Boost Juice Go Live on SAP Business One

Melbourne, Australia, September 09, 2009 --(PR.com)-- As a consumer, Janine Allis had always struggled to find anything healthy to eat and drink when she was short of time, particularly to find something healthy for her boys. So she consulted with nutritionists and naturopaths to create a menu of healthy juices, smoothies, yoghurts and wraps that were free of preservatives, artificial flavours and colours. Having achieved this, she realised that there was a hole in the Australian market place for such products, developed a Business Plan, and opened her first retail store in Adelaide in 2000.

The Boost Juice Business Plan was based on the opportunities for franchising, and so began the roll-out of the Boost Juice brand, including an agreement to open 18 stores in Westfield Shopping Centres. There are currently over 200 outlets ( including a handful of company-owned stores ) predominantly in Australia, but with a growing footprint in S.E. Asia, Europe, the Middle East and S. America –with common products from menus created by Janine herself.

All Boost Juice franchisees are referred to as partners. “They are an important part of the Boost family”, says Janine. “Their success is our success and visa versa.”

The success of the Boost Juice brand is measured by industry awards which they have received over the years – including
· National Retailers Association Awards – Bank of Queensland Franchise Award
· Governor of Victoria Export Awards - Commendation

Boost Juice has its Head Office in Glen Iris, Victoria. It employs 80 staff to provide financial and marketing support, logistics, control and measurement of suppliers and quality control for every outlet.

Solving the problems of growth

As Boost Juice was growing rapidly, their complex system requirements could not be supported by their installed ERP system. It was lacking in functionality and flexibility, was unstable from poor support – all of which impacted on employee productivity.

They carried out a detailed review of several ERP products, including Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor and SAP’s Business One. Having selected Business One as the solution, they then asked two Melbourne-based Business One integrators ( including Inecom ) to refine their proposal. In December 2008, they awarded Inecom the implementation contract because, as Financial Manager, Andrew Wilson, said, "Inecom listened, was innovative and responsive, and demonstrated the ability to customise Business One to fit our business processes ; the qualities which are key to the partnership we were seeking."

The Implementation Project

The roll-out of the solution started in early January 2009, to complete by April. Input into the business analysis and prototyping has been taken from all levels. Staff have specified their roles, their hurdles, and what they need to overcome these hurdles – so they are engaged and see how Business One is a key tool in increasing their productivity. Included in this process is training for the 16 end-users so that they can relate to the configuration of the software to their day-to-day activity.

Key functionality being built includes automating communication with the outlets, tight control over the timeliness and quality of deliveries from key suppliers such as National Foods and PFD including electronic purchasing - and building a portfolio of reports, analyses and trends for the Executive Team and the Board.

Benefits

Boost Juice anticipates that the roll-out will have major benefits including:

There are time-savings of 2 days/weeks for 5 people, where Business One automates manual processes. This, in itself, provides a Return on Investment of less than 12 months for the whole project.

Streamlined processes allowing Board and Management Reports to be produced in minutes – rather than days. This gives an almost real-time finger on the tactical pulse.

But as important to Janine Allis and the Board, Business One provides the structure, functionality and capacity to support strategic growth in their expanding markets.

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