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Key
features & functionality
used by Fischer Skis: |
| Accounting |
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Bank reconciliation |
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General ledger |
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Accounts receivable |
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Accounts payable |
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Budgets |
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| Sales |
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Sales order/back order |
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Multiple shipping/ |
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contact addresses |
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| Purchasing |
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Purchase orders |
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Real-time order status |
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| Management |
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Custom reports |
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Company
Background |
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Fischer Skiing to
New Heights
Among competitive downhill and cross-country
skiers, one brand usually stands head
and shoulders above the rest in quality
and innovation – Austrian-made
Fischer, the top ski manufacturer in
the world.
The Fischer brand has become the top
ski equipment choice of the Alpine and
Nordic Ski Teams. At the 2002 Winter
Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, 58
medalists from around the world swished
downhill and cross-country on Fischer
Skis, sparking increased interest in
the brand throughout North America.
Fischer Skis runs on Everest ERP Software.
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The
Challenge |
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| Five years ago, Fischer
Skis U.S. became the sole marketer and
distributor of Fischer Ski equipment
in North America. Running the regional
operations within the larger Austrian-based
Fischer GmbH |
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presented many challenges to David
Allely, Fischer Skis U.S. controller and operations
manager. While the ski industry suffered an overall
decline in sales of about ten percent in this recessionary
economy, over the past three years Fischer has bucked
current economic trends and grown by a dynamic 47
percent. With projections indicating continued growth,
there was a clear business case to evaluate the
back office technology supporting the operations
of the company.
“We were running three different applications
on a UNIX based DOS system that was unable to integrate
data and processes,” said Allely. With such
an increase in volume of orders, the company’s
operational staff was spending too much time reconciling
data among applications and was unable to accurately
analyze customer data to forecast sales and inventory
projections. As Allely began forecasting growth
of 10-15% this year, he realized he was going to
need to make a significant software investment to
track sales and inventory, as well as manage profitability.
Fischer began its search for a cost-effective, fully-integrated
solution that could streamline back-end operations
including inventory control, sales and accounting
functions. Fischer evaluated accounting and retail-focused
solutions before narrowing its field to three potential
choices – Everest ERP Software, Microsoft’s
Navision and e by Epicor.
After examining the features and functionality of
each of these solutions, the Everest solution became
the natural choice for Fischer. In addition to the
technological advantages of a fully-integrated
'all-in-one' solution, Fischer found the Windows-based
system easy to use and liked the extensive configurable
reporting functions. |
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The
Solution |
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The high level of customer service
throughout the sales process, as well as being able
to get a close feel for the solution through the
extensive demonstration CD and sample software license
also contributed to Fischer Skis selecting Everest
over other alternatives for a 20-seat license. “We’re
not a huge company, and knowing that I can get the
answers I need directly from Everest ERP Software was incredibly
important to me,” said Allely.
Fischer was impressed that Everest ERP Software would enable them
to be up and running on Everest in less than 90
days including some customized development and implementation.
This process can take 6-8 months with many alternative
ERP solutions.
Allely noted that Everest would allow Fischer to
better serve its more than 800 retail customers
including REI, Eastern Mountain Sports and L.L.
Bean, as well as specialty ski shops. “By having
accurate information about our orders and inventory
by models and size, we know what to forecast and
budget for the next year – this is a definite
competitive advantage for our company and translates
into increased customer satisfaction,” explained
Allely.
Allely soon realized that in addition to streamlining
back office operations, Everest would allow Fischer
to enhance customer service and enable future growth
in e-commerce for the company.
This includes taking advantage of the e-commerce
capabilities of Everest by building a website designed
to empower customers so that they can track orders
and check inventory firsthand without needing to
contact a sales representative. “We’d
like to really build an online community and stop
tying up phone lines.”
According to Allely, Everest will help Fischer save
money by taking their retail accessory business
online, something they currently outsource. |
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The
Result |
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Operational staff productivity increase
by 25%, due in large part to eliminating
data entry |
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redundancies and errors inherent in
disparate, multi-system environment |
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Improved sales managers’ operating
performance to run numbers the way they
want and reports |
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that used to take two days to run,
now take two seconds through Everest’s
daily financial reports |
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Increased customer satisfaction with
real-time information on orders and
inventory |
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| Fischer continues to receive the great customer
service experienced during the evaluation
and implementation phases of the relationship.
“Everest ERP Software listens to what customers have
to say and plans to implement suggestions
into updates and future versions of Everest,”
noted Allely. |
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