotting new areas for growth. For Tom, it comes down to time saved and better data.
"You get better information to make better decisions. It’s great to offer relevant, timely information whilst having confidence in the figures."
Tom Junger Head of Finance | M.Recht Accessories
And the staff? They’re more than happy, says Davor.
“Our staff love the MYOB Advanced platform– and they wouldn’t be shy to tell me if they didn’t!”
