In 1975, RISE Distributors opened its first office in Perth. Today, the wholesaler is one of Australia’s leading industrial paint distributors, with offices and warehouses across 10 different locations.
In August 2019, RISE’s new operators implemented MYOB Advanced Business to help them connect the business, giving them complete control, empowering their workers, unlocking real-time insights, and helping the company deliver better client experiences.
Incumbent system too big and complex
When RISE’s new operators acquired the business in 2019, one of the first things they noticed was that the accounting and management system was “too big and complex for the size and nature of the business,” Chief Financial Officer Paul Benetti explains.
This resulted in several inefficiencies. First, the cost of maintaining the incumbent system was exorbitant. Second, the company didn’t have the capability to extract useable data.
“The system was complete overkill. We employ 50 people, and the old system required three or four dedicated team members to manage it.
“One of the first things we did when we came in was to look at how we could reduce the cost and how we could make the system more user-friendly,”
- Paul Benetti, Chief Financial Officer, RISE
In addition to the cost, the old system had functional limitations. It required third-party add-ons for point-of-sale and was difficult to extract useable data from.
This lack of connection didn’t just disempower staff, it also meant the company wasn’t getting the real-time insights it needed – or delivering customer experiences that matter.
"The system was complete overkill – too big and complex for the size and nature of the business."
How MYOB Advanced Business helped RISE become a connected business
A cloud-based, user-friendly integrated solution
After reviewing a few different options, it was MYOB Advanced Business that had what RISE needed to become a connected business.
As a cloud-based system, it can be used by anyone with a login and device with a browser and internet connection. RISE’s mobile sales team can now deliver better customer experiences, including placing orders and checking delivery timings while on the road.
MYOB Advanced Business provides a single, integrated solution that doesn’t require additional add-ons for point-of-sale.
“Our previous system didn’t have a POS system attached to it, and even though we don’t do a lot of retail sales, we still do some. Previously, a completely different system was required and the two didn’t speak to each other – so that was causing issues,” Paul explains.
Lastly: “You don’t need to be Einstein to get to the data,” Paul says about user-friendly MYOB Advanced Business. “If someone wants to look at something and drill down to analyse it, it’s as simple as clicking on the item.”
RISE enlisted the help of business implementation partner AlphaBiz, who Paul says did a good job despite a tight deadline.
“MYOB Advanced Business costs a third of what I was paying for the old system – every month was costing me an arm and a leg – so we pushed them hard,” Paul adds.
“Everybody who has been involved with the implementation – AlphaBiz and MYOB – ensured the least amount of ‘noise’ was generated for both our staff and customers. That’s a big measure of success for us.”
With better connections between systems, RISE could empower staff, get access to the real-time insights it needed to take control of finances and deliver customer experiences that matter.
Huge cost savings and increased productivity
With approximately 3500 customers and 19,000 stock items, Paul explains that the company can easily produce 200 invoices per day, ranging in value from $20 to $20,000. On top of that, the pricing can be different for every customer, so it was essential the new system could handle complex pricing data.
“If you were to develop a matrix of products down one side and potential customer discounts down the other, we’ve got millions of potential price items,” Paul says.
After a slightly slower start, and a few tweaks from RISE’s implementation partner, MYOB Advanced Business manages the company’s pricing data with ease – resulting in huge cost-savings and an increase in productivity.
“Not only am I paying way less than I was before, I’m getting more productivity out of my team because now it’s all about pushing half a dozen buttons – and it’s all done.”
Customised dashboards for each of the company’s branches gives branch managers easy and immediate access to real-time insights related directly to their branch.
POS is now integrated and part of MYOB Advanced Business, meaning if one branch is having issues, the others aren’t affected and can continue to operate smoothly.
Lastly, customised reporting connects everyone in the business with the real-time insights they need to deliver better customer experiences.
“People are doing more than they were before simply because MYOB Advanced Business is so much easier to use.
“It’s a business benefit. We now account for everything and can produce branch numbers, which the company has never been able to do before,” Paul says.
Now the system is implemented and operating well, RISE will continue to work with its implementation partner to identify issues specific to the business and create system customisations that allow it to connect the business even more.
